Weeko numero uno

A week in France! I made it!
The flight was fine, I have a few happy snaps... :) And the TGV was REALLY EXCITING! So fast and so quiet!!! But I was dying of tiredness and I almost fell on someone as we were leaving the train... oops. ("Excusez-VOUS!")


*About the happy snaps - I've been here a week and have a photo count of...432. A couple more weeks and I'll have hit the 10 000 mark!






These are SHOPS. They should be history museums! The entire town looks like this.



I just have to add this: before I went to bed on the first night, I had a dinner and it was the FRENCHIEST meal ever. Quiche lorraine (homemade, of course), followed by assorted cheese (including blue cheese, mmm) on a fresh baguette, and creme brulee. SO FRENCH!

  



 



Waiting for the train...it was COLD!



Everything here is incredibly, amazingly, insanely different. Which I expected... but you know how it is when you expect something of somewhere and it's SOMETHING ELSE ENTIRELY! Especially if you're going to be living there for a YEAR! But most things are awesome, basically.

 The best thing, first and foremost, is my family. The Baylarts are so nice and welcoming and I'm so glad they let me into their home! Caroline (17) and Simon (12) and I are already besties and we can fully understand each other most of the time!

Oh yeah, that was the other thing. SPEAKING FRENCH! It was difficult when I first arrived, cos everyone spoke so FAST and I all I could think was (in english): "They didn't teach me this at school..." But I'm improving so much that Sylvie and Caro think that I'll be fluent in 3 months time!

 

Monday and Tuesday were spent recovering from jetlag etc., but on Wednesday I began the dreaded SCHOOL. My first day was...awkward. Parts of it. Because Loudun is a country town, everyone is really close and they all know each other well - I felt like I was intruding and was really out of it! But after two more days I feel like I fit in a bit more, which is a massive relief. I am also learning to answer questions with more than just "oui".

When I walked into school on Tuesday (I had a meeting with the principal before my first day on Wednesday), EVERYONE STARED AT ME. Later, I found out that it was because everyone in the school was told that an Australian would be joining the school! So they were looking out for someone obviously Australian! Turns out they have stereotypes too; "All Australians are blonde." Hence the terrifying stares.




Le petit dejeuner (breakfast)



At school, everyone speaks crazy fast but sometimes they're nice enough to slow down or use small words for me. But it's good to just get my ear in and listen to everything too, even if I'm not speaking non-stop. And here's an interesting fact about school in France; during sport, you don't always do sport. Sometimes, you do a horrible thing called "MUSCULATION". Which in french means: walk to the gym which is a kilometre down the road, in the freezing 5°C morning, change into sport clothes (thereby removing all jumpers, coats, thermals, beanies and ugg boots) and go and WORK OUT, even though you've hardly ever been to a gym and you don't know how the equipment works anyway! The translation is a bit rough.

The next best thing after the people is the food. Followed closely by ridiculously narrow, winding streets flanked by centuries-old buildings and endless rolling green hills in the background. (Maybe I should write a novel?)

Current french food checklist:

Cheese (all types)? Ker-TICK.

Fresh baguette, daily? Ker-TICK.

Chocolat chaud? Ker-TICK. 

Waffles (gaufres)? Ker-TICK.

Pate? Ker-TICK.

Quiche? Ker-TICK.

Creme brulee? Ker-TICK.

Brioche? Ker-TICK.

Boudin noir (black sausage thing)? Ker-TICK.

Isn't that ENOUGH?! It's week one!!! Escargots and croissants yet to come!



Boudins noirs! They're black sausages
(translates to black pudding), the middle (not
the skin) of which you spread on your
baguette like pate. Or Nutella.



A slice of...something delicious. These have "fevres"
hidden inside them, like a coin in Christmas pudding.
Fevres are little statues or knick-knacks that break your teeth.

 

The cheese at my first Rotary meeting - now
with added walnuts!

  

An on-the-go crepe. It actually tastes good! And
it has chocolate in the middle!

Gives a whole new meaning to "crab sticks". They literally are crab sticks. As you can see, Simon loves these things! :)

I had my first Rotary meeting on Wednesday too. It was really good, everyone was super nice. (At least, I think so. I didn't understand everything.) We exchanged mini-flags and the acting president (the actual president was away) gave a welcoming speech in my honour. I've been told that I am "le STAR!" because I'm the first exchange student being hosted by the Rotary Club of Loudun in 20 years! So my arrival was highly anticipated and there was a great turnout at my first meeting. Plus they supplied food, which apparently doesn't normally happen. And this year happens to be the 30th anniversary of the Loudun Club, so I don't know what's planned for later this year but it should be interesting!
And then, I saw all the Rotary Club members all over again the next night, for a fundraiser movie night! I watched War Horse (Cheval de Guerre) in French... not bad! I got the gist of it too, though it was sort of predictable.

The drive home from Thouars - it rained and then hailed

Yesterday (Saturday) I went and watched Simon play soccer (FOOTBALL!) in Thouars, about a 20 minute drive away. It was a great match! Simon's team won 4-2 and he got a goal! And I got some cool photos. Also, it was RIDICULOUSLY cold. Next time, I'm bringing gloves, a beanie and an extra scarf. AT LEAST.




Simon "Rooney" Baylart


Everyone who I speak to about Loudun says, "Oh, there's not much happening in Loudun - it's so OLD!" Well, it might not be overly modern or exciting, but the buildings and the views are incredible. So far, I love Loudun and I don't think I'm going to get sick of seeing hot air balloons float past the kitchen window anytime soon, either.