Pau, Bordeaux, Paris

I think I post too much. If you guys are getting sick of me, just tell me and I can lay off a little.

BUT gosh I had an amazing weekend. And my schedule is looking rather tasty for the next few weeks too :)

So, this weekend. Saturday I had class which was ugh but not so bad maybe because I don't do terribly in the sciences and the Chinese teacher has already put my in the hopless pile, where I relax most comfortably :)

Then that afternoon I came home and began to prepare the evening meal for the family (because I went all out). I had done the shopping for it Friday afternoon at a MASSIVE grocery store called Carrefour. anyway, I baked beer bread, and fried beer batter fish and oven baked some chips. Get it? Fish and chips ahahaha kiwi as bro. I also did a butterscotch self saucing pudding for dessert which was awesome. The family liked it and were very nice about it and I have to cook it again sometime apparently :) success.

And then today (Sunday) I went to my first chapter meeting. Contrary to what I previously believed, I don't actually know anybody in my chapter, but I had Marion with me and everyone else was equally unacquainted so between the group we made friends of eachother. Some interesting people of note:

Richard (Hungary): taught me how to count to ten in Hungarian! I've already forgotten but I will google it
Uhaina (French): really really nice and I taught her the cup song, she is hosting Richard
David (Czech Republic): speaks perfect English, and is equally nice

And I'll be seeing them again at the AFS camp in two weeks too!

Wich brings me to my schedule. So this weekend coming up Taryn Swete is coming over, as you all know, which I am excited about! Marion and Laure are going to come shopping with us too. The NEXT weekend the AFS camp is in Bordeaux, Marion and I are catching the train in and I get Saturday morning classes off! Then the NEXT weekend, we go to Paris and again I get classes off. Then as soon as I return, it is Alexia and Laures birthday party :)

Phewwww I'll be busy. But I am CRAZY looking forward to it all, I will probably post again after Taryn comes so until then,

Stay Super,
Holly

Happenings

So this is just a general update, let y'all know what's the hishaps around town.

First off, thanks to all my readers! This blog is getting more attention than I thought it would (and more than it deserves probably). And from people I didn't expect too (Hey Mr McConchie!!). Anyway, thanks for stopping in, I feel very loved :)

So that Mal du pays thing is more or less over - I still miss home and everything but not to the point where I would trade any moment here for it. I will come home when January comes, don't you worry, but I'm fully enjoying things here.

I joined a gym too! It's adorable, quite small and 100% females only. There is a cardio section with bikes and cross trainers and every half an hour a circuit class with weight training at one minute intervals and Zumba!! Man, Zumba is fun. The gym keeps me occupied in the afternoons and the endorphins keep me happy and all, it works all round.

Also, next weekend, fellow nz Afs student Taryn Swete is coming up from Tarbes (around 50km away) for a sleepover!! I'll meet her at the train station in Pau at around midday and we will do some much needed clothes shopping in the city centre, I am going to force feed her this caramel de buerre sallé icecream and she will come stay the night at mine. I am so e xcited about this, it'll be awesome to compare experiences so far with another exchange student!!

Speaking of other exchange students, I have my first French chapter meeting on Sunday. In New Zealand these were awkward affairs for me, because most of the time I was the only NZ student there, and all of the international students kind of grouped and spoke in their own language. Now the shoe is thoroughly on the other foot, I'll do another post afterwards to let you all know how it goes.

MUSIC: the music scene here is incredible. I have already been introduced to some French music that I ADORE and an entirely new genre that I cannot stop listening to (its called ambient downtempo but I'm pretty sure it's an acquired taste so don't go googling it and getting your hopes up). Also, (this addressed to the GROUP) my friend Laure loves Lana del Ray! These people are awesome, really.

Also, fun fact, if a teacher can't come into class, neither does the class. Myhistory teacher
feels an impending disaster next Monday which means for me two hours of potentially chilling. Bless this system.


That's all I got for now, but I have no doubt left out vital information. That'll come when I remember it :)

Stay super,
Holly

Mal du Pays

So the title of this post, means homesickness in English. This period of my exchange seems to be the time for it to come up, and I have discovered ( via Facebook posts and whatnot) that my fellow exchangers are having the same thing. However, as much as I do miss home (and I do, truly) I am still over the moon happy to be here. There have been several things in these past few days that have brought forth my gratitude in particular, and in the spirit of being happy I will post them here, to bore you all.

1. Premièrement, (ha I don't even think I spelt that right) is my host family, my host sister Marion in particular. It must be so difficult, especially for such a big family, to open your home to a stranger, who knows NOTHING of your culture and only a little of your language, and make them feel at home. Last Sunday Marion woke up early to go to the supermarket and buy bacon and eggs to give me a real Kiwi Sunday breakfast. It really meant a lot that they go to such lengths for me.

2. My friends here. These are in no particular order by the way. Laure, Alexia and Manon especially, who always make sure that I never eat alone at the canteen, help with school work and talk to me ALL the time. They don't make me feel at all like an imposition on them and I love them for it.

3. My family back home. I have had contact, officially, beyond Facebook messaging! I have Skyped Dad, and the trooper that he is, there were no tears whatsoever. I got news of back home (get well soon Aunty Helen!) and he got news from here and it was awesome to see and talk to him. Also, I called my Mum! And we are arranging a Skype date too, but it was so great to hear her voice. I think that we're all dealing with the distance very well.

4. Friends back home. I'm so glad I have people that check up on me! Even asking how I am doing is so nice and such a comfort. It shows who really cares, by who is keeping up the contact still :) Particualr thanks to Blair and Andi and Avi big hugggggs guys I miss you

That done, I have some other, trivial things that I would like to share.

First, the butterflies here are ADORABLE. They're tiny and purply blue and white and they sit on the edges of stalks and pretend to be flowers the cunning devils.

Second, I saw a girl have her birthday at school today, the poor soul. In the Pau (or all of France) tradition, she was pelted with first eggs then flour. Great to watch, but I am a little relieved that I won't be having my birthday here :)

Third a HUGE unbelievable congratulations to my best friend Andi who won the Board of Trustees representative award back in New Zealand! It genuinely cheered me up today when I was having a kind of slow morning :) I am so proud of her, I will have to get her a special congratulations present I think.

Fourth, a weird coincidence which just shows how cool the people I am hanging out with are. My friend Alexia and I got to talking today and I told her, bychance, of a poem that I LOVE called Invictus, written by William E Henley and SHE told me that she had the very same poem, in French, in the wall by her bed. Not many of the people who read this blog have been into my room at Dads but sure enough, on the wall RIGHT BESIDE MY BED hangs the poem Invictus. It was an awesome moment.

That's all for now people,
Stay super,
Holly

How Things Are

Alright, as with anything there are good aspects to this exchange and there are bad. In this post I will honestly outline a few of the bad, and then describe the good. Trust me that the latter FAR outweighs the former.

So, school on Saturday isn't awesome I have to say. It's is actually one of the heaviest days of my timetable too, I have FOUR classes that day, two of them sciences and the other two Chinese. Not really that great but I'm sure I will get used to it. At least they're only morning classes, so I have Saturday afternoon to myself.

The other bad is the obvious language barrier. I had a habit of daydreaming in New Zealand and it tuned me out of conversations a little, and here I am at risk of doing the same because not understanding things DOES get a little boring. I have only been here a week, so it is unreasonable for me to expect to understand everything at this point but it is getting tiring, I wish I could improve faster.

Now for some good, and trust me the good is really good, where the bad was only irritating. First, I saw the castle in Pau and it was more amazing than anything I expected and I am going back there in one hour to see the inside too. It is huge, and old and so finely carved it must have taken YEARS to do. It is strange to think that I can touch a building older than the European occupation of my own country.

Also, that same afternoon, (Marion and I took the bus into the centre of Pau, about a ten minute ride if that) I tried ice cream from an Artisan Glacier, the flavour was called "Caramel de Buerre Sallé" and it was mindblowing. I am not even exaggerating when I say it was the best ice cream that I have ever had.

That same afternoon (it was an amazing afternoon), Marion showed me the shopping district in
Pau, not far from the Glacier and the castle, and it was so nice, and not expensive at all!! I saw a coat to end all coats, and several other pretty things. I bought a couple of pretty scarfs too :)

AND HERE IT IS, this is the big Kahuna of good news, and I just received it a while ago.
It more or less prompted this post. I GET TO GO TO PARIS AGAIN!!! Marion has a friend who lives in a big apartment in the city and she has invited us to stay with her for FOUR days, and we will tooth go up by train :) I am BEYOND excited about this, and it is so soon - the 19th of October as far as I understood.

Stay Super,
Holly

BOXING!!

Salut everybody,

I'm not saluting you, that's how we say hey here in France :)

So, you're probably interested in the title, but I won't explain until after some other stuff because you all enjoy suspense.

I had my first sport lesson today! We are doing a cycle of handball at the moment, which is some weird netball basketball soccer hybrid with little soccer ball things oh gosh I can't even explain it. Suffice to say that I am about as good at sport here in pau as I was in papakura. Those who were in my p.e. classes will know how sad that is.

However, I also went on a bike ride with my sister Marion, to take a break a break from our homework, in a forest very near the house. It was awesome, and my legs are feeling it, but I got to see the horse track, and the stables, and some of a nice big forest where lots of people run and walk. I will have to do more of that that to counteract these croissants.

Gosh, speaking of croissants. In history we are studying economic "croissance" which is growth. I went an entire lesson believing that we were studying the effect of pastries on the economy, I genuinely expected a field trip to a patisserie.

On the subject of food, because that will never not be a point of focus for me here in France, lunch at school was awesome today. I had this tomato chicken n rice with semolina for entree and an apple and some bread. Dinner tonight was a pumpkin soup entree with pasta and some chocolates I bought from New Zealand for dessert :)

Onto the boxing. My friend at school, Alexia, invited me to try boxing with her after school on Wednesday. I met her at the club in a town called Idron not far from Pau, and I watched the kids class and then participated in the adult class. It was two hours long and SO HARD but apparently I did okay.

The trainer is just awesome beans, too. Alexia told me that he used to work for a corporate boxing club but that they fired him when he wanted to train women, so he left and started his own club that trains whoever wants to train, and he doesn't charge! He was really nice to me as well, explaining things and all.

I do miss a few things from home, but I find that keeping busy helps take my mind off it all :) Thanks to all that are checking in on my blog, it really means a lot. Special thanks to Jacquie, who was the first commenter on this blog!! Kudos for you Jacquie!

That is all for tonight people, good luck with exams friends in New Zealand!

Stay super (and study hard),
Holly

Macdonalds!

So, they actually call MacDonalds "Macdo's" here which is adorable. I only had two classes this morning, French Literature and History, so I got to experience the French fast food first hand (omg alliteration right there).

First, on the classes. French literature is with the same teacher I have for French, M.Rochelois, who speaks really really fast and I don't understand a thing. So today he decided to make ME read ALOUD "Les Contemplations" by Victor Hugo. It sucked, and I struggled unbearably, even the other kids said it was a very hard piece of writing. Here is an excerpt:

Où vont tous ces enfants dont pas un seul ne rit?
Ces doux êtres pensifs que la fièvre maigrit?
Ces filles de huit ans qu'on voit cheminer seules?
Ils s'en vont travailler quinze heures sous des meules

I read more of that aloud to a class full of French kids. I had mixed reviews, Laure said it was cute and some others said I didn't do too bad considering. Never again.

History was unremarkable, and afterwards Laure and Manon and Alexia and I walked down the road, yes DOWN THE ROAD from SCHOOL to MacDonalds, which is situated just behind a SHOPPING CENTRE and ate lunch. It was awesome. The rest had class in the afternoon so I left them to it and walked back to my house (maybe burnt off les frites?).

Technological difficulties with the photos, sorry guys. I am working on it, keep your hats on :) if you want to see photos and you don't have a Facebook or anything email me at missanne@hotmail.co.nz and I will email some photos and also if you want a postcard tell me also and I will see what I can do :)

Also, my blog shows me how many views I get per day and what countries my audiences are coming from, obviously they are concentrated in New Zealand, but I just wanted to give a little hey to my apparent Russian viewers out there too. I don't know you guys, but hello anyway. Thanks for checking in.

Stay super,
Holly :)

Lycée days

So, nobody should have to go through their first day of high school twice, and the second in the wrong language but there you go. I did it. And it was so much weirder than I thought it would be! I had Chinese, because I am an absolute nutter and chose to learn CHINESE in FRENCH, and the teacher is a darling. My French teacher was a'ight as was my history teacher. English lit and English were an obvious breeze. I won't have so many classes on other days thank goodness. Tomorrow it's two morning classes and then I'm free as a bird people.

The canteen food was so good oh my goodness we are talking French bread, apple yoghurt, me a meat stuffed tomato with potato and rice. Warm. I had lunch with my host sister Marion and her friend too which was cool. I was also introduced to a girl named Laure, who speaks a little English and she helped me to sort out a timetable kerfuffle and then I hung out with her and Alexia and Manon, who are all absolutely awesome.

After school my host father took me to get a photo for my bus pass, and we did some groceries in a massive everythingstore just down the road from the house. We also bought Yop. I think I am going to invest in the export/import industry so we can have Yop in New Zealand. It is a thick, yoghurt like drink that I am becoming dangerously fond of. 

We had a fantastic dinner too, bread and mushroom soup for the entree and a tomato ham tart for dinner then yoghurt and fruit and chocolate fish for dessert. With Yop.

I got to talk to some of you all recently, which was awesome. Thank you to everyone who dropped me a line, even if or especially if we don't usually talk. Special shout outs to the following:

Andi: duh. It is awesome talking to you and just getting stuff out there, your Skype message board is more or less my personal diary and i miss you like nuts but it isnt forever and I will try to send you the best French food when I can get out and do some shopping.
Blair: thank you for the news of back home too, it is good to keep up with current events, and the Facebook convos you and Andi are my therapists seriously
Mum: so, so good to keep in touch with you, we will have to sort out a Skype date soon, so we can talk face a face :) my host family don't seem to like the milk biscuits!! Woooohoooo. Miss you obviously but again I will return with lots of stories sooner than you think
Dad: I miss you tons and tons as well, check your Skype! But again thank you for all the support and everything, we will talk son I hope.

Well that is it for today, next post will hopefully include some long overdue pictures :)

Say super,
Holly :)

Paris mainly and some other stuff

Oh wow this post is so overdue.

So flying kind of sucked, in that I cannot sleep on planes and I was travelling for a straight 26 hours or so. But the food was good, surprisingly, and the company had its moments. I met an Italian guy named Pierdro who was COVERED in tattoos and awesome to talk to and a French woman who helped me to practise. Watched so many movies too, and listened to the reasonable selection of music. Go emirates.

Paris was amazing. It would be hard for it not to be I suppose. There were around 300 kids from all over the world at this camp, which was hectic as hell but so much fun. Special shout outs to Paula from Finland, Isaac and Thomas from Iceland, Maria from Brazil and Alvaro from Paraguay. There were tons more awesome people there but that is it for now.

We walked under and around the Eiffel Tower, which was bigger and better than anything I had expected. Took a bucketload of cool Eiffel Tower photos and did a bus tour of Paris, which was awesome.

Lessons for us kiwi kids were led by a French boy named Jules, who was awesome and very understanding. Also, he introduced me to "princes" which are these French biscuits from heaven which I also took photos of. 

I caught the TGV (very fast train) to Pau with Taryn and Alvaro, which was neat. Had some embarrassingly failed French conversations and freaked out about meeting my host family.

I was so proud when we pulled into pau because it was the prettiest thing I had seen since we left
Paris, or maybe Bordeaux. And my host family was waiting for me with a big sign saying saying welcome.

My host father, Daniel, and sister Marion and brother Antoine and some ladies from AFS went for a drink at a cafe next to the station and discussed some basic things, and then we came back to the house. My room is beautiful, and on a good day I will have a view of the Pyrenees. I have just unpacked and figured out the ground rules with my family. More soon dears

Stay super
Holly