Weekend in Le Mans ( now with pictures)

Yay! I am back from my well spent weekend spent with the Le Bris family and Josephina ( an exchange student from Argentina).
It was really quite exciting as I was able to view a magnificent light show, the old quarter of Le Mans, an ancient monistary and the circuit /museum of the 24 hours of Le Mans.
Here are a few  pictures

 

Be back soon wih lots of pictures of my upcoming Paris trip with the other Rotary exchange students

A biéntot
-Juliana

September 22nd and 23 (paris) now with pictures!

Back from my amazing weekend in Paris, with nearly 30 other exchange students.

We visited the Louvre, Arc of Triomphe, Eiffel tower and Champs Elysée.

My favourite activity though was the late night boat tour on the Seine River, on which we were able to quickly glimpse a plethora of monuments.

I also enjoyed exchanging information on customs and different foods, that while are common in the United States are unknown else where. For example did you know that the fact that we actually make turkey for thanksgiving was jaw dropping for Jane (an exchange student from Korea).

I also was lucky enough to pick up some Australian slang which I will briefly introduce to you today.

U.S.A                             Australia

Sunglasses                      Sunnys
Driniking Fountain           Bubbler
Trunk                              Boot
Track                              Oval
Candy                             Lollys


Now for the pictures

 

 

-
Hope everyone has a worthwhile week
A bientot


 Juli

School Schedule / Past acvititys

Just a little update on my weekend past and this up coming week and weekend.
I will begin with last weekend :)
Last weekend I stayed at home with my family on Saturday and then on Sunday Damien (my current host dad)
had a half marathon race. I believe he finished 5th on the 21km race, pretty good for a guy with short legs..
Shortrly after this my family and I had a lovely pick-nick and went to a nearby town for some sight seeing.
In this town there was a charming bridge with architecture unique to a past unknown ( for me) time period.
It was a pleasant weekend although I did catch a bit of a cold.

This Monday I began my second week of school... um yeah I still haven't completely acclimated my self with this new schedule.

Here is a picture of my school schedule

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And because it is hard to read here is my course list and hours

Lundi

7h45 – Espagnol LV2

8h45 -  Francais 1L

10h45- Travx Perso. Encadres

12h45 = Déjeuner

14h45- Histoire & Geograph.

16h45- Litter. Etrang. En LVE.

17h45 Fini !

Mardi

7h45- Anglais LV Renforce

8h45- Histoire & Geograph.

Break

10h30- Chimie / Sciences Vie & Terre

11h45=Déjeuner

13h45- Espanol LV2

Break

15h45- Accompagnemt Perso.

16h45- Litter. Etrang.

17h45- Fini !

Mercredi

7h45- Théâtre/ Vie De Classe

8h45-             / Anglais LV1

9h45-            /  Français 1L

11h45- Fini !

Jeudi

8h45- Histoire & Geograh.

9h45- Ed. Physique & Sport

11h45=Déjeuner

13h45- Espagnol LV2

14h45- Français

15h45- Anglais LV Renforce

16h45- Anglais LV1

Vendredi

9h45- Anglais LV1

10h45- Littérature

12h45- Déjeuner

14h45- ED. Civiq.

15h45- Anglais LV Renforce

16h45- Litter. Etrang.

17h45- Fini !

To sum things up I have a lot of English quite a bit of Spanish and then some French..

And to top it of I will be adding another activity today. Can you guess what it could be?

*
  *
     *



   Ill end the suspense; synchronized swimming !
It will be my first time participating in this sport and because of this I will be placed with the younger kids
9-12 years old until I catch on and am able to "climb the ropes".
It is actually quite exciting starting this new activity today for many reasons, including that I am missing the practicality of an after school sport.

I also forgot to say that this weekend I will be making the trip to Le Mans ( the most culturally and financially important nearby city), with my next host mother;
the angelic Muriel Le Bris.
Our itinerary includes picking up another exchange student to watch a light show , taking a boat tour and the rest is a secret because I like surprises.

Hope everyone has a wonderful week and weekend
A bientot,
Juliana Alvarez

Thank you / School

Hello everyone!
I would like to start of today by thanking everyone that is making this experience possible.
- My family
- The Greater Albany Rotary Club and the Rotary Club of Albany
- The Rotary Club of La FE

And of course if you did not manage to fit under these categories I will still like to give you a very warm thank you. This is because without people like you, there would be much less understanding of different culutres aand customs.
Now onto my first week of school :)

Okey.. I began my first day of  school this Wednesday at 7h 45 ; A half day unlike any other I have ever experienced.
Why was this? Well, because I have enough French skills to be able to understand almost everything the teachers say but not without having to keenly tune in, this caused me to be mentally exhausted quite quickly.
Another reason that I was shocked at my day was the general lack of interest the other students showed towards me ( thankfully this changed the next day).Anyways what I might have interpreted as coldness in the begging was really the attitude and way of composure of the general French teen. Unlike the usual American, French teens tend to be less clairvoyant and outwardly bold.

À bientôt
-Juli

Arrival

Today is September first 2012, or in other words my fifth day in France.





I arrived after my close to 13 hour flight a bit mixed up on what time of day it was and all but the tiredness did not kick in until later in the afternoon..
Greeted by my fist host family father Damien and my oldest- youngest brother at the time Arthur ( he is nine years old) we made the trip from Paris back to where I will be staying these next ten months, La Ferte Bernard.

(picture of my welcome sign that my new siblings worked on)

• La Ferte Bernard is a town of 10,000 inhabitants which is named after the fort which was built in the middle ages to protect the town against English invaders.There is are also many little rivers which run through it and one can take a boat tour to experience it all.

St. Jean des Echelles though is where I am actually staying at the moment.
It is a little village that has 230 inhabitants and is situated only 7 km from La Ferte.

It is quite peaceful living in the country and for everyone that loves bike riding or running there are plenty of trails. Yesterday I went on a tiring bike ride through one of them and was able to see a mother and baby deer.

But back to my arrival day..
Ok so on the day I arrived I got a  tour of the house and a little cake and chocolate to celebrate my arrival.
I then went with Damien to meet Maxime who is the outbound student from La Ferte leaving to Argentina. And also happens to be the son of the next family that will be hosting me.Then afterwards I went to my host club and was greeted with interest, champagne and a french dictionary.

Lastly here are a few pictures of my room :)

(my bed)(the children and my shower..)

(La chambre de Anne- Louise)

(La chambre de Arthur)

Aureuvoir

-Juli