Visit express- Normandy

Here I go with yet another thing that happened during the vacations.

OK, so the ninth and tenth of March I arrived around 10:30 to my new host family, with all my baggage's (they keep multiplying I swear) and not half an hour later we were of an and the road.

You see the cousin of my host sister was having her twenty second birthday party that same night in Normandy which happens to be a good two hours from here so we really had to get get going.

Once arrived the mother of my host mother greeted us with a warm plate of vegetarian lasagna and the regional cheeses.

Then once dined I took a quick tour of the town of Caens with my host mother, Victorine Obst. Followed by a trip to Ikea.

What a pretty town, wish I had more time to explore it.

Caens in its glory.

In the downtown of Caens where there are not a lot of ancient buildings left due to the war.

One of the many used and antique book stores downtown.

Stopped  by Ikea to buy a new bedside lamp for my room.

Funny magnets that exploit the love the inhabitants of Normandy have for there cheeses.

Weekend Peinture

At the very beginning of these past vacations (the Friday 22nd to Sunday the 23rd) I was still at my second host family; the Huet- Le Bris family.
Because of this, Friday after a half day of school I returned to the town center to meet up with my host mom. This was because I was to get my hair cut! Now don't get to excited the idea was just a little trim and overall up keep, because after being six months in France I still had not gone one time to the hair dressers.

   

And was I missing out.  I do not know about the rest of hair salons in France but this one sure was a real treat (thanks mumu). There was even a relaxing heated massage chair for the washing station.

Picture of before

In between 

And after :)

Ready for the weekend, Saturday and Sunday were supposed to be "painting days".
My host parents had both invited family members and friends to help out on the job, and I was no exception. By the end of Saturday we were already finished!

Host Grand- Mother on team  "borders"

I handled the entryway in this groovy white suit.

Lets just say there is room to improve..

She is the one who took pity on me and let me borrow the garment so that I was not in my pajamas.

And that was it for the weekend and for my second host family as I was picked up Sunday after noon by a rotary member (Hubert) and his grandkids to spend the week with them.

Into the map!

This was a while ago but I thought I would share it with everyone.
La Ferté-Bernard. Aux soirées "Into the map", on parle toutes les langues


Yes I know the glory and fame.

Visit d'Entreprise B. Braun

From the 24th to the 28th February, I was hosted by Hubert Jarry a member of our Rotary club who also happens to be the director of the B. Braun of Nogent-le-Rotrou.
B. Braun is a German medical and pharmaceutical company, which has offices and facilities in 50 countries. In Nogent the interprise focuses on the production, development, research and marketing of urological material as well as the production of infusion devices.

Lucky of for me I was able to have a guided visit (normally reserved only for the family of the employs) in which I was able to see and learn several things about the company.

It was actually quite interesting as I got an inside look into the whole chain of procedures and technologies that are needed to have a a finish product. These included plastic processing, assembling, packaging, sterilization by ethylene oxide and control.

I was very surprised that for the control portion there still exists people that look at each individually wrapped product and then meticulously count out a certain number to be placed in the boxes. Honestly, I thought that that kind of job did not exist anymore; that it was solely machines that did that kind of work.

Picture that I stole of the internet because we were not allowed to take any pictures once in the building.

Change of address

So far a superb vacation and I will post as much as I can about it once I find a little bit more time.

For the moment though, I realized that it is necessary for me to share my new address;

Juliana Alvarez- Veronique Obst

113 avenue de verdun

72400

La Ferte Bernard

I will be at this home from approximately two months or until the following vacations :)

Vacances de Hiver 2013

“Is it snowing where you are? All the world that I see from my tower is draped in white and the flakes are coming down as big as pop-corns. It's late afternoon - the sun is just setting (a cold yellow colour) behind some colder violet hills, and I am up in my window seat using the last light to write to you.”
― Jean Webster, Daddy-Long-Legs

Hello everyone!

So as  hope you are aware of it is currently winter and that means that winter break is coming up soon as well.

For the majority of you I am guessing the vacations will still have to wait for a few weeks. But as for me, I have only one hour of school left today before I am free. Free for two weeks from the daily routine.

And am I excited for these vacations!
Let me explain..
So it was only three days ago at a Rotary meeting that I received the information that during these vacations not only will I be changing host families (like previewed) but I will also be staying in the homes of three different members of our Rotary club.
Yay! This means that my biggest fear of having once again absolutely nothing to do during the vacations is completely vanished. Instead I will be busy busy busy.. sooo if you do not hear from me for the next two weeks not to worry I am simply happily occupied ( no need to fear me freezing into a human popsicle either as I will do my best to stay inside and bundle up).

Lets not let the wintertime weather get us down and until next time
-juli

Synchronized Swimming