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

Une Semaine

I have finished packing. Although, I wasn't able to pack everything I wanted. I packed everything else! My luggage is teetering on the line of being over weight.

What am I going to wear on the plane?! That is my current dilemma. I guess I'll find out next week.

Ever since I was accepted to SYA, I've been developing expectations. I really have no idea what this year will contain. The only thing I am certain of is that it'll be an experience of a lifetime.

My host mother is allergic to gluten, isn't gluten in bread? Isn't bread a big deal in France? According to Postcards from France by Megan McNeil, the French love eating. And they love their dogs and they love smoking. That book was written in the 60's though, I think. The culture might have changed. I suspect it has... or has not. I shall find out!
SYA emailed all the France students. The email had a sentence:

What will your first 10 sentences be to your new family?

And it has been on my brain ever since I read it. What will my first conversation be with my family? Naturally, it'll start with a simple Ça va? in which I will automatically reply with Ça va bien and maybe add a "comment allez-vous?" if I'm feeling ambitious. They will probably introduce themselves je m'appelle..... and I will answer with the same.
That's as far as I've thought. I don't know what to say after. Maybe I'll just say "je suis fatigueé" and rid myself of having to carry on further with the conversation. But speaking French is inevitable, all my classes will be in French and no doubt half the orientation will be in French. So, I might as well get the initial conversation over with and turn my French brain on from the start. But what to say? As well, I guess I'll find out soon enough.

One week from today I'll be getting to know my new peers and speaking in terrible broken French. I just have to remember that this time next year, I'll be speaking, hopefully, almost flawless French and have 60 new friends with whom I will always stay in contact.

Just one more week 'til the adventure begins.

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