14 Days

So I have exactly 2 weeks before I'm back in the States. That really is not sinking in at all. It hasn't even sunk in yet that I'm never going back to school here with all those people, and that ended 2 weeks ago! I'm sure once I get home, though, that all that will

But anyway, after the parade yesterday, I went with Simon, Antoine, Amadine, and her little brother Guillaume to the fair in St. Laurent. We walked around and then went on a couple rides. I almostttt played a game for a goldfish, but if I won it, I wouldn't be able to bring it back with me and I don't know how much my host family would want it. lol. After that, I went out to eat at a restaurant with my host mom, Pierre, Annick, and Eileen (Sam's girlfriend). Around 10, Simon, Antoine, his sister, and her boyfriend came to pick me up to go to the bon fire at St. Laurent. I'm not kidding you, the wood was piled tee-pee style about as tall as 3 men standing on each other's shoulders. There was a tonnn of wood and it was all lit up at 11. Then everyone danced around the fire and music played and there were people giving out fire sticks (which Simon, Antoine, and I all took). It was quite the party. After a while, we got kind of bored and the volcano of fire shrunk quickly, so we went across the street to the fair again. We took a little tour around and bought SLUSHIES! That was the first time I'd seen one in France, so I had to get it. Around 12:30, I was dropped off at home and I went to bed around 1.

Today I slept in and thought I was going to be holding everyone up, so I got myself ready in the 5 minutes that I had and then ran downstairs. Both Pierre and my host mom were still getting ready themselves, so things turned out ok. I still have not even once made anyone late here! There have been a few times it's been close, but there's always someone who is running much later than I am, so it doesn't really matter. It was around 10:45 when we finally got out of the house. We went into Arras for the last day of the "soldes." Today, most of the stores put things out in the sidewalks and have super low prices and everything. I bought myself some makeup and then a DVD. We didn't really have enough time to spend clothes shopping. At noon (or around there), we went to Acq to see the rummage sales (which are all done on the same day at the same time on the same street) and then my host mom met up with some people for the 'aparatif' at the Sale des Fêtes. After a glass of champagne and a little talking, we left for Maroeuil where Lilian, Lou-Marie, and Romane all go to school. Today was their open house, so we ate lunch, played some games, and watched each class perform a dance.

Tonight I'm going to be packing my suitcase again because tomorrow at 5AM, my host mom and I are leaving for Lille, because our 'Chunnel' train to England leaves from there around 7AM. That said, you will not be hearing from me tomorrow, and probably not Tuesday night after I get back, either, but I should be on again sometime during the day Wednesday. I'll talk to you then! And bon retourn French travelers. I hope you guys had a great rest of the week :)!

à mercredi,
<3Miranda

Word of the Day: Barbe-à-papa = cotton candy

15 Days

I didn't write yesterday since I was super busy, but I'll try and brief you in the few minutes I have here.

I got up and took my time getting ready for the day. During the afternoon, Simon came over with Marius and Lola. Marius has started walking now, so he was all over the place. Then after he left, my host mom, Pierre, and I went to my band concert. I played at the very end, so it was kind of a long wait, but at least I had some people to talk to. Afterwards (like with every event), refreshments were served and I saw my French teacher, so I talked with her. Then I talked to some of the people from my band and then Simon. When we came back, I had one hour to eat and get ready to go out "en boite" (aka: night clubbing)! I really had no idea what to wear, but I eventually figured something out and it turned out to be ok. Antoine, Pierre-Antoine, and a couple girls I didn't know showed up to pick me up around 11PM. We went to a discotheque called "Le Lagon Bleu" which was about a half hour away. Normally, I am not a dancer, but this was superrrr fun!!! We met up with some other people when we got there and then danced until around 4AM. I didn't get back until 5, and then went up to bed and actually fell asleep in my clothes. haha.

I woke up this morning around 12:30 and hurried to get ready. I went with Antoine, Pierre-Antoine, his dad, Amadine, Simon, and Jean-Marie to St. Laurent to walk and hand out candy in the parade of giants. We took the giant along too, of course.

SORRY GOTTA GO.

à demain!
<3Miranda

17 Days

Salut!
I got back a little earlier than I thought, so I'm able to write again. It was soooooooo good to see everyone :D! I had a pretty good time speaking English again, too! Surprisingly, I hardly screwed up at all and threw very few French words into my sentences. I'm finding it a lot easier to switch back and forth between the two, which is good, I suppose. It was kind of annoying when I'd get on the phone with my parents, turn around a half hour later and speak English to my host mom. haha.

While I was with the group, I got to see the War Memorial, D-Day Beach, American Cemetery (which is actually owned by the US), and Point Hoc(?) in Normandy. Then I rode with them to Paris, and on the way, we stopped in Giverny to see Claude Monet's house and gardins. That was really pretty! When we got to Paris, we walked around a little while and went through a couple stores. We went to the café on top of one of them and it gave us a really nice view of the city. I said goodbye at the Champs Elysées and Johnson went with me by subway to get my stuff from the hotel and help me find my train at the station. I got back last night a little before 10PM.

Today I slept in super late. I got out of bed around 2PM and then got myself ready for the day. Just before 4, my host mom dropped me off in town because I wanted to go shopping. Yesterday until Suday are the big sales nationwide. They only come two times a year, and nearly everything goes on sale in about every store. They're often between 30 and 50% off so you can find really good deals. I found tons of stuff, but again I had sizing issues and things here do not fit me well. I found some long shorts that work as capris, though! So I got a couple bottoms. Then I found this yellow shirt that I absolutely adore. I got a few other tops, too, and then my host mom came and picked me up around 7. Now I'm back at home waiting for supper to be done. :)

à demain!
<3Miranda

Word of the Day: les soldes = sales!

21 Days

Bonjour!

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!
:)

Yesterday, I spent the whole day helping Anne, Thomas, Manuel, Marion, and Nicolas (who came up from Perpignan as a surprise for Thomas) prepare for Thomas's party. I'm not going to go into a whole lot of detail on that because I don't have a ton of time, but I pretty much just went with Anne to pick up some of the food she ordered, helped with food preparation, and then set tables in the backyard. My host mom came to pick me up around 6(?) and we went back to the house to get ready. We returned for the party around 9, and there were already tons of people there. The 'aparatif' was served as everyone talked. I didn't know hardly anyone, so I just kind of wandered and talked to people my host mom was talking to for a while. Then we ate and afterwards there was dancing down on the patio. Simon and Anne led the sketch with the nasty furniture later on. I got dragged into doing it, too, so that was interesting. lol. I was so tired by that time I didn't even really understand what was going on, so I just kind of stood there. haha. We stayed until about 2:30AM, after the melted Camembert was served with baguette.

This morning, I slept in until 12:45! We were supposed to go back over to Thomas's house at 1:00 for lunch. haha wooops! I got up and took a quick shower and got myself ready by 1:15. It turned out to be no big deal that we were late, since everyone was tired and just kind of sitting around the table and eating leftovers. Marion and Nicolas left at 2 to catch their plane south. We hung out a little longer and talked. Then we got cold, so we went inside for the 'café.' We played a little MarioKart on the Wii, and then came home around 4:30/5:00. We're taking a little break, and then around 7, I'm going with Antoine and I dunno who all else, but I'm assuming Pierre-Antoine and Simon into Arras for the Music Festival! There are tons of local bands playing all over the streets all night long. Vincent's group is playing, so we'll probably go listen to them for a while. Then I have no idea how many other people there are, but I've heard it's a bigg thing, so it should be fun. The only issue is that I'm still kind of tired, so I hope I've got the energy to for another late night.

If I don't get the chance to write tomorrow, I'll talk to you again at the end of the month! I'm leaving tomorrow afternoon for NORMANDYYY :D! And I'ma see all you French kids from Fargooo :D! Then I've got less than 24 hours before I leave for England, so I dunno if I will have time to write between the two, so don't worry if you don't hear from me until July.

à la prochaine!
<3Miranda!

Word of the Day: L'été = Summer

23 Days

Salut, tout le monde!

Today I got up and went to schoooool :)! My class had the math portion of their Bac from 8-9:30. I went around 9 so that I could get in and go to the CDI or something for the half hour that remained, but when I got there, the doors were not open. Since school is over for the Lycéens, the doors didn't open on the hour. Bryan was hangin' out waiting for Amélie (he is going to "redoubler," so he isn't taking the Bac this year), so I hung out with him for a while and we talked. A few other kids came and we talked for a while and waited for the doors to open. 9:30 rolled around and no one came out. They held them inside until 10:00, so we got an extra half hour of waiting time in. When everyone came out, I said hello and talked with my class and they said that overall, it went pretty well. After about ten or fifteen minutes, Sabrina, Mary, and I went into town. We went to Promod, and I found a milllllion things that I wanted. hahaha. I tried a ton of stuff on, but I still am not very good about finding my size. They are marked a few different ways, and it's really confusing. I will try two things on that are marked the same size, and one will fit and the other won't. The really frustrating part is when they don't have anything one size smaller, so then I'm outa luck completely, and that ticks me off. I ended up buying only 3 tops. I was reallyyy close to buying a fourth, and then just having the straps shortened when I get home, but it was kind of expensive anyway, so I let it go. I already have two other tanktops that need to be fixed before I can wear them without showin' off my chest to the whole world. lol. Anyway, Mary left for the Mediateque so she could do some studying, and Sabrina and I went to Miss Coquine's to look for shoes. I found theee most comfortable & the cutest black flats ever for 10€! That made my day. I originally went in to get a white pair, but I couldn't help buying those, too. haha. A little after 11, Sab and I went to Le Furet and she looked for a Father's Day gift for her dad. Her mom showed up and they picked out some CDs and stuff, and then she left with her mom. Since they were going past Gambetta, they offered to drop me off. My host mom was going to meet me there around 1, so I accepted the offer. Although, when I got there, I sat down and looked at the time and realized it was only 12:20. I walked back into town and got myself a tuna sandwich and cherry coke for lunch. I sat down on the steps near the Furet, and ate. Then, when it was closer to 12:45, I started back to school. My host mom picked me up and brought me home. They hadn't eaten lunch yet, so Pierre and my host mom ate and I sat there for the conversation. Afterwards, Pierre and I started painting the ugly furnature for Thomas. Pierre got sick of that and went with my host mom to the Mairie. I just finished up, and now I'm going to go join them.

I'm not sure if I'll have time to write tomorrow, but I will try. If not, expect one more entry Sunday, and then I'll be off to meet up with my class Monday early afternoon :D!

à la prochaine!
<3Miranda

Word of the Day: Les meubles = furniture

24 Days

The cooking class last night was really fun. We didn't get recipes, but there really wasn't much of one. We tips on how to cut the veggies, then cut the meat and everything else. Then we put the peppers and onions and garlic into a kettle and let that cook with salt and peparika. The meat was baby lamb. That was cut up and then put aside for later. We cut a crust to place on top of the meat, and then made leaf chips out of basil leaves for a garnish. After that, we made a caramel sauce and chocolate sauce for the dessert. We made the appatizer out of some crunchy bread-like dough and peparkia, and rolled that up & cut thin rounds. Then we placed them on a pan and inserted sticks to make lollipops. Those went into the oven and then we worked on the dessert. We took really thin circles of pie-crust like dough and rolled the chocolate into that. Then we folded it and cut the edges to make it prettier. Those went into the oven after the appatizers, and then we took a break. It was Alain's birthday, so we all celebrated with some nice champagne and ate the appatizer lollipops outdoors on the patio. After finishing up that and talking, we went back into the kitchen to cook the meat. It was fried with butter and some other stuff (salt..? I don't rememeber). Then we learned how to 'present' our food on the plate. There was a rectangular cookie cutter for the veggies. Then mini sponges for any drips. After that, the meat was added and followed by a basil leaf chip and a sauce. It was so pretty! It looked like something you'd see in a cooking magazine or something! The next part was probably my favorite: we got to eat. :P! The nine of us (Luc, Alain, Claire, Simon, Thomas, Anne, Elodie, Cédric, and I) went out to the table (inside this time since the sun had set), and our food was served to us. Normally, I'm not a huge meat person; I just eat it because I have to, but this baby lamb was SOOO good! I would honestly eat it any day, any time. Ahh! It was cooked PERFECTLY. The veggies were reaallyyy yummy, too, as was everything we ate! I even wiped my plate clean with the bread roll (something I've never done before, but is typical of the French). After we were done eating, we talked for a while. Then we went back into the kitchen to make our dessert plates. First, we sprinkled cocoa powder in a diagonal line across the plate. Then we made a design with the extra chocolate sauce from earlier. After that, the crêpe-like dessert was placed on top along with a scoop of vanilla ice cream along side. We ate that and mmmmmmm :D! It was delish. We talked awhile after eating, and I got home around 11:30/11:45 last night.

This morning, I woke up and fell back to sleep a million times before I finally got up. I did not sleep very well last night. When I finally did get up, I got myself ready and then worked a little more on my room. I got sidetracked after a while and painted my toe nails. Then I looked through my history book and packed a little for next week. Then my host mom and I went to a thrift store to look for ugly furnature for Thomas's birthday. He wants money for nice furnature, but instead, a group of us is going to rent a little moving truck and dress up and then unload tons of ugly crap. xD! We found a few things, including 2 blue folding chairs, another blue chair, an aquarium screen and old wood things we can use as legs for a table. We decided we're going to paint all the furnature blue so it all kind of matches. It's going to be really funny xD! But anyway, now I'm at home and my host mom is at the Mairie. Pierre is still sick, so he's hangin' out in front of the TV.

I'll talk to ya later!
à+
<3Miranda

Word of the day: La Mairie = the city hall

25 Days

Today I'm feeling better. I finally got a really good night's sleep, and for the moment, my stamina is pretty much back. I've decided that I am just really behind on sleep and then I have a sinus issue, but I started taking Benadryl and that has been helping. So yeah, do not worry, I am going to be fine.

Yesterday, after I wrote on here, I went to Decathlon to look for excercise equipment with my host mom. We found a couple interesting machines, but didn't buy anything. Then we did a little grocery shopping before returning home. I sat around for a while after that, and then Pierre and I started a game of Monopoly: Nord-Pas de Calais Edition (aka- my region) :D! My host mom had a meeting, so I made the pizza she left out and we stopped our game to eat supper. For dessert, I had both coconut and pistachio ice creammmm :)! It was so yummy. If I could, I would honestly stock up on French ice cream and bring it back with me. It's soooo good! But anyways, after eating, Pierre didn't feel well. Actually, he didn't really feel too great all day, but it was worse after supper. We quit our game of Monopoly and he went to get ready for bed. My host mom came home a little later. I went up to my room and a little later, I also went to bed.

Today, I got up and felt soooo much better. I got myself ready and then worked on cleaning up my room and packing stuff up. I figure I have to take advantage of this week, because it's the only real free time I'm going to have until two days before I leave. I actually don't even have much free time left this week. I'll give you a little breakdown of my remaining time here.

This afternoon I'm going to the award ceremony for my class for winning a concours. Then this evening, I'm going with Thomas, Anne, Claire, and Simon to a cooking course! We're going to learn how to cook some real French cuisine :D! I'm really looking forward to that! :D! Tomorrow, my penpal from 9th grade might be coming to town to meet up with me, but that's not for certain. Friday, I'm going to school because my class has an hour and a half of math for the Bac, and after that, I'm going to hang out with them. Saturday is Thomas's birthday party, and then Sunday is the first day of spring, which means a nationwide music festival :)! Monday afternoon I leave for Normandy to meet up with my class, and then I stay with them until the 28th. Five o'clock on the 29th, my host mom and I are leaving for London and comong back the 30th. The 1st is a day for relaxing. Then the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th of July would be the Main Square concerts. On the 4th, there is also a fesival at the Aerodrome, so that day is entirely packed. Then I get the 6th to get things ready for my going away party on the 7th. The 8th and 9th are for packing up anything I haven't managed to squeeze in my suitcases yet, and then the 10th I leave my host family. I stay in Paris through the 12th, when I leave for New York City. Since there are no planes that go from New York - Fargo the afternoon of the 12th, I have to spend the night in a hotel in NYC and then the 13th of July, I get home. That time is going to go by SO fast. Ahhhh!

à bientôt!
<3Miranda

Phrase of the Day: n'imoprte quoi = it doesn't matter/whatever


OK! I just have to edit this, because thee coolest thing just happened. Well, it doesn't sound exceptionally cool, but it made me super happy! I went to the concours award ceremony thing, and since only 4 other people from my class, plus my history teacher was there, I had to go up and accept the award with them. They gave us a big stack of nicee stuff on the Holocaust and history of that time period and stuff. We got our picture taken a million times, and then had to talk with the press. I didn't say anything, and kind of just hid myself behind Rafaël, Audry, and Fiona, but the guy saw me anyway and asked my name to put down. I wasn't going to give it since I honestly did not do anything, but my teacher and Sabrina nodded at me, so I said, with my best French accent I could get out, my last and first name. Unfortunately, he still heard the accent, and then my teacher explained that I was American and everything, and that was kind of embarrassing since I was here accepting award for a big French history project.. But anyway, we went into the yard of the Prefecture afterwards for refreshments, and took a million more pictures. Then we looked at a bunch of the prize stuff. There was a pack of 3 DVDs on Auschwitz, a book on French heroines of the time period, a kit with a bunch of scans of letters and journal like stuff from someone in a concentration camp, a book on the WW2, and then a HUGE book on French history. Since there were 5 things and 5 of us who showed up, everyone decided to each take one. I felt really guilty about taking something, because, like I said, I didn't do a thing for this. My class had been working on it since the beginning of the year, and I arrived to watch Sabrina put the final touches on it before it got sent in. Everyone insisted I take something, though. So I told them to take what they wanted and I would take whatever was left. The book I ended up with was the giant French history book! It weighs like, 10lbs, no lie, and it covers everything from prehistoric times to modern day France, complete with color pictures and everything! I could not be more excited about this! The only thing that's going to be a little tricky is getting it home. The size of this thing is going to really be inconvenient- but I will find a way! Ok, I have to get ready to go to that cooking class, but I just really had to share that with you. :D!

à demain,
Miranda

26 Days

I haven't done much of anything worth writing about today. Even if I did, I probably would not write much because I am so tired the muscles in my arms are tingly and numb. I am so tired and so frustrated and so freaking tired of being sick that I don't even know what to do. I really just want to see a doctor who speaks English so I can be sure and get my message across and don't just get jacked up on tons of meds. Uggggggh. If it weren't for my lack of energy, I'd probably go upstairs and lay down right now, but I really don't feel like it. I'm too lazy to go up two flights of steps and find my room.
:(

On the bright side, I looked into train tickets and everything today. The only thing standing in my way from meeting up with my class next week is my parent's permission, which I've already gotten by email and phone, but they need to sign a written form with AFS. So yay!
:)

Nothing much else to write. I think later today, we might be going shopping and then I dunno. I really hope I don't have to do too much walking, though. I am not in the mood. I'll write again tomorrow, hopefully.

à demain.
<3Miranda

Word of the Day: Voyager = to travel

27 Days

I'm really not in a very good mood today. I don't feel very well and I'm super tired, even though I slept like a rockk last night.

Yesterday after I left off, we went to Thomas's house. During the appatizer, Pierre-Antoine called and said they were desperate for people to be in the parade with the giant. I said I'd go, so right after the main course, my host mom took me over to the Intermarché parking lot in St. Cathrine. There were 5 of us total; Pierre-Antoine, his dad (Gille), Arlette, and another girl named Laureen. We walked, two of us pushing the giant & three of us giving candy to little kids, from 4 to 6 - up- and downhill. I got to do some giant pushing when we were going uphill, and oh boy was that ever fun. haha. At the end, everyone stopped in a field with a basketball court and had sandwiches and ice tea. Then, one-by-one, every group that was in the parade was presented. We had to wheel Albert (the giant) across the basketball court and take a picture, then bring him back up onto the grass. After that, we got to wheel him back to the starting point and load him in the trailer to bring back to Roclincourt. It was fun, but at the end, I was really tired. To add to the situation, it was a really hot and humid day yesterday, so that was really uncomfortable. For supper last night, Annick came over. She brought fries and hot dogs. That sounds great, but I've eaten so many fries in the last week that I really was not in the mood for them again. I wasn't very hungry either, so I ate a few and then a hot dog and then sat there until she left. After that, I went up to bed.

When I got up this morning, my host mom was already at work and Pierre was at his 'stage' (internship?). I laid in bed until about 11:00 listening to music. Then I got myself ready for the day and started cleaning my room. My host mom came home just before one and took me to the Aerodrome café for lunch. We met one of her friends there, and the two of them worked on planning the air event in July. I just kind of sat there and ate. lol. I didn't even follow the conversation much because I was too tired. I really was not even that hungry, but I forced myself to eat my beef & sauce and the pasta as best I could. At 2:15 or so, we came back home. I went up to my room and worked on boxing up a bunch of stuff I no longer need here. Pierre came home around 2:30 and after that, my host mom went back to work. I got tired and stopped packing boxes and instead went on the computer. Voila. That's my whole day so far. I'm planning on laying down for a little while later, because I feel like crap.

à demain.
-Miranda

Word of the Day: malade = sick.

28 Days

It still feels like I have forever here, even though I really don't. I ended my last day of school, mainly unphased. To me, it feels like one of those 2 week vacations; I know I'm not going to see these people tomorrow, but I feel like I will be seeing them again soon. I don't know why it's so hard to accept the fact that I've already seen a lot of people for the last time. Whatever, I'm glad I'm not all depressed and sulking around. That would be worse.
I realize I haven't written for a couple days. Sorry, I've been lazy. haha. I also apologize for my lack of writing skills and my weird sentences. I've been told by a few people that my writing skills are getting kind of sucky. lol. The sad thing is that I really can't come up with better words to write. My English is seriously regressing. Haha. Hopefully it'll come back quickly after I get home. I don't want to fail English next year! lol.

Anyway, Friday all I had was Latin and then two seperate hours of English LV1. Our Latin teacher took us to the CDI and I just talked to Claire, Justine, and some other girl. Then I went into town with Florent, Stephanie, Sabrina, and another guy named Maxime (I now know 3 Maximes). We walked around and took pictures. It was alright, but I was so tired that it kind of went by in a haze. When it was time for English, Sabrina and I went back to school. We watched the first hour of 'A Fish Named Wanda.' Since the teacher put it in English, no one really understood what was going on and there was a lot of talking. After class, a lot of people went home for the day. I said goodbye to a million people and then went back into town, this time with Sabrina, Joy, and Amélie. We went to Subway and had lunch. :D! Afterwards, we met up with Wendie and walked around some more. We went to Monoprix and the post office and the Furet. Then Sabrina and I went back to school for English. The others skipped class since it was the last day. I probably would have too, just because EVERYONE had pretty much already left, but I really wanted to go since it was the last day I'd ever really be in class there. Sabrina was nice and came with me. Rafaël and Julie were the only other people that showed up. One of the kids form my theatre class, Josellin(sp?), came in to join us since no one was in his class, either. This time we watched a different movie. It was a documentry on the Columbine and the OK Bombing and other 'American Tragedies.' I found it really interesting. Rafaël brough snacks and drinks, and Julie had candy, so we all snacked on that. Our teacher is retiring after this year, so we all wrote a little note and gave that to her at the end. At 4, Sabrina and I met back up with Wendie, Joy, Amélie, Alice, Alexandra, and Amélie's friend, Emanuelle, in the park by Lycée Robespierre. We hung out there for an hour, and then at 5, I said goodbye to everyone and went back to school. My host mom came and picked me up and we went to a town called Cambrai to see one of Luc's plays. It was really complicated, and I honestly did not understand it very well, but at the end, Luc explained it to me and it made sense. We got back home, ate supper, and then I went to bed pretty soon after that.

Yesterday, I got up and went to school around 8. Sabrina and I went really far into town. I'd never walked around that area before, but it was really pretty. We bought a croissant and two petits pains aux chocolat at a boulangerie. Then we sat on a bench by a statue and ate them. After that, we walked back towards the school. We went to the Beffoi, and I made Sabrina go up to the top with me! Normally, the stairs are blocked off or there is a sign that says that you can't go up, but this stairwell did not say that, so we went up. There were two floors and then a little stairwell that went up the tower a little. All that was on both floors were offices and government rooms. The view out the window was nice, but the tower itself is really a lot prettier on the outside. After that, we went to Lycée Carnot (across the street from Gambetta) for Italian. That was fun :D! I actually do know how to say a few things in Italian, now. Ho fame = J'ai faim = I'm hungry; Sono americana = Je suis américainne = I'm American; Ho un cane = J'ai un chien = I have a dog. Anyway, after class I caught the bus home. I spent almost all afternoon at the elementry school in town for their open house. The kids of different age groups each did a presentation, either singing or dancing, and then it was mainly a social thing. There were a couple games, but those were for the little kids. Pierre insisted that I play them, though, so I got to do a little bowling and then a marble roll and a shuffleboard type game with plastic bottle caps. At 5, the thing was over and we went to the shoe store for Pierre. Then we came back and my parents called!! I talked to them all evening. At 8, we ate supper outside. It was really nice out. There was a hot air balloon about a block away trying to get up, so after eating and talking, we were all going to go check that out and see what's up. Just as we were heading out, though, JAEDA CALLEDDDDDDDDDDDDDD! :D! I stayed back and talked with her and got details about meeting up with the French kids! We still don't have everything figured out, but I know most things now, so that's nice. She said she would talk to Johnson and then call me back in the morning. I told my host mom what she all said and asked if I could go for the whole week, and she has no problem with it, so YAYY!

This morning, Jaeda did call me back, but she didn't really have many answers for me, so she'll call me back later on. I'm SOO EXCITED thoughhhh! ahhhh!!!!! :D! After talking for a while, I got up and got ready for the day. In about 10 minutes, we're going to Thomas's house for lunch. Then later on today we're going to go to St. Cathrine (a town practically connected to Arras) for a parade or something.. I don't know exactly what, but the Roclincourt giant will be there, so yeah. I'll let you know how everything goes tomorrow.

à bientôt,
<3Miranda

Word of the Day: une cloche = a bell.

31 Days

I have only got 15 mins, so I am pretty sure this is gonna get cut off in the middle. I'll try and get as far as I can, though. This morning was the Counceille de Classe. That's where two representative students and all the teachers who have a student in our class get together and talk about each one and decide whether or not they will move onto Terminale or retake their Premiere year. Sabrina and Valentine are the representitives from our class who go and act as everyone elses' voices. That was from 8-10, so I didn't have histoire. I instead started with French. BEfore class started, Sabrina and Valentine read off the trimester grades and the teachers' comments of each student in front of the class. I really didn't expect to have much to hear, but I guess they spent a long time talking about me and how well I've progressed with my French! I also have an awesome grade! I rank FOURTH in my class of 32 kids! No lie! My "moyenne" is 13,77! Sabrina is number one, Jeremy is number two, and Marion is number three. I didn't have a grade for French or for biology because those teachers didn't grade any of my papers or tests, so that wasn't counted in, but I have at least something graded from every other course. English really brought my grade up. Although Marion has a better grade than me in Anglais Comp. It doesn't really matter, though. I had my last hour of that class this morning. lol. Anyway, all we did after that in French was talk about some of the texts and review a few things for the Bac.

After French was math. No one had any motivation to do anything today. This was their last day of math class in their entire lives. The L kids don't have to take it next year, nor in college! The teacher tried to teach us a lesson, but very few people worked. I wrote the first story problem down and then quit.

From noon until one I completed my last hour of Anglais Complementaire. We played games today, so nothing was too bad. He still gave me a hard time about 'forgetting my English so I can't speak it with anyone anymore' and some "subtle" crap like that. I don't care, though. I could not be happier to be done with that class. And I will never see him again, either.

Finally, it was lunch time. I ate with the girls and then we went to the CDI. We went on the computer and Sabrina showed us photos of her birthday party (back in February). Then I gave Sabrina some of mine. It was not an overly exciting hour.

The second hour off, I went into town with Sabrina and I bought my school supplies for next year. I loooove the stuff here, so I figured I'd stock up a little. ;D! I have only got 8 effaseurs, though! I'm scared I'ma run outa those! Sabrina told me she would send me some if I need them througout the year, so that was somewhat reassuring. lol. I got a couple movies, too :)!

From 4-6, we had our last two hours of French. We talked for the first hour about reviewing for the Bac and she handed us clean copies of the texts we've studied recently and all that. Then we had our Goûter! I brought chocolate chip cookies and everyone loooved them :)! My teacher asked for the recipe, but I don't have it memorized, so I couldn't give it to her :/! She signed my yearbook, though, and I invited her (along with the rest of my class) to my going away party on July 7th. I made invitations for that last night since I won't be seeing these people much after school gets out. The goûter was great! I tried tons of foods and cakes, and took a million pictures (actually, majority of them were taken by other people). Then Bryan and Jeremy started arm wrestling, and Sabrina insisted that I face the winner. They kind of tied, so Bryan said he'd face me. We sat there foreeeever and then Nicolas jumped in and helped me and I won! lol! Then a million people started arm wrestling and I had to verse a million people and ahh! My arms are sooo sore! haha!

After school, I hung out with some people from my class and waited for the bus. Then I came home, at a banana and got on the computer. Very soon here, (when my host mom gets home), I'ma go recharge my cell phone! Yay!

I'll ttyl!
<3Miranda

32 Days

Exactly one month from today I will no longer be with my host family. One month from Friday and I will be on the plane to New York. One month from Saturday and I will be in Fargo. Ah! It hasn't really sunk in yet how little time I have left and how quick it is going to go. I'm in this phase where nothing seems like it is going to change and my life feels as if it is going to remain like this, surrounded by these people, living in this house in this town in this country, speaking French, for a longgg time. I don't know why I can't realize the fact that everything is changing again in a month's time. Honestly, I can't even believe it is the end of the school year, and here I am in the middle of June.

Anyway, today was not a whole lot more exciting than yesterday. I am sorry, my blogs are getting really boring. Since we're on the last week of school, we don't do anything in class, so not a whole lot is worth writing about. This morning I took the bus to school because my host mom wasn't able to drive me at nine. I spent that hour in the CDI with Sabrina. Then we had math. We had an assignment to do, but since the grading period has stopped, no one was motivated at all and no one did anything. After class, I went into town with Wendie, Amélie, and Joy. We walked around and talked, and I bought a MAXIpain du chocolat! That's like, a giant petit pain! I don't even want to knowww how bad that was for me, haha. After that, we went to the movie theatre to check movie times. I was invited to a movie this afternoon, but since I have music, I had to decline the invitation. We went back to school around 11 and I met up with Sabrina and Marion, who had just finished Chinese. We went into town and I bought a CH'TI phrase book and a couple other things at the bookstore. Then we walked around some more before coming back to school. I found Camille (the one from Roclincourt, not from my class) and Oranne, and we waited for the bus together.

When I got home, I hung out with Pierre a little. When Spiderman came on, I decided to get on the computer, lol. My host mom made lunch and we ate around 1:30. Then I got back on the computer to check the chocolate chip cookie recipe. Tomorrow is my last day of French, so we are having a "Goûter" (like we did in theatre). I'm planning on bringin' some chocolate chip cookies to share for that :)! Pierre is at the Kiné right now, and my host mom has a thing and then is going to pick up some ingredients after she picks Pierre up. Hopefully I'll have enough time to make them before music tonight. I'm adding my new CD to my ipod right now, and earlier I uploaded a bunch of pictures to my album on myspace, so if you have me added on there you can check those out. I also finished up the poems from Mother's Day that Arlette asked me to type out. One of them I can't print out because I don't know who it is by, but I'll give her the other one tonight :).

I really don't have much else to say.
Have a good flight tomorrow, French travelers :D!

à demain
<3Miranda

Word of the Day: Demander = to ask

33 Days

Today I had some issues getting up. lol. I slept in an extra half hour! Thankfully, I forced myself to hurry through my morning routine and caught the bus. In Latin this morning, I doodled. Claire even let me use her markers, so today my stuff is all colorful! lol!

In French, we took notes on a text. Nothing new there. After that, we had history/geography. Before class started, Sabrina wrote a big message on the board from the whole class to me saying how everyone is going to really miss me next year. I honestly almost lost it. I didn't see that coming at all. Awhh. I am going to have THEE hardest time leaving here. It is seriously the weirdest feeling ever. I described it to Jaeda as a feeling of both ecstacy and depression at the same time. I'm SO excited to see everyone back home again, but at the same time I can't even think about having all the people I met here out of my life. It's going to be a lot harder than coming, mainly because I knew from the day I left that I would see Fargo and everyone in it again. When I leave here, I cannot be 100% certain that I will be back and that I will be able to see some of these people again. Anyway, I will save the rest of that for Friday when school's done. We spent the whole 2 hours of geography drawing a map of France. And honestly dude, the map had to be PERFECT. You had to use circle rulers and straight edge rulers and write straight and color perfectly and holyyy crap! It was just for us, so I did a 'good enough' job (which most of you Americans would probably consider an A+ lol) and called it quits. Then we had an hour of ECJS. We spent that watching the first half of a documentary on how Man is destroying nature and the world.

At 1, it was lunch time! I ate lunch with the girls and then Sabrina and I went to the CDI and goofed around. At 2, we had another hour of history so that we could watch the second half of the video. Then we had another French class in which we finished up taking notes on that text.

After school, I went back to the CDI with Sabrina and went online. Now I'm at home and just hangin' out for the time being. Hopefully I will have more exciting news to share with you tomorrow. haha.

Oh, by the way, if any of you French travelers have any questions before you go, I'd be glad to answer them for you! Just leave a comment and I'll leave my response on tomorrow's post :)! One thing for everyone, though, PACK HAND SANATIZER. I have gone through so much of that it's crazy. Almost no public place (and some people's houses) do not have handsoap. Also, Tide-to-Go comes in handy. Those would be two little things I'd reccomend you toss in your suitcase.
Bon Voyage! & à bientôt :D!


<33333333Miranda

Word of the Day: l'emploi de temps = schedule

34 Days

Ok, so I know I've been kind of slacking off with my posts and I will try and get better. I would hate to have done a really good job in the beginning and then just stop at the end.. that's what usually happens to me when I try and keep a journal of my trips or whatever, and I'm not going to let it happen this time! I never finished talking about Friday, nor did I get back on to make another post on Saturday, but I'll quickly brief them, as well as Sunday for ya.

Friday, the only really cool thing worth noting is that I went to the really pretty park I wanted to get my senior pictures in for the two hours Parcours used to take up. Sabrina and I took senior-like pictures with my camera, so even though I don't think they'll be decent enough quality to use for the real deal, I still have the pictures I would've like to take there. I'm going to try and find someone with a really nice camera and get them to take good ones for me, because they turned out cuuuuute :)!

Saturday, I came to school and went to Italian again with Sabrina and Camille. I really like that class. The teacher is really chill and laid back, and I think we do more conversational talking than we do reviewing Italian. I bought a big boquet of flowers for my host mom while I was in town, too, becase Sunday was Mother's Day here. Then, in the evening, I had a band concert! haha! Our jazz group had to play for the town Mother's Day event. This is kind of a funny story. I was running late and so when I got there, I hurried and put my flute together. My host mom gave a little speech and then introduced us. We started playing, and I could not get any sound to come outt! I couldn't figure out what was wrong, and I tried to fake it as best I could, but since I was so preoccupied trying to figure out what was wrong with the flute, I don't think I did a very good job with that. I dunno if anyone could really tell, though. In the end, I realized I forgot to pull the cleaning stick out of the flute before I put it together. ahah. Woops. Afterwards, I talked with a bunch of people and hung out in the back by the elementary school. Pierre, Pierre-Antoine, and some other people explained how everything was set up in the classrooms when they were younger and that some of the books we could see on the bookshelf were the same and it was fun. Just before 11, I went into town for "The Longest Night" visual arts festival in Arras. It went until 3AM, but we didn't stay the whole time. We went to see Luc and Alain, mainly. Originally, I was going to go with some friends, but since my cell phone is out of credit for the moment (I'm going to refill it tomorrow), we couldn't keep in touch, so that didn't work out. Luc, Alain, Pierre, my host mom, and I went to see some art, and then we watched a little silent movie in the back of a trailer.

Sunday was both Mother's Day and Election day. Unfortunately, I have to go to theatre, so I will tell you all about that later.
And I willll be back on today; I won't leave you hanging like I did Saturday.
:p!

Haha, Valerie. What were you doing upppp?! But anyway, I didn't have theatre and instead went out with Alice and Wendie. We met up with Joy and Alicia and then talked for a while. After that, I returned back to school to meet up with Sabrina, Marion, Virginie, and Laureen for lunch.

Okay, well I got a little ahead of myself there, so we're going to back up a little. Yesterday was Mother's Day, so since my host mom had to be at the Mairie all day for the European Elections, I had Pierre help me clean. My host mom always wants to clean up, but she neverr has time, so we planned on doing it for her. As nice as it would have been to do the whole house (or even just the whole main floor), it was not possible to do it all in one day. We decided to attack the living/dining room first, then move on to the other rooms if we had time. We cleaned the junk off the main table, and then moved all the knick-knacky things off the other surfaces and put everything on the table. We used a surface cleaner on everything, and then went through the junk and things that were on the table. I organized all the bookcases and cleaned a small one out completely. That one was instead filled with knick-knacks. At around one thirty, my host mom came home and we had lunch. She asked us if we could unstack the dishwasher and tidy the kitchen up a bit this afternoon. So, we took a break from the living room and did the kitchen. I did the dishwasher and Pierre took care of all the crap on the table. Then he did the counters and I cleaned out and organized majority of the drawers. They were insanely messy, too, so I was pretty pround when they were done. I didn't get to all of them, but I got the main ones tidied up. After that, we went back to work on the living room.

At a little after 5, my host mom came to get me to bring me to see how the elections worked. When you walked in, there were fliers of each party/group running and brown envelopes. You could grab as many fliers as you wanted, and then you go into one of the two voting booths. You stick the flier of the group you want to vote for into your envelope, and then throw the others in the garbage inside the booth. Once you've closed the enevelope, you exit the booth and go to a long table in the middle of the room. First, you give your national identity card to Arlette so she can varify you are who you say you are. Then, Jean-Luc checks to see if you are on the 'Eligable Voters List' and once he finds your name, you drop your envelope into the giant box and sign next to your name on the list to say you voted. At 6:00, the polls closed. 353 people out of seven-hundred-some eligable people in town voted (a little over 50%). Eight conseil members split into groups of four and sat at tables with the envelopes. One person would open the envelope, the next person would read off and sort the fliers, and two people would keep tallies (so that they don't mess up). If an envelope contained more than one different flyer, it was invalid. It was also invalid if the envelope was empty or had something other than the official flyer inside. If the envelope contained two or more of the same flier, it still counted, but only once. After all the votes were counted and all the paperwork was done, my host mom read off the results to the people who'd come to see how things turned out. If I remember right, the 'Gauche' party, the 'Vert' party, as well as a few others, did really well. We will have to wait and see how things turn out nationally.

After that was over, I went back home and helped Pierre finish up the living room. When my host mom was finally allowed to go inside, she was shockeddd at how awesome of a job we did :)! I'm pretty proud of how much we accomplished, too. I wish we would have taken a before and after picture- same goes for the kitchen. My parents will NEVER believe me! haha.

Anyway, today I got up and came to school at 10 for Anglais Complementaire. Kozimor is just going to irritate me right up until the end. I recorded the first 10 minutes of class today, just so that I can show you the way he talks when I get back, because it is impossible to describe. Unfortunately, it stopped before he got angry with me for not talking in English much with my classmates. He had asked me how I was doing and then he started asking me about when I'm leaving and what I'm going to do before I leave and all that. Then he asked Wendie what she thought about me being in her class. That was kind of a jerky question, I thought, because it really only leaves the person to respond in one way or be really rude. Anyway, after that, he asked Wendie if she spoke in English with me often outside of class. Wendie was kind of hesitant about telling him no, so I thought I would help her out by telling him that I told people I was here to learn French and they did not need to speak English with me. He took that completely the wrong way and got all over my case for being selfish and not letting the other people take advantage of having me here. I was so taken aback by what he said that I stopped arguing for a few seconds. Then I just wanted to yell in his face! He was going on and on about how I don't need to speak English all the time, but I should talk with my friends as much as possible in English and that way they can get better with their English, too. He asked me if I understood what he was saying, and I said yes, but I told him that I was sorry, but I'm not here to teach others English (I wanted to say that that was HIS job, but I held my tongue). I told him that I worked hard to get myself here and I wanted to get as much out of it as I could, so I need to speak in French. I told him that I helped people with English if they needed it (which is true), and that I talked English in English class, but I'm not going to speak it with my classmates in a conversational setting. He then replied that I should have, because I can speak French at home with my host family and he is sure that that would have been plenty. The whole class was thankfully on my side and people kept blurting in things on my defense. Sabrina said that if someone wanted to improve their English, they could go on a program like mine to the States or to England (since it's not that far). He had a reply for everything, though. What finally ended it was when Alice said "It's too late!" Thank God for that. The conversation really pissed me off. I have never ever met a teacher like him before, and I really hope I don't meet another. Thankfully I only have to spend one more hour of my life in his presence on Thursday, and then, never again! :D!

Okay, I apologize for my constant rants about this guy, but I don't think I've gotten through one class period where he hasn't done something really jerky or something that's really pissed me off. After class, I came to the CDI while Sabrina had Chinese. Then I went out in town with Wendie and Alice since theatre is finished. I bought a chocolate filled croissant and ate that before coming back to school at one. I got there a little early and the doors weren't yet open. Saloua, Parine, and Justine were waiting outside, too. Saloua had a bunch of markers and 'tatooed' Parine's arm. Then she asked if she could do mine, too, so I let her. She wrote "I <3 GAMBETTA" all the way down my forearm and onto my hand. lol. When the doors opened up, I found the girls and we ate lunch. Now we have until 4:00 to chill. There's no more science, so after the first hour of English LV1, I have an hour and a half to hang out before the second hour of English LV1. Then I end my day with an hour of French.

à demain!
<3Miranda

Word of the Day: faire le ménage = to do housework

37 Days

I have only 10 minutes before I go to the "conseille manicipale" so this is gonna be quick. I had Latin this morning, the French, followed by a short pause which I spent with Sabrina in the CDI. Then we had English. We continued talking about a text, and then class was over and Sabrina and I went around school taking pictures. I wanted to get pictures of different places around school before it's over. Awhhhh! I can't believe I only have one week left with everyone :(!

But anyways, at one, we met up with Marion at the cantine and then found Virginie and Laureen at a table. We all ate together, and then Sabrina went with Marion into town, and I went to the CDI. I had a really bad stomach ache, and was not in the mood to walk much.


SORRY! GOTTA GO.
Okay, today I've got some time, so I will finish up.

I went to the CDI for a while and then went outside and sat on the benches with Wendie, Joy, Alice, and Alexandra. At the end of the hour, Sabrina came back and all of us went to English again. This time, we got our grade averages for the trimester. I didn't have one in French or History/Geo, so I didn't think I'd get one in English either, but I did! I have an 18.6or7something. Haha, everyone was like "That's ittt?! You don't have a 20?!" :P! I know majority of you don't have any idea what that means, so I'm going to attempt and explain the French grading scale to you.

The French are graded on a scale of 1-20 (1 being terrible and 20 being outstanding). The average is 10, so if you have anything from about 1-9, that's not very good; 10-13 is normal; 14-16 is really good and anything over 16 is awesome. All the tests, assignments, and final grades are ranked on this scale. There is no such thing as FERPA, so the teachers read off trimester grades in front of the whole class. I noticed the average person has an 11.something or 12.something this trimester in French and English (I didn't hear the history ones). The highest grade in French was a 16.something, and the second highest grade was a 15.something. In English, the highest grade after mine was a 15.something. Each number and decimal really makes a difference, and it's nearly impossible to get a 20. I honestly don't know if they even give those. Even on assignments and tests teachers are just as hard. To 'get' their Bac, students need at least the average (10). If the don't score high enough (or if their grades aren't very good), they have to retake the whole year over again. That is a lot more common here than in the States. There is a girl in my class who is on her third time around her Première year, and after that, she still has to get through Terminale.. :/! Then I believe there are a couple other people in my class working on their second year.

Most of the students here have much better work habbits and better attitudes toward school, though. You don't find people who come to class, put their head down, and sleep; they all pretty much take notes and listen. If people don't plan on working in class, they skip it (which does happen frequently with some people). People here generally put a lot more time and effort into their assignments and tests/essays (DSs). They are required to put a lot more detail and write a lot more than Americans in order to get a decent note. You can't just slide by with the bare minimum. On DSs, you need to have an outline, an introduction, a 'problematique' (question you will answer in your paper), a 2-3 paragraph body discussing that problematique(with transition sentences and all), and then a conclusion. It's not written exactly the same style as I'm used to, though. In French, (normally) you can choose between a Commentaire, a Disertation, or an Ecrit d'Invention. All of those are written with the same general essay format, but each one has its style and different requirements. For example, in a commentaire, you read the extract and you write what you know about it. You create a problematique from the text (I've never been very good at those, because they can't be too general or 'easy.') and then you just write about it and what you understood. In a Disertation, you get a topic related to the extract, and then you write about that and you come up with outside examples. This one reminds me more of an American essay. Your problematique relates the text you read to something else (for example, How does this extract demonstrate the qualities of classicism? or something like that). This is a little harder, but it kind of depends on the topic and the text. It helps if you really like or dislike the reading, because you can come up with a better arguement. The Ecrit d'Invention is your creative writing. The format isn't quite as strict and usually is the most lineant with grading (although, not by a whole lot). You get a topic that is related to the text, but you don't actually write about the text, you just write your own work that is in the same style or somehow relates to it. This can either be really hard or kind of easy, again depending on the topic.

But anyway, I'm out of time so I've gotta go. I will update you on my day later on.
BYE!
<3Miranda
Word of the Day: redoubler = to repeat a grade

38 Days

Today was fun, and different. This morning, I didn't have history, so school didn't start until 10. That allowed me to sleep in, which was really nice. My host mom had a hair appointment, so Pierrette's son took me to school. I swear I thought I was going to be late. He was late picking me up and he was slowww on the road. I got to school at 10:03, and miraculously, the doors were still open. I pushed my way through the crowd of people and made it in JUST in time. Then I went into the courtyard and found Wendie, Joy, Alice, Alexandra and a couple other people getting ready to go to class. I cannott believe I made it on time, but I'm pretty happy that I did. You know, I have not been late even once in the morning here (except the first day, I guess, but that doesn't count). That's awesome for me. It's probably because I usually take the bus, so I kind of have to be on time. At home, I've got major motivation issues in the morning. lol.

Anyway, French was my first class. We talked about the same extract that we started talking about a week ago. Then we got our Le Parfum essays back and hah! That was embarrassing. I got 2 questions somewhat right. It's not like I had a grade, though, so there was not a whole lot written on my paper.

After French, we had math. Today, we spent the whole hour drawing a square with other squares inside it and little images inside those.. it was one of those things were you can rotate the image and it looks the same.. I dunno. Mine kind of sucked. Nobody took it too seriously, and lots of people blew it off altogether. haha. I did actually work, but I didn't finish. It really doesn't matter because it's not due for a grade.

Since Kozimor wasn't there, we did not have Anglais Complementaire today :D! Instead, Sabrina and I met Marion at the cantine and went to lunch. After eating, we went to the CDI until one o'clock rolled around. Marion had class and Sabrina & I went out into town. We went to the Furet and I bought a CD, a DVD, and a French keyboard with all the accents and everything on it. I plan on hooking that up at home, so my family can look forward to relearning the key placements ;D! I got some birthday cards and postcards at Brunet's next door. Then Sabrina went back to school and I walked to the train station to meet up with Mary and some other people. She invited me to her house today for a little birthday party. I got to the station early, and no one else was there yet. I really had to go to the bathroom, so I went inside to look for one. I ended up PAYING to use the one inside the café. That was kind of annoying, but I really had to go, so I guess it was worth it.

When I went back outside, Alexandra was there. Her and I waited, and soon Mary showed up, followed by Amélie, Joy, and Wendie a little later. I gave Mary a birthday card and an "Je suis aimée" pin (because the lady at Helzberg Diamonds sent me with over a hundred of those things!). Then we all walked together to Mary's house, which wasn't too far away. Inside, we got a little tour. Her house is really nice, and it's super old and there's a history chart of all the people that have lived in it and everything. It's really cool. We spent majority of the time in the kitchen/dining room. We took a million pictures and listened to music and Mary tried to teach me the Michael Jackson moonwalk, but I stubbed my toe really bad (and it still hurts) so I quit. lol. She blew out the candle on her cake, and we all had a piece. There was also candy and ice cream to munch on. To drink, there was ice tea and a drink kind of like Sprite called "limonade." We stayed at her house until 4:30 or so, talking and just chillin' out.

When we left, Alexandra, Mary and Amélie went one way, and I went with Joy, Wendie, and Alice to walk around town. We went to a parfumerie for a while and smelled tons of different parfums. Then we walked around for a while. We went past the city library, the museum, and then stopped at the cathedral and hung out on the steps. Just before 6, we started back to school. I found Sabrina waiting for me on a bench outside the school, and talked to her until my bus came.

Back at home, I had a snack and went up to my room to unload my bag. When I came back downstairs, my host mom surprised me with tickets to London the 29-30th of June!!! :DDD! It's just going to be her and I, since Pierre has no intrest in going. He'll be staying with Simon. Then it was time for Pierre to go to the dietician, so my host mom and him left. I used that oppertunity to get on the computer, so voilà!


à demain!
<3Miranda

Word of the Day: Un anniversaire = a birthday

39 Days

Well, if yesterday was a bad day, today was completely the opposite! I can't say I was the most enthusiastic when I forced myself out of bed this morning, but my day has definitely improved. I had math this morning to start out. All we did was go over the corrections of our DM. I got an 8/10 on that, by the way, thanks to Sabrina ;D! There's really not much to share about that class.

Then I had my last theatre class. Since it was the last day, we had a "Gouter" and everyone was supposed to bring treats. My host mom sent me with two bags of cookies, coconut maccaroons, some fruit cake muffin things, and I threw in a couple packages of Oreos, too. Other people brought crêpes, brownies, fruit cake, lots of different cookies, and candy. To drink, we had a choice of fruit juice, coke, or a carbonated lemonade-type drink. I tried tons of different stuff, but I really liked the crêpes and the maccaroons. The gouter lasted for the first hour of class, and the second hour was spent watching the Terminale kids rehearse their scenes that they'll be performing for the Bac. Instead of doing that (since I've seen them all a million times), I went with Wendie and Alice to the CDI and watched them run through a scene that they want to do next year.

When class was over, I went outside and waited for my bus. I found Sabrina, her sisters, Virginie, and Laureen. We talked for a while, and then they left. I didn't have to wait too much longer until my bus showed up. Today I also started getting people to sign my 'yearbook.' It's started to sink in that I'm getting near the end of my stay here, and I'm not going to some of these people ever again, and others not for a very long time. It'll be weird going back home and leaving people I've spent pretty much every day with for the last 4 and a half months. I honestly wish school wasn't so close to over, because after that, I probably won't see much of my friends from school. Everyone lives far apart, so doing things with people who don't live in your town gets kind of hard to organize. That would be one thing I really dislike here.

But anyway, after school, I came home to a package waiting for me!! It was from Rica and my mom! That really made my day. I opened the package in my room and found enough hand sanitizer to keep me going for another 6 months. lol. The really awesome part was underneath all that. Rica sent me a Sing It Loud tee-shirt from the concert, WITH autographs and my nameee on it! PLUS the CD with all the band's autographs and my name written on that, too. :D! I got some of the Sudhian issues, too, as well as a French Valentine (that's a little late :P!) and a bunch of other things. As soon as I finished unpacking everything, it was time to eat. I had to take my inhaler and ughh. I suck with medicine. I'm the kind of person that sits there forEVER with it in front of me, just staring at it, not wanting to take it but knowing I have to.
*Sorry. I had to go to music*
Anyway, I had to take the inhaler, and it took me foreverr to force myself into it. I hate medicine so much. And I have so effing much to take. I really don't think all of it is necessary. I'm going to try and just take the nasty pill and then one of the nasel sprays and if I don't feel better after that, I'll take the other stuff. I really don't feeel that bad anymore, it's just irritating to cough up flem and have slight trouble breathing and a stuffy nose. I feel like I could get over it myself, though. I don't wanna load up on meds if I don't have to.

Once I finally got done with the inhaler, I brushed my teeth and headed to the Coiffure! Yeahhh, I got my hair done today! I got my hilights redone and then trimmed and layered my hair. It was really nice to get that done. :)! That took up a good chunk of my afternoon. When I came back, I read the Sudhian issues Rica sent me, and I found a Valentine's shout out to me from Valerie! Thank you for that :D! Then I listened to my Sing It Loud CD with Pierre. After that, I got online. Then I went to music and now I'm back at home.

I'll write again tomorrow.
<3Miranda

Word of the Day: les meches = hilights

40 Days

Well today really sucked. I was so tired last night, I failed to hear my alarm when it went off. My host mom woke me up a quarter to seven, and I had a half hour to take a shower and get ready. I did manage to catch the bus, thankfully. When I got to school, I had Latin, and since no one from my class was standing around talking today, I went right up to the hallway outside the Latin room on the second floor. Claire and Florient were there, so I talked with them. Justine showed up a little later and joined the conversation.

In Latin, I wrote the first draft of the introduction to my "yearbook." I tried to explain what it was and what I wanted people to do with it and everything. That took me majority of the class period, and after I finished, I just sat there and listened to the teacher babble on about some commentaire the kids were supposed to do.

After that was French. I copied Sabrina's notes at a relaxed pace, and kind of slept through class. All we did was talk about the extract the entire hour and take notes. Nothing too interesting happened.

Following French was two hours of History. We continued talking about Mussolini, Hitler, and Stalin. While I really do find that kind of interesting, I was too tired to pay much attention. I got all the notes down, but during the half hour that we watched a movie, I rested my eyes a little. lol.

When history was over, Sabrina and I went to the CDI. I taught her how to use hotmail since she's kind of a newbie, and then we looked at old pictures on my MSN Space. lol. I hadn't been on there since 8th grade, so that was kind of fun.

We had lunch with the girls at 1. I almosttt got chicken nuggets again, but they ran out two people ahead of me. :/ I was forced to take the fish, but that ended up being pretty good.

After lunch, Sabrina and I went to the park by Lycée Robespierre. We layed under a hugee tree and talked and listened to music. My cell phone is out of credit and my host mom took it so that she could try and figure out how to recharge it, so for the time being, I am without my phone. We had to watch the time on my ipod. Sabrina read my introduction page that I wrote in Latin, and she made the corrections. I had a throbbing headache, so I took some tylonal, and then it was time to head back to school. We had another hour of history today since we won't be having class on Thursday. That was pretty exciting. How many of you have gotten the oppertunity to sit through THREE hours of history class in ONE DAY?! I'm sure you're all pretty jealous of that :P! I honestly do like history class, but even two hours at a time gets long.. the third hour (even though there was a nice break) was unbarable. And next week, I can look forward to FOUR hours, since we will have ECJS along with it.

After history, I had another hour of French. It was during this hour that I had a really proud moment. My teacher handed back our DSs from two Saturdays ago, and although I didn't have a note, she told left tons of good comments. She also said, in front of the whole class, that no one mentioned that one of the poems was written with an acrostic style EXCEPT Miranda. Hah. That was a great moment. I got to feel pretty smart in FRENCH class-- and that neverr happens! I also got a "Bien" on my poem that I wrote. I'm actually pretty proud of that, too. When I was taking the DS, I thought I'd end up chosing the commentaire or the disertation, because I didn't think I'd be able to write a poem in French that both used the litterary elements and made sense at the same time. I did, though! And it even rhymed! I'll write it for ya. I have to put it in French or it doesn't sound as good, but you can translate it or something if you want. :)! Also, I know I made a couple mistakes, but oh well.

Il est un ange
Qui aime bien faire le menage.
Après elle nage,
Elle fait le linge,
Et dans sa chambre, elle range.

Il est aussi un singe
Qui fait jamais le menage.
C'est sale, chaque salle,
Et il besoin de les range,
Car sa maison, elle resemble un orage.

And there you go. My beautiful work of French poetry. Some of the stuff is kind of weird, but we had to use different litterary things. 'Ange' and 'Nage' are composed of the same letters, but they are in a different order. Then 'sale' and 'salle' sound the same, but mean different things. And then you have 'linge' and 'singe' that look relatively similar. So that was the hilight of my day.

After school is when it got nasty. I got done at 5, and usually I would hang out with my friends until 6 and catch the bus home, but since I have been feeling worse instead of better, my host mom insisted on taking me back to the doctor. I waited for her outside, and not very many other people were around, so I just stood there by myself. Some kids kept looking at me and talking, and it really didn't bother me, but one girl came up to me and asked me if I was lost because I looked like I didn't know where I was. I told her I was just waiting for my host mom to pick me up. As usual, after I started talking, she heard the accent and started asking me questions about where I was from and all that. When I told her that I've been in France since February, she told me I speak French really well. She told me about Carla (the American that was a student here until mid February) and said that she was supposed to be here all year, but got frustrated and wasn't learning any French, so she left early. I guess she was really shy and only talked to people who spoke English to her because she didn't understand really any French. I'm reallyyy thankful that I didn't end up in the same situation. That would have made this unbarable!

Anyway, my host mom finally showed up and I said goodbye to this girl (I forgot to get her name). She took me to the doctor and we were in and out in about 10 minutes. He listened to me breath and cough again, asked me what was different than last time, and then perscribed me a freaking million things. He never said what I have, but I think I've got a sinus infection along with my ongoing resperatory infection. I have not one, but TWO things I have to squirt up my nose. One of them I have to take twice a day for 2 days, and the other one I have to do twice a day for TEN days. Then I have an inhaler that I'm supposed to do twice a day for a wholee month! It has cortizone in it, so I have to be sure and rinse my mouth out really well afterwards. I dunno what cortizone is, but I'm guessing it's not very good for your teeth.. lol. Then he gave me cough drop things for my throat. And finally, (and worst of alll) I was given antibiotics. I have to take one tablet daily for 5 days. That doesn't sound so bad, but since I can't swallow it, I have to chew the thing. It tastes so effing terrible that I honestly almost puked. The flavor stuck in my mouth through a full glass of grape juice, another glass of water, a slice of bread, and a few bites of pizza. Then the taste was finally gone enough to bare. The only thing that REALLY sucked, was that I'd only taken HALF of the pill; I still had another half to go! This time, my host mom ground it up and shoved it in a glass with some grape juice. It took a while, but I eventually got myself to drink it. It tasted NASTYYY, but I got the flavor out a little faster this time-- I didn't need the slice of bread. hah. Thennnn we loooked in the glass and unfortunately, it didn't dissolve well in the grapejuice, and the chunks of medicine were all at the bottom. I was forced to down that disguisting crap a third time!! Ughh. I have never taken medicine so terribly tasting in my entire life. Never ever. I don't know HOW I am going to get four more of those down. I STILL have the flavor vaguely in my mouth, and I took it a little over an hour ago! ick ick ickk! Not looking forward to taking that again. I haven't yet taken the inhaler, since that can cause you to feel nausiated, and I already get that feeling with the pill. The first nasel stuff was supposed to make my nose run, but it didn't work. My host mom said it's because the stuff is jammed too far up there, and it'll take a while to come down. Great. I am so tired of being sick. I wish I could just get all better really quick so I could enjoy the time I've got left and not feel so tired all the effing time. En plus, I hardly even have timee to catch up on sleep. errg. Well, if I can make it through this week and next, I'll be able to sleep in. :)

As for all of you, I hope finals are going well!
Happy End of the School Year!
<3

à demain!
-°Miranda

Word of the Day: Reposer - to relax, take it easy.

41 Days

Wow, have I got a lot to write in a half hour. I really want to get to bed by 10 since I have school tomorrow and I'm exhausteddd! To catch you up quickly-
Saturday, I ended up going to Italian class from 10-12 with Camille and Sabrina. We didn't make the appointment for my senior pictures because I forgot to figure out a date with my host mom. So I will hopefully accomplish that early on this week. Italian was great! It was at the other high school across the street, and they were reviewing things from the very beginning. I copied down the months, numbers 1-20, regular verb conjugasions, and the irregular verbs or "être," "faire," and "avoir" in Italian. I honestly feel like I understood more in that class than Latin, and I've never taken an Italian class before in my life. I got invited back next week, too, so I think I will continue taking Italian. :)! But after that was over, I took the bus home and helped Pierre get things together for his party. We went to the store and bought a bunch of food and stuff, and then came back and got it all together. People started showing up around 3. The first to arrive was a friend from Pierre's class (Robin) and his family. He has a host sister named Nist who is from Thailand. I met her once before, but I don't know if you guys remember. She's friends with Marina (the Brazilian) and they're both in the same class at the Lycée in Béthune. Anyway, she invited me to Calais with her, Marina, and some other friends from school on Monday since it's a holiday (Pentecôte). Her host parents suggested that I spend the night with them Sunday in Béthune so that I don't have to get up insanely early and drive there. As we were talking, other people arrived. Nist stayed, but the parents left after working things out with my host mom. I helped Pierre distribute all the animal masks we made for this big event, and then he played some French Lion King music and we all danced. Well, not all of us danced.. I didn't really, and nor did Nist, Robin, or Romane. Benoît did a little, and Pierre-Antoine got pretty into it, but other than that, it was mainly just Pierre. We played a game in the backyard and took a bunch of pictures. Then my host mom called that to a stop, and we had cake and opened gifts. Afterwards, Pierre-Antoine, Antoine, Nist and I went to the Mairie to see the "Under 18 Town Coucil" meeting. Just as we got to the door, the kids came out; the meeting was over. haha, what timing. Christelle explained what the kids did, a little, and what I got was that any kids under 18 in the town who want to change something or have a suggestion to better the community can attend the meeting. It's a way to give the younger people a voice, too. I thought that was a neat idea. We picked on Arlette a little, who was outside gardening, and then returned back to the party. Nist's host parents were there, so she and Robin headed out. Then Benoît left with his dad. After a little talking, Pierre-Antoine and Antoine headed out, too.

Saturday night was also Marius's first birthday party, so we went over to Simon and Claire's house for a bbq. We were kind of late arriving, but still got there before dinner, so no biggie. lol. Marius has gotten sooo big since I've seen him last! He's got tons of hair, too! He is just finishing up getting over the chicken pox, so there were a few scabs left on his face and scalp. I've never had those, and now that I'm more than 9 years old, I hope I never do. It kind of worried me a little to go to his house, but we were outside 90% of the time, so I think I'm safe. Pierre got a Wii for his birthday from the family, so we went to set that up. We played Wii Sports until dinner, and then afterwards Romane and Pierre played some Mario Kart. I spent majority of the time talking with the other people outside. There was Annick (who will nottt leave me alone about my being sick and being homesick and everythinggg! And that is really getting to me.), Thomas & Anne and their kids, and a couple friends of Simon & Claire and their two boys. It wasn't a large crowd, but we had a good time. I was reallyyy tired by the end. Originally, I was going to go to a discotheque with some people from town, but I postponed that to a later time because there was no way I'd have made it. I was nearly falling asleep at 9:00, and I doubt I would have even made it to 11 if I'd've gone out. So then, after a nice, long bbq, we headed home.

Sunday, I got up kind of late. Pierre had already left with Thomas to drop their dad off at the trainstation. I got ready for the day, and then came downstairs to find Claire, Simon, Lola, and Marius already here for lunch. My host mom had run out for a bit, so I set the table and got things ready as best I could. Then I talked with them for a while. Annick came a little later, followed by Anne & Thomas, Romane, Lou-Marie, and Lilian. We all ate lunch together and then I got my stuff ready to go. My host mom drove Pierre and I to Robin & Nist's house near Béthune. We went swimming in their pool with their brother, William, their cousin, Benoît(not the same one from the party), and Marina. We had chocolate chip cookies, raspberry smoothies, apple pie, and sparkling soda for snack later on. Then my host mom and Pierre took off and I stayed with Nist and Marina. Benoît left shortly after for work. William, Robin, Marina, Nist, and I played a few card games. Then we ate dinner and played another card game with the whole family. Then we played a round of Scrabble before heading up to bed.

This morning, I got up at 7:45 to start getting ready. I did nott feel very well. In fact, I feel more like I have bronchitis now than I did a week ago. And it shows up the day after I finished my meds, too! Anyway, we left an hour later for the train station, where we met up with Marina and the other girls who were going to Calais with us. There was Julie, Elise, Madeline, and Lili (I don't remember her real name, but that's what everyone calls her). When our train arrived in Calais, we walked around for a while and took a bunch of pictures. We went past the Beffoi, a bunch of memorial statues, and the beach. Supposedly, on a nice, clear day you can see the cost of England accross the Channel. I didn't see it today, though. Then we spent nearly two hours trying to find transportation to Cité Europe ('the biggest shopping center in Northern France'). Since it was a holiday, nothing was available. We found a tourist building and the lady hooked us up with twoo taxis. Unfortunately, the maximum number of people a taxi can take is 6 people, and since we had 7, we needed two. At the mall, we ate lunch at McDonalds. Then we hit a few shops (NafNaf, H&M, Promod, and a fancy dress store). I got a pair of sandals at H&M, because I am really sick of not having any to wear. I was told that the French do not wear flipflops, so I didn't bring any, but they actually do- just not as often as Americans. After our time was up, we took the taxis back to the train station and caught our train back. I stayed on the train after everyone else got off at Béthune and continued on to Arras. My host mom and Pierre came to get me there, and we came back and had dinner. Then I got on the computer and voilà!

Monthly Progress Report: This month has for sure felt the longest. After I got sick, I kind of lost it. I did try and work on my pronouns and learning the gender of the nouns better, but I don't feel like I did a very good job with that. I've noticed my English is getting really bad, though! My sentences are formulated really weird when I talk, and I have trouble getting out what I need to say comprehensively. I gave 2 people directions and asked another lady (who was English)for directions in English, today in Calais, and wowww was that weird. It's turned into a natural thing to speak French all the time, and after trying to actually communicate with people who speak English, it felt really strange. You're all going to have so much fun mocking my terrible English when I get back. lol. My writing on here even kind of sucks compared to what it used to be. Next month, I basically just want to make it through healthy and happy. I want to enjoy it as much as I can before I have to leave. This is my last full month here, and I've gotta make the best of it and do anything I haven't done yet that I wanted to do.

à demain!
<3Miranda

Word of the Day: le manche = the Channel.