La première semaine

My first week is over and done with! I had my first day of school, my first day in France, I got to help decorate the Christmas tree...the list goes on!

My host family that I am staying with is amazing. They are very kind and remind me a lot of my own family! The mum and the youngest sister cannot speak English but it is good for me to try to speak a little bit with them so I can learn. Hearing french everyday so far has helped me pick up more and more words however coming up with responses to questions or trying to join in a conversation is very difficult because:

a) They speak so fast

b) I don't know how to come up with answers in french very quickly!

c) Every time someone talks to me, my whole vocabulary leaves my mind because I try to focus on what they are saying so much that I forget I have to answer them...

This means that school is very interesting. You really don't know how confusing maths (or any subject) is until it is in another language (plus the subjects we are doing are ones we do in year 13...two years from now). Then you just have to mostly rely on the diagrams drawn on the board to figure anything out which is very difficult because sometimes I am trying to solve the complete wrong thing. Mostly, the topics that they learn about are ones that we don't learn about until year 12 or 13 so it is quite challenging - except for chemistry where I have learnt about the concentration and moles of stuff (thank you level 2 chem...) but I mean, it's still taught in french! However it is still very interesting and like I said, I am picking up on more and more of the vocab every day.

School isn't actually as different as I thought it would be. There are no bells so it is the students responsibility to get to class on time and the length of the day can vary from 11am-4pm or 8:45am-6pm and many other variants. In France, everyone eats lunch at the canteen. You have a card you swipe to get your tray (the same card you use to get into the school), then walk along and pick the food you want - like the ones in the movies I guess! My host sister Aimy has been awesome with showing me around the school and letting me sit with her in classes and breaks. My friends at school are very crazy (like my own) and very welcoming. Many cannot speak English so they either speak very slow french so I can understand or there is the ever helpful Google translate. They love to hear the Kiwi accent so I also get asked just to speak a random sentence. They also got me to perform the haka...next stage is for them to learn it too!

On Sunday 4 December, we decorated the Christmas tree. The host mum made me my own decoration which I love! When I arrived, they gave me a scarf and gloves to help with the cold (which I am very grateful for because it is consistently negative temperatures). I also gave them some gifts for the Christmas tree - 2 baubles with a fantail and a kiwi on, an All Blacks one and a Kiwi that is dressed in rugby gear. They first thought that the Kiwi was a penguin and thought I was joking when I said it was a Kiwi because in France they call Kiwifruit "Kiwi".

Yea I have been a bit homesick and felt a bit down but I know that I will see everyone when I go home so I should enjoy this experience while it lasts! One way that has been helpful for me to stop feeling like that is getting up and becoming involved in the day, even if that is just having breakfast!

So so far life in France is very exciting, difficult but pretty cool. I can't wait for the next challenges and adventures.