I am sorry that my writing is not at its best, but I don't want to spend all of my time on the computer, and I have opted for a longer post with more details rather than high quality writing. Enjoy!
Friday morning I said goodbye to my family and for the first
time, boarded a plane alone. The flight
to Philadelphia went well, aside from the stewardess giving me dirty looks when
my carry-on didn’t fit under the seat.
In Philly, I easily met the other exchange students, and one random girl
who didn’t want to sit alone and had “never seen anyone so excited to go to
Belgium!” The flight to Brussels was
long, but I slept through most of it. Going through customs in Brussels took a
while, but that was only because the little group of exchange students I was
with couldn’t figure out which line to wait in, and this spent some time
waiting in all of them, before finally going to the back of the correct
line. Thanks to the Magic Blazer, we got
through customs in about half the time it took everyone else, all they did was
look at my passport and confirm that I was an exchange student, then let me
through. In the airport, all of the host
families were held back by a barrier, waving banners and whatnot, but my
host-family had the biggest banner there!
Clemence, me, and Gladys with the welcome flag.
After getting acquainted with my host family, we went to the Rotary orientation that was being held in another town that day, where I met the other exchange students in my district and tried to fight jet-lag through the agonizing four hour lecture on the Rotary rules and different Rotarians all saying in different words that we must study and use French, then saying it all again in Spanish. After the orientation, my host family brought me to their home in Bievre, and in the car I succumbed to the jet lag and passed out. That evening, we ate bread with salami and cheese, and I went on a short walk in the back fields of Bievre with my host-mom, Sylvie and the dog, Lewis.
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| Me presenting the flag to the rotary. |
I don’t know if the Rotary gives all of the host families
magic pills or something, but my host family and all of the other host families
I have met are just fantastic. By now, I
am able to communicate fairly easily with my host family, and when I don’t know
a word, they explain it to me in French.
While almost all of the family know a little bit of English, they wait
for me to puzzle out what I want to say in French, and then correct any bad
grammar. My host father and brother work
during the day, but they come home for about forty-five minutes to eat lunch,
which is the biggest meal of the day here.
We all eat lunch, which yesterday was a typical dish for the region made
of boiled cabbage, potatoes, and eggs, and was delicious. Whenever my host mom goes on an errand or
walks the dog, she invites me to come with her, and I always say yes.
One evening, Sylvie, my host-mom, Lewis, and I, all drove to
this beautiful little town called Bellefontaine. Sylvie explained that the town is very
representative of the region, and we walked down a little path to a beautiful
stone house with a man outside, working on a stone sculpture of a horse. Sylvie introduced me to him, and after about
a minute of me trying to speak broken French, he informed me that he spoke
English, and we talked about the differences between carving stone and
wood.
We then walked to a water fountain that all of the people in
the village use for drinking water. As
we headed back, I saw a couple walking up with tons of empty water bottles and
it hit me that in the US, such a fountain would be very commercialized, and
people would probably have to pay for the water they take, but in Bellefontaine,
they just go, they take what they need, and that’s that. It’s a simple, natural process, and I am
really glad that I had the privilege to see it.
Sylvie and I also visited the site of a battle (the name of
the battle and the war I unfortunately didn’t understand) where the soldiers
ran over a cliff and died. The sight
has a now ancient plaque to explain it and benches lined up for a church that
occasionally goes there for Sunday worship.
In general, I am having a great time here. Occasionally, it is really stressful and
difficult, mostly because it is difficult to communicate, but I haven’t had any
real problems yet. I now have a cell
phone, but I can only use it in Europe and yesterday I got my bus card. Tomorrow I am going to Brussels with all of
the exchange students on a tour of the capital.
It will be my first time in Brussels (aside from driving through a
little bit of Brussels on the way back from the airport) and my first time on the
train!
Unfortunately, some of the photo's don't want to cooperate with me, so hopefully I can add them in later.
I hope everyone is doing well!
-Rachel
