Japanîmes! Can we say a dream come true? I let myself dream a little about going to a convention while I was in France, but never in a million years did I think I would have the chance! Surprise, I went to one! I woke up bright and early Saturday morning to set off with my friend, Chloé, and some of her friends for the day. Aurelien was nice enough to take Chloé, Anastasia, and I an hour away to Nîmes where we spent the entire day at the Parc des expositions. It was hot, we sweated, but it was a ton of fun. I was a little bummed I didn’t have any of my cosplays with me, but I did get a great deal on some cyberlox. (I’ve been waiting forever to get some!) I got to make two more friends, Mariette and Esteban, who are both super awesome. A lot of DDR was played as well.
The only difference I felt was how much more reserved everyone seemed to be at this convention as opposed to all the ones I’ve attended in The States. It was nice in one way (less unwanted physical contact), but also made it a lot more difficult to go up and talk to people to make new friends. Still, had an awesome time and I am so happy I got to go!
Sharing because this video needs to be shared. I think I cracked a rib from laughing so hard. (Maybe my Spanish-speaking friend could clue me in to what she’s saying at 1:30? )
After taking a splendid two hour drive (it really was quite nice), we got to our very pretty, French-looking, vacation residence. A family friend was nice enough to let us use her house all weekend, and I have to say, I really liked her style of interior decorating. We spent the afternoon unwinding a bit and then ate dinner at family member’s house. I marveled at how good they cook the food there, but then I was told by my are-you-serious-faced host mom that it was her who did all the cooking! Well, it’s normal that it tasted so good, then! She told me that they’re all really terrible cooks over there, and it’s only when she visits that they can eat well!
Saturday morning was awesome! I spent most of it on the couch playing Pokémon White with Océane, and then we did some very intensive hiking. We ran a good ways uphill, and sprinted through the woods. We left without a lot of skin on our legs, though, because of all the thorn bushes! The rest of the day was spent going from house to house socializing, and by the time 10:30 rolled around, I was ready to just go back to the house and SLEEP! I had a great time, but when sleep’s calling, I’m not one to say no.
I slept until 11:00 Sunday. No regrets. None. Went exploring downtown a little (it was a ghost town!!!) and hiking again with Océane and her cousin, Kevin. We went down into the valley where the river flows through and Océane caught a minnow! I caught a tadpole, myself. (not trying to brag or anything)
So, what did I do in general? Played Pokémon, hiked, played Haribo card games, ate, slept, and caught a tadpole. Great weekend!
Now I wait for my host mom to tell me if I can go to an Anime convention in Nîmes this Saturday with some friends. I really, REALLY, hope I can go!
So I should be sleeping,
But I’m not. 12:23 on a school night and I’m not sleeping. Party hard and all that.
But I can’t sleep. My thoughts keep chasing themselves in circles, and I can’t stop thinking about the day I left my, well everything, back in the Detroit airport. Do you guys know how sick it feels to walk away from everything? You leave everything when you go on exchange. Family, friends, lifestyle, school, country, language…the list goes on and on!
I was just reading something I typed out while I was waiting for my flight to DC. I wrote about how I literally know next to nothing about what my life is going to be like for the next six months. Nothing. I didn’t know the school, the people in it, the city’s streets, the language, what the family’s car looked like, where the rooms in the house were, what my room would look like, what food we would be eating, or where the supermarket was. I left my family in the airport and then suddenly, there was just so much blank in front of me. It was frightening. Thinking back on it, I can’t believe that it was me who pushed forward and filled in all of those blanks. All of those empty spaces I listed above are all filled in. Ça y est. I’ve done it. I can’t help but feeling a little proud of myself for that.
Le Martinet, Le Gard, Languedoc-Roussillon, France
Châteaux
Soooo, I’m back from the mountains and I actually had a really awesome time! (I had a oh-my-gosh-I’m-so-tired-please-just-let-me-sleep-breakdown Saturday night, but that’s pretty typical, right?) But no, I probably had my best weekend in France there. I’ll give you guys a real update later when I get my photos up. Now to the real topic of tonight’s post.
Castles! How many of you’ve ever wanted to live in one? Well, do I have some good news for you! There are literally figuratively a million of them in France. We took a two hour drive, and I kid-you-not, I saw at least twenty-five of them just standing casually off to the side of the road. I get so excited when I see them because like, it’s a castle! I want to shout “Stop the car!” so I can get out and take a million photos and go look at it up close, but then I realize that we would never get home, because there are literally figuratively a million of them to photograph.
My youngest host sister asked me if we didn’t have a lot of castles in America. I think I shocked her when I said we don’t have any!
Road trip!
In a few hours we’re going to visit my host dad’s side of the family for three days in the mountains! ( I love mountains!) I’m really looking forward to the drive. I’m freaking out imagining socializing with a bunch people I don’t know in a language I’m not entirely fluent in for the entire weekend, but I’m trying to remain very excited about the trip nevertheless. When I get back I’m sure I’ll have a lot of photos and stories to share with everyone! But still. Non-stop socializing. I’ll be fine! Hopefully we’ll be able to hike a little bit!
Who would have ever thought that my blog would have two posts about Swedes leaving? This morning, my partner in crime, Amanda, left on the 7:15 train to go catch her plane back to Sweden. I’m going to miss her terribly, but I did have an awesome time with her on Wednesday, so there’s always good memories to think about!
We ate our weight in pasta, struggled up twenty steps trying to get to the top of the hill, but decided a bench was a much better area to sit and eat a chocolate éclaire, planned a road trip should she ever come to the U.S., and ate two more crêpes! We also wrote a note to give to our favorite waiter ever, but ran out of time to give it to him!
I hope you had a safe trip, Amanda! If I go to Sweden this summer, I’m definitely coming to see you and the “best” city in Sweden!
Four day weekend fair!!! Thursday a parade was held downtown. There were people with carts selling confetti for a euro, so I thought “Why not?” and got a bag! We got to through it at the floats, and the people on the floats threw it back! It wasn’t a really big parade, but the floats were really well done, and I liked it. We went to the fair afterwards, and oh my goodness are the rides expensive here! The fair that comes around where I live gives us the option of getting a wristband for $20 that allows us to ride any ride an unlimited amount of times, while here they charge four euro per ride! Agh! I went in a house of mirrors and got stuck for seven minutes!
Saturday I hung out with the oh-so-chill Amanda again. Our day consisted of eating 2 1/2 crêpes each, chilling on the hill, leaving the hill because of creepy people, riding one ride, going in one fun (and crazy dangerous) house, being heartbroken by finding out our super-hot waiter had a not-so-sexy nose ring when he’s not working, eating a ton of nachos, eating chocolate, and just being pretty fly in general.
Honeysuckle bushes have recently come into bloom here in Provence, and it’s so nice to go outside at evening and breathe. But don’t forget that letting dogs do their business just about anywhere is widely practiced in France, and you have just as much of a chance of taking a huge whiff of dog crap as you do smelling the lovely honeysuckle. :) Goodnight, everyone!
