The Move, St. Omer- Rotary Weekend and Vacances d'Hiver

 

The Collection

 

A casual Bike ride to Belgium

 

 Carnival

Laurena's Birthday Party

Cap Blanc Nez

 

 Sports Day

A few days after I got home from London, I moved families. I was supposed to go to the Borelle Family’s home but I found out the day before the move that wouldn’t be possible for various reasons. I moved in with the Dupont Family which is great!   I arrived at their house with two big suitcases, a backpack, four giant Ikea sacs and other bags! I do not know how it is possible for one to accumulate so much stuff in six months. They were so welcoming the first night which was good because I was sad to move from the Bernardeaus. I live in a little town called Lorgies which has a church (like every village in France) a small school and a store. It is further from Lille than my other houses but the village is cute.

We had a Rotary weekend in St. Omer and I met the newbies for the first time. There are 11 new exchange students from Argentina, South Africa, New Zealand and Australia. We went bowling and had blast! You could imagine how 41 exchange students bowling together would be. What a mess. We met all the French students who will be going on exchange in September and spoke with the people going to our countries. We had presentations and then a dance that night. The next day we went to gigantic underground bunker designed by the Nazis, called La Coupole. It was used to store, prepare and launch rockets during the war and is a museum now. It was interesting for a short while but everyone was so tired so we all napped during the films. As exchange students we learn to stop trying to fight the fatigue and just sleep. That is the biggest lesson I learned in school... The classic cold chicken and other cold pasta salads were served for lunch and then we sat around and waited for our host parents to arrive. The weekend was great, as per usual and I really like most of the newbies.

On the way home from St. Omer, we went to The Carnival in a town called Bailleul and it was crazy. There was a parade with over 50 floats, brass bands and people dancing and singing. Everyone was dressed up like it was Halloween and the ambiance was great. The ground was covered in confetti that had fallen from the sky like snow; most floats had confetti cannons and everyone was throwing it at one another. There are a lot of different carnivals for Mardi Gras in France including two big ones in Paris and Nice and another in Dunkerque.

I was with the Dupont family for another week and then moved in with the Borelles. It was just for the holidays as my host parents were going to be working and I would be stuck in the middle of nowhere for two weeks! It was a perfect break from school because I had no specific plans and I was able to relax. The Borelles live right next a train station so it was really easy for me to go to Lille as I wanted. Early in the break, Celia, Lauren Abby and I rode out bikes to Belgium. It only took about 20 minutes and was the first time Celia and Abby had been to Belgium, which was pretty exciting. We asked some man to take a picture of us with our bikes and the Belgium sign; he was so confused as to why we were so enthused since there is no difference from the French side to the Belgium side. The weather was unpleasant, the town was quiet and there was nothing to do. We went to a grocery store and stocked up on Belgium Chocolate and some other stuff then headed home. I went to Laurena, my best French friend’s birthday party and had another party with the exchange students for Ignacio’s 19^th. One Sunday my host family and I went to Cap Blanc Nez and Cap Gris Nez which are on the Cote d'Opale in the North. It was raining, cold and super windy but was worth it to see the magnificence of the cliffs. Typically, if the weather is good, you can see England (the white cliffs of Dover) but we had no such luck with the weather. We had lunch in Berck, a little town on the ocean, but it was disagreeable beach weather. haha

The second week of vacation was lower key but started with a bang! I woke up on Monday morning, opened my shutters and thought I was still dreaming. It looked like I was opened a Christmas card. There was snowflakes quickly adding to about a foot of snow and I could not believe it. It was a really slushy snow and I didn’t bring my boots, I didn’t think we’d get a snowstorm in May after the warm weather we’d had, so I stayed in for the day.  

After the snow had melted, we had a “Sports Day” at my house. My host family has a massive garden with two football nets, a ping pong table and a volleyball net. We decided, why not change things up from our average afternoons in Lille. Twenty five exchange students came over on an overcast afternoon to hang out and play games. Jean Carlo wearing Gucci jeans and a Louis Vuitton shit sweater set, rain boots and holding his Longchamp sac. He obviously didn’t get the message.  We played an afternoon of mostly football and had such a great time. Everyone was laughing and enjoying themselves.

The vacation was well spent and it was nice to get to know some of the newbies a little better and hang out with friends. Staying with the Borelle family was nice and I really felt at home there. I had a chance to catch up on sleep and relax! It was a good break from Beaucamps and my nine hour school days. I watched lots of French movies and caught up on my online television. I can’t wait until the Vacances de printemps, thank goodness the French love holidays.