It marked exactly one month since I
arrived while I was at Holly’s, I have reflected on how I feel, how it's been so
far and what I’d like to change.
I would like to be more active, positive and try new things
such as sports here. Next week I’m going to begin playing Handball, I’ve never
played in a team sport before so it’s an exciting thing for me! Also AFS students are known for getting fat (Another Fat Student) haha! I'm determined to defy this, I want to come back to New Zealand fitter than I was when I left! I know this is going to be difficult.. there are so many boulangeries (bakerys) here, lots of cheeses, lollies and even at school they've been selling chocolatines (pain du chocolat) so I can't get away from the temptations!
I often don't pay attention when people are speaking in French around me (I think it’s a guilty pleasure of exchange students) haha. This month I’m going to try really hard to not do this, as a lot of people try to speak English to me so I've realised that I don’t end up hearing and translating that much French throughout my day as I thought I would. The process of becoming fluent will take so long if I don’t do this, and I hope to be getting there by Christmas so I have to try harder!
How do I feel that it's now been one month? There have been some difficult times but also some of the most
exciting times of my life so the good outweigh the bad.
During my second and third weeks here I felt the most homesick. I felt as though
I had experienced enough of France for now, I’d seen many things, tasted different
foods, spoken French (improved a little too) and experienced what French
school is like. I was feeling ready to go home. I think the main cause of this
was because school feels like it goes on for one million hours every
day, that’s ‘one million hours’ where I’m sitting there bored out of my mind
not understanding the lesson and pretty much anything that is being said around
me. This gets very frustrating, especially when i'm tired as all I want to do is sleep. But since then my French has improved even more and I’m able to understand some of the class if I try, and I’ve made some
good friends here. I think that has helped me get over homesickness- having a
social life!
Now after school I don’t usually go home straight away, I often go
to the centre of Bagnères (the town where my school is) and go to a café, or a
friends house, or stay and play guitar with a group of people. After I’m done I
take a bus home. As silly as it sounds, taking the bus makes me feel a lot more independent. It's not quite as exciting as having your own licence for sure, but I have the freedom to do things that I want to. Independence was something I was really hoping to build on over here.
My family here have been absolutely great, always helping, making me laugh,
taking me places, speaking with me and just accepting me into their family like
I’ve always been there. It’s definitely not their fault I was feeling homesick,
it’s something that is almost inevitable for every exchange student. You can be having so much fun but there's still that thought in the back of your mind that you're missing out on things back home. So far I think that the feeling doesn't completely go away for a while, it just gets a little smaller each day as you immerse yourself more into your new life on your exchange.
I still miss my family, friends and New Zealand like crazy, but I’ve realized recently
how short the time is left that I have here. I’m only here for 9 more months..
The first month went so quickly, I want to make the most of my time here as I
know it’s going to go quickly and I’ll never get an opportunity quite like this
again! After my exchange I know I’ll be returning to New Zealand and seeing
everyone again, but I don’t know when I’ll come back to France and see everyone
again here.
It's strange thinking back to when I first arrived at my host family's home. It's like i've been here for a long time, yet I still remember home in New Zealand like it was just yesterday. I'm contradicting myself, but the time here goes quickly and slowly at the same time! haha that's France for you I guess ;)
Here are some random photos from throughout my time here, enjoy.
à tout à l'heure! xx
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| Dinner outside (when it was warm). Typical French- Wine, Baguettes, Crepe with cheese |
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| Dans le matin (in the morning) |
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| Inside my school! |
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| The jet stream, there are so many here! The sky usually has 4 or more all the time |
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| Hiis |
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| Skype with my mum! <3 |
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| Skype with Bekkie! <3 |
