Queen of Procrastination

I’m writing this from the bus heading to Marseille. Sorry it has been so long since I have updated. I have been overwhelmed with school. We have had so many projects this past month or so. Starting off with Art History, we had to choose an artist (painter, sculpture, or photographer) that we liked the best. We then had to present their life to the class… the entire 45 minute class. It took a couple of weeks to get through the entire class. I chose Mark Rothko, he was an abstract artist between 1920-1970.

                Anyways, I never posted about my February break to Paris/Germany.

Paris:
Most of you reading this know that I, Magnolia Anne Cumby, am beyond obsessed with Paris. I adore that city more than anything. So, the 5 days we spent there were magical. Normally when the school takes us on trips we have very guided and strict itineraries that we have to follow. However, for Paris, the school basically let us roam free. It was magical. I was in absolute heaven. When we got there it was pretty late at night, our hotel was perfectly placed near the bastille which is just a few metro stops away from the Eiffel tower. There were a million awesome restaurants surrounding the hotel, so my friend Akhir and I wandered around to find the cheapest and coolest place to grab a café. We went to this little café that seemed pretty popular. It was absolutely freezing so I bought a hot chocolate…. This was basically pudding. It was so rich and thick I pretty much drank the entire thing with a spoon. Khi got a mocha, which, according to her, was also magical.
                The next day, I went to the Eiffel tower with my other friend Natalie. Before that we were supposed to meet up with the school at the architecture museum right in front of the tower. I had no idea where the museum was before going. I was just following my friends because they seemed to know where they were going. We walked up from the metro into Paris and I was overwhelmed with the beauty of all the buildings and cafes that surrounded the museum. I went to explore more and when I turned the corner, I was blown backward by the most amazing view of the Eiffel tower. I died… it was amazing. The sun was positioned right behind it so it was being silhouetted on the horizon and I just could not stop looking at it. I honestly could’ve sat in that court yard all day and stared longingly at the city, the tower, the people and everything about Paris. The atmosphere there is so interesting. I didn’t really talk to the people, but it didn’t matter because it’s too beautiful to not love it. Natalie and I then quit the group after looking at the museum and walked to the Eiffel tower. We got there just in time to our tickets because just after we bought them a huge crowd of people came. I’m sure it would’ve been much more crowded if it was summer because it was so cold the entire time we were there. When I return in June, I’m 100% that my mom, Taylor, my aunt and I are going to have to wait in a long line. Anyways! Natalie and I walked up all the stairs to the tippy top of the tower. We took a million pictures. But then Kat called us (one of our friends) telling us to wait because she was coming too, Natalie and I spent more than 4 hours on top of the Tower because we were waiting so long for Kat. It was awesome. I loved it so much.
                The metro trains are from every époque imaginable. Paris apparently has the oldest metro system in the world. And when you go, you can see it. Some trains are super fancy and chic with automatic doors and big windows. Others, however, are very old and you have to press a button or lift a lever to open the doors. It’s really interesting to see.

Germany:
                I have a friend, Raph, that went to my old school, Miller, a few years back and he moved to live with his mom in Germany. His mom and his step dad own a really nice B&B in this cute little village in the middle of the Alps.The people that stay there are normally interested in skiing and snow sports because the B&B is perfectly located right next to a ski resort and in the winter is buried in snow. I’m not kidding, when I stepped off the train I fell into a few feet of snow. The last time I was there it was hot and summer-y, we went bike riding and I sped down one of the steep mountains and flipped over the handle bars, knocked myself out and broke my collar bone. So, seeing the snow made me a little nervous…. Who knows what disastrous accident could happen.
                I flew from Paris to Munich and Raph was there waiting for me when I got off the train. He was going to drive to pick me up, which would’ve taken a 2 hours, but since there was so much snow, it would be safer to take the train. We spent over 7 hours on that train. We had to transfer a couple of times. But when we got to a station a few minutes from Raph’s place, the train froze. The ice got in the engine or something and it totally froze. We waited for a good 2 hours before it thawed out.
                We finally made it to his car which we had to unbury, and then we drove about 5 minutes up and down BIG mountains until we got to his house. His step-dad, Charles, had made us homemade miso soup which tasted like it was soup from the gods.
                For the rest of the week Raph and I pretty much played his video games because his room is hooked up. I mean, the ENTIRE room has wires strategically running everywhere, he attached his computer to this huge plasma screen… he plays a million video games a day. I failed at basically all of them. Every once in a while I’d actually win a battle, but Raph was being nice.
                One time I went cross country skiing with Raph’s step-dad, Charles. It was so much fun. I was so bad at it, but Charles was really patient with me. I was falling and sliding all over the place. It was so hard!  I really want to do it again though; it’s one of those things that once you get used to the movements and find your rhythm you can do it for hours. Not without consequences though because the next day I was super sore and had bruises all over from falling so much.
               

                The Marseille trip is looooonnnnnggg over, it was a month ago or something. I have yet to post this because I am the queen of super laziness. We have 3 more days of SYA and then it officially summer. (I'm officially a senior!!!!) My last day of school was Friday, and I get my SYA diploma on Tuesday. I’m currently in Redon, which is about 45min from Rennes at my host aunt’s house because my host family left me to go to a music festival. I couldn’t go because I’d be all alone and they didn’t want me to get bored. So, I’ll stay bored in a small town far away from Rennes during the last weekend, when I should be hanging out with my French friends. But, ça va, I can’t win them all. En plus, I’m here for an extra two days so there is plenty of time to see them. I’ve posted pictures of Marseille and my independent travel to Nice on facebook, go check them out. If you’re not friends with me then just add me. I’ll hopefully post another post soon about Marseille and Nice, because it was the best of all the vacations. Sorry for being a procrastinator these past couple of months.

La Premier Jour du Reste de Ta Vie

First off,

I falled down stairs :(
I was going to do my laundry and... and... I slipped and fell. I can tell you, scariest thing EVER. How my pinky down is the only thing suffering is beyond me, I did every acrobatic trick I could think off as I was falling. My foot, my ENTIRE foot was the size of a football, the above picture was taken after the swelling went down a bit. I thought my pinky toe was broken, but it's just badly sprained and very angry at me.


On a happier note!
IT SNOWEDDDDDDDDDDD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Snow in France!! I've seen snow in America, Asia and Europe! It makes me happy, it wasn't that much because it hardly ever snows in Rennes. So, when it does, it's a VERY big deal. There were kids all over the place, trying desperately to create snowmen with the little amount of snow they were given, and throwing dirty snowballs. It was so cute! The pictures are taken from my window.

Speaking of snow, my friend Cole and I went iceskating on Saturday, it was interesting. Neither of us are any good at skating, but with Cole's determined personality and my clumsiness, we were quite a sight. Le Blizz is the only patinoire in Bretagne (I think that's right), there are two rinks, a small one and a large one. Whenever Cole and I go, we always use the small one because it's got kids and inexperienced people; we don't have to worry about being run over by experts. So, we were stumbling around the little rink, and I looked over at the large rink with a jealous eye to see what the older kids were doing... what do I find? A huge crowd of people in the centre of the rink watching something. I went to Cole and told him we were missing some kind of party, so we got up the courage to change rinks. Best.Idea, there was a group of boys break dancing on the ice, the were flipping, spinning, jumping, dancing, flying and just all around swagging. It was amazing. I wish I had my camera so I could film it. It was the coolest thing ever.

Quick side note:
I've been blaring this song for the past 30 minutes.
I <3 kpop.

As for the title of this blog, La premier jour du reste de ta vie is a really good French movie, it's really funny. You should check it out. I didn't get to watch the whole thing because it was midnight when it started, but what I did watch was awesome. Oh, that reminds me, my host family has never seen the movie La Guerre des Monde (War of the Worlds) with Tom Cruise, and we watched it last night. They were jumping out of their seats. It was so funny, they were so scared!! I know now not to show them horror movies.

OHH!!! So, as you might've already noticed, I'm kind of a Korean lover, and I've been watching Korean movies inbetween French stuff. If you want to enjoy a magical movie and cry your eyes out check out A Moment to Remember. Such an amazing movie. I know plenty more if you liked that one, let me know and I'll give you other suggestions.

Must do homework now, I'll post again soon!
xx

Future

So, i have officially read 230 pages of Suzanne Collins Hunger Games in French...without a dictionary. I must say, I am very proud of myself. I remember when I started it, it took me 30 minutes to read one page because I was so lost in the vocab and the grammar. I came to the conclusion that it's better to read and only look up the words that seem important, otherwise I'll be finished with the book in 10 years. It helps that I've read it in English, so if I get lost in the grammar, all I have to do is get the gist of the sentence and figure out what's going on.

Moving on...

I am all out of money. I spent all the money I saved up over the summer on my ticket to Korea, so now I'm completely penniless. Luckily, I bought my tickets for February break in November before going to Korea. But, after going to Germany this break, I'm pretty much stuck in Rennes for the next 3 months. We have one break in April and my friend and I want to travel around France because we bought these youth cards for the train that gets us a discount on tickets. However, it's still expensive, I don't know if I'll be able to pull it off. We are just going to have to find REALLY cheap hostels.

I just finished the SAT. 4 and a half hours of my life... I either really failed it, or kinda did. I guess I'll find out when the scores get here... I hate how this one test basically determines my future.

Speaking of futures, I'm so lost at the moment. The year is almost over, and I'm not ready to go back to the States. I have been thinking a lot about what I want to do, and I have aucune idée.... I never realised how scary real life can be, and I'm not even starting it yet. It's like I'm standing on the border between my world and the real world. What I mean is, look at me, I'm a 17 year old girl living in France and I've got the whole world at my disposal. I don't want to restrict myself to following everyone thinks I should be doing. What if I'm not ready to start college? What if I'm not done seeing the world? Sure, there are study abroad programs in college, but they don't normally start until sophomore year. What if I want to do something next year? I feel as though my whole existence revolves around seeing the world. I want to experience the full of it, while I'm young. I want the world to throw me into some sort of amazing adventure.
We are reading Dubliners by James Joyce in English and all of the stories that he has written are basically about dreamers only dreaming. Or seemingly adventurous people being trapped by society. I don't want to be stuck in Dublin forever. I don't want to live vicariously through other people like Little Chandler in Joyce's A Little Cloud. Good story by the way, you should read it!

Not a very cheery blog post, but it's been a stressful month. I'm happy break is coming!

xx

2 mois.

I'm in France. How weird is that?!

I was walking around town this evening, around 18:00, it was already dark. The walk was normal, I knew the street I was on, I knew the next right would take me to Sainte-Anne and the left to the park. I was used to it. Or so I thought, as I was walking to the fork of the road preparing to take the right to my bus at Ste Anne, I looked up. There, right before my eyes, was a huge French flag being illuminated by spotlights. It stood out from the dark sky behind it, waving proudly in the French wind. I have yet to have the awe-ing moment or realisation that I'm studying in France. But there are moments, like this, that suddenly come and scream in my ear--TU ES EN FRANCE, TU PARLES LE FRANCAIS, TU CONNAIS LA VILLE, TU AS DES AMIS FRANCAIS , ET TU ES CONTENTE! I just stopped and stood in the middle of the cobblestone rue, staring at the flag with a big grin on my face--I'm in France, I speak French, I know the town, I have French friends and I am happy.

I find myself more often talking to my friends in French, it doesn't really bother me when we switch back and forth between languages. En fait, je remarque à peine. I'm beginning to realise that I can understand what people are saying to me without really concentrating. I just understand them.

It has been two months. It doesn't feel like it at all... I've become so used to the life here, the days are just flying by. I feel like I just arrived, but more than 50 days have already passed. If it keeps continuing like this, tomorrow will be the 31 of May and I will be packing my bags and heading home.

I'm taking it all in, one day at a time.

xx

Amsterdam!

I'm back in France! Yesterday was a very long day-8 heures dans une voiture pleine. Naturally, I slept the entire way.

I bought my host family crazy clog slipper things because I thought they were hilarious. My host family thought the same thing.

While I was in Amsterdam, I basically just walked around all the time by myself. I would wake up every morning and leave the apartment and walk for 5-10 hours until I was tired or it was time for dinner. It was amazing. Amsterdam, is so beautiful. The architecture is very different than in France, but it still holds that wonderful European style that I have always loved. I spent a bit way too much money for my taste, but je ne regrette rien. The apartment was beautiful and in the center of everything, so it was easy to walk everywhere. Which leads me to another one of my not-so-useless-but-still-pretty-useless moneyspending stories: I wanted to see the Anne Frank house. My host family told me that there is always a huge line to wait in if you want to see it, but it's still worth it. The only problem was I had no clue how to get there. So, I created a master plan. I had seen a lot of canal boat tours in front of the apart and I knew one of them stopped in front of la maison d'Anne Frank, so I went to the nearest ticket counter and bought a day-pass for 20E because I figured after Anne Frank I could go to some of the other stops that the tour offered. I got on the boat and it was very nice. There was an audio tour of interesting attractions that we passed and it was a beautiful warm day. The first stop was Anne Frank. I got off and walked to the house... what do I find? A huge line that goes down the entire block. I spend a few hours in the line before entering the house, which was so amazing and heart breaking. After I was done with the tour, it was already pretty late and I had no time to go to any of the other stops with my day-pass. But, how do I get home? ...I walk of course, Anne Frank's house was literally like 2 blocks away from my apartment. There was no point in me buying that 20E day-pass... oh la vache.

I go back to school tomorrow, I have to say, I'm kind of relieved. I really missed Rennes and I am so happy to be back.

xx

L'école

I guess I never really explained my classes and how school works.

Basically there are like 60+ students in the entire program, and we all took placement tests to determine our level in French and math. They are 2 levels of French I and II. Level I is for the meilleur éleves and they study a lot more Literature and work less on learning grammar. Level II, were I am, is dedicated to expanding our vocabulary and speaking skills. Level II still takes Litt. but not as often as level I.

So, the school day is created for each individual student and group. Each level is divided evenly into groups--IA, IB and IIA, IIB--for scheduling purposes. I'm IIA, so all of my classes are with the rest of the people in IIA. Except for math, math gets mixed up according to math skill. I'm in pre-calcI and there is a pre-calcII and a pre-calchonours as well as ABCalc and BCCalc.

Classes are:
CESF(culture et société Françaises-Taught in French)- which is us just learning everything we need to know about France and it's culture..... the prof is hilarious.

Histoire(Taught in FRench- French history... I'm really surprised by how much I love this class, our prof is crazy.

Histoire de l'art(French)- Art and architecture... I love this class the prof is so funny!!

Litterature(French)- French literature

English(English)- Is just a basic English class.... the prof is so smart and crazy, I really enjoy this class

Langue(French)- grammar class..... I love speaking French

TPL(French)- it's a pronunciation class, each group has it once a week

Math(English)- I love our teacher, she is so young and smart and she's super fun

C'est tout! Je vais faire mes devoirs!

PS below is me reciting my first essay in French. We were supposed to do it in class, but they prof only chose certain people to recite. I worked really hard on it, so I wanted to share it with you! Excuse my pronunciation... I was reading too fast.

xx

I Miss Hugs.

These should be the last of my attempt to show Taylor my outfit for the first month.

Since it's been awhile since I posted (sorry!), this is going to be a fairly long and choppy post. I'm just going to write all the experiences in short paragraphs.

I swear, these people here think we have amazing stories to write about. For English we have to write an anecdote that we think helped shape us into the person we are today. And if writing that in English isn't hard enough, French Litt. wants us to write a extremely funny or extremely dramatic story (en français) that has happened to us while we've been in France... I have plenty of stories to write about for Litt, but the prof has extraordinarily high expectations AND she wants us to present it in class.
Her requirements:

-5 minute long presentation.
I don't think any of my stories are long enough!

-Must speak flawless French, the grammar and the accent.
....

-We cannot use "Il y a (there), faire (to do), ça (that) or chose (things)"
That's been easy so far.

I'm just going to ask my host family to just sit with me and help me write this, because writing and speaking is going to extremely difficult. As for English, I thought it was going to be easy because it only has to be 500 words, but my story is finished with only 286 words. I have nothing else to say, so I'm just going to create another draft and see how that goes. Anyways, for English, I'm writing about my near-death experience in Germany and for Litt. I'm going to write about the strange day I had shopping with Eilidh (one of my SYA friends) and some old man.

I'll post both stories when they are completed.

I just wanted to show off my amazing note taking skills IN FRENCH. I was never a big fan of history, but I love history this year, my prof is so funny. I love him.

I made a few French friends! Finally!! SYA had signups for this meet-and-greet at a French school. So, I signed up for it, and while I was there I talked to this one guy and we exchanged numbers and we've been texting ever since!!!!!! We haven't been able to meet up because he is always extraordinarily busy with basket ball (yes, he's athletic). But what I love the most is that he speaks French!! And all 125 messages that we've exchanged are in French!!!

So, I went out yesterday with my friend Crispin and I only had 10E on me, so I decided to go to an ATM and get some cash. So, I found a BNP, which is the sister bank of BOA, and went to the ATM and put my card in, typed in my pin and chose the amount of money I wanted to withdraw. Well, instead of giving my money, the ATM decides to "withhold my card at the request of the bank". Like, what?! J'étais tellement en colère. I called my dad and he called the bank a million times and worked it out, so I'm getting an emergency replacement card ASAP. THANKS DADDY, LOVE YOU!!!!! But, the not-so-funny-but-ironic thing is that was the exact same ATM that my friend used last Saturday to withdraw money and guess what? It took his card too. Oh la vache... I thought it was safe to use because he walked away from the ATM for a while, so I just assumed it took his card because he left it unattended. Stupid machine.

I bought new shoes, a new shirt and two new pants for under 50E! All of it is so cute!

<--These are maxi pain au chocolats... so.good. Eilidh and i both had one they are literally bigger than my face.


Oh, I realised that I don't really miss the US all that much. But the thing I do miss are hugs. I was never a touchy-feely person so, I didn't give very many hugs... but now that I'm in a country that never hugs, all I want to do is hug people. I just want to walk down the streets of Rennes with a sign that says "Free Hugs" just so that people will hug me. Maybe, I can make France realise that hugs are awesome!

On Friday my adviser had a little advisory party at her apartment. It was ridiculously fun. She's only like 28, so she's really easy to talk to and she's so funny. The entire school is trying to find someone to hook her up with because she doesn't have friends yet because she doesn't speak French. She was with SYA: Vietnam last year, so this is her first time in Rennes. She's just as new to the city as we are. But, at her apartment, we all basically ate junk food for about 3 straight hours, then we had epic heart to hearts. She's the math teacher and I swear, she's like the smartest person ever. I never would have imagined that she was that amazing at math. She's a great teacher!

Also, as of Wednesday, I have been here for a month. 8 more months to go. I don't like that. I want to stay here forever. I love everything about Rennes. I have yet to be homesick or sad in anyway.


This post is awful, I'm sorry! I need to start posting regularly so this doesn't happen again.

xx

Je n'ai plus faim.

Best.Cereal.Ever. I am so addicted, it's not even funny.

Sorry Taylor, my outfits the past couple of days were lazy because I was all sick. No worries though, it's just sinuses.

Alright, so, I have small annoying story to tell. I was walking around en ville hier and I passed a smoothie place, me being the smoothie addict that I am, I naturally and eagerly went in to get one. I ordered a 'Eden' which is strawberries, bananas and coconut in orange juice. I got the maxi (6E). After the girl mixed it she threw 3 pieces of ice in a large cup and poured this liquid grossness into the cup with it. I tried it... it was not a smoothie. It was not the consistency of a smoothie. It didn't taste like a smoothie. It was gross. I spent 6E on that nasty thing! I WANT A SMOOTHIE!

-oh, wait, I'm not done.-

My iPod is dying and it has been my alarm clock for the past 2 weeks. So, I went into this really cool kitchen store thingy and found a whole bunch of alarm clocks on sale. I grabbed the cheapest one (7,30E)I found and paid for it. It wasn't until later that night that I realised that it was just.a.clock. 7,30E for nothing. I guess it's still cute and I can put it in my bathroom or something... but still. Too much money wasted in one day.

I have come to realise the French love fresh food. My host father buys our dinner every night, he'll go and get fresh veggies from my host mom's parents garden. It's so delicious, but the main thing that he makes is la compote or apple sauce. We have un pommier, apple tree, in our garden and some nights my host dad will grab a whole bunch and make homemade applesauce. It's so amazing. I add honey that my host grandfather made to the apple sauce and it creates heaven in my mouth. It's so yummylicious.

Classes are going great and my French has improved a great deal. Tomorrow we are going to go on our first school field trip to Morbihan, I'll post pics and info when we get back on Sunday!

xx

La Première Jour

It was a long day of travel, but I finally made it!!

Words cannot explain how amazing of an experience it has been so far, and I've only been here about a day!
When we arrived to Rennes around 19:00, our host families were waiting for us. I had no idea what my family looked like because they never sent a picture, one of my new found friends came up to me and was like "Magnolia, I found your host family! It the woman with the green hair." I looked up and sure enough, I see a tall slim woman hovering over the crowd wearing a blue fuzzy jacket (It's REALLY cold here, unlike the 80 degree weather I left back in DC) and a blue dress. Her hair is mostly black, but she has green bangs, and she is the nicest woman I have ever
met. She saw me and was like "MAGGIE" and we kissed the French way. My host dad was behind her and he is so funny. He grabbed my bags and they showed me the bus route, and then we left for the house.

The house is so cute! It's small, but roomy. They showed me my room and left me to unpack and shower while they prepared dinner. I unpacked and took a shower in my very own bathroom! And I unpacked in my small, but beautiful room. It's so cute and as I'm writing this, I'm sitting on my French bed with the French windows open listening to (British, but still European) Adele, and watching the French trees sway in the French breeze. IT IS SO AWESOME!

Anyways, I went downstairs and there was a table set with a of slice cantaloupe, I don't know if you know but French cantaloupe is the most delicious thing you'll ever taste. But we were sitting at the table and my family was talking to me, and I was so proud of myself because I could understand them! The problem was I couldn't talk back... but I still understood!! It was around the time that my host dad went and got the main course, a yummy roast beef thing, that it hit me. I'm in France, but not on vacation, to study for a year. It might've been a little awkward with my host family now, but within a month or two, I'll be able to talk back and we will be really close and I'll feel more comfortable doing things around the house! And all my peers will be really good friends. It's amazing. I can't wait for that time to come, but I don't want it to come too fast. I'm not looking forward to the end of this year. I can't imagine going back. I love it here so much.

As for the picture, my best friend Taylor told me to post what I wore everyday for the first month so she could see! This one is for you Taylor!! I LOVE YOU!!!!

xx

12 more days.

SYA: School Year Abroad is a total immersion academic program in countries in Europe and Asia. It was founded in 1964 by Philips Academy in Andover Mass. It is challenging in academics and it challenges each individual student to be able to adapt to a different culture. Each country enrolls around 60 students who are willing to take on the challenges of living far from home and immersing themselves into a different society.

After my incredible month in Montpellier France with the Oxbridge Program: L’Académie de France, I decided a month just wasn't enough. So, I went on the search to find the perfect program for an academic year abroad. My French teacher recommended SYA. It was exactly what I was looking for. I applied and waited the long months it took for a response. Since I applied for a Merit scholarship, I had to have an interview with an alum of the program. I had a wonderful interview with an SYA:Spain alum.... In the middle of march, I got an email from SYA telling me that I was accepted early. I hadn't heard from them whether I got the scholarship or not, but it didn't matter because I had been accepted!!
It wasn't until late March that I got the letter telling me that I did not qualify for the Merit Scholarship. However, they were please to announce my early acceptance into their program! I was devastated because there was no way for my parents to afford the $45,000 fee that came along with such a undeniably perfect program. My mom spoke with SYA though, and soon enough they negotiated that we did qualify for financial aid. And it was official, I was going to spend 9 months in the most amazing country.

I really don't know what I have in store. France has always been my dream, but as the day becomes closer and departure is sooner, it is hitting me what I have signed up for:

• I'm going away for 9 months.

I go to a boarding school, so obviously I am able to be away from home without becoming completely ill. But I go to a boarding school less than 4 hours away from home.
My option of going home on the weekends has been terminated.

• I'm going to a different country.

It's totally foreign, the language, the culture, even the time. Don't get me wrong, I'm thrilled to be going. Not many people get this opportunity, and I'm lucky enough to have had it twice (with Oxbridge). It's going to be an exciting, enthralling and different year.

• I'm living with someone that I have never meet, and before July, I never even knew existed.

My host family is amazing and I'm lucky to have them, according to the girl they hosted a year ago. They are very liberal and kind. But I'm still worried as to how they will react to me. I'm high maintenance, I'll admit. I can entertain myself easily, but there are times when I just need to do something exciting, and I don't know if this is a spontaneous family or not.

This year is going to be a real adventure of it's own and I cannot wait to experience it. I always imagined myself going to France for school, but I cannot believe that it's actually happening.

xx