16

Feb 22/23

(Weekend :)

Yesterday was Saturday. Aline and I went snowshoeing up a mountain to a lake. It was a three hour round trip, with stunning views of the valley below. We also brought Taiga, And she was very happy and kept rolling around in the snow and running around. Unfortunately she enjoys chasing and annoying skiers, so we had to keep her on a leash until we were far-ish away from the main trail. 

Snowshoeing is really fun, because it allows you to be as nimble as you're going to be in the snow. The trail is always atmospheric; a small path of trodden snow winding its way through trees, sometimes steep, sometimes flat, overhung by snow-laden tree branches. 

Said branches can be quite useful when engaged in a snow battle with Aline (she started it). 

Going up the mountain was a piece of work, but absolutely worth it for the views at the top and the fresh snow. Going down was not nearly as much work, and a lot faster because we were running. I can't tell you how satisfying it is to go hurtling down a slope in snowshoes, unable to stop and avoiding various snow clouds put there by the person in front of you. 

Later that evening we went to a small pub above us on the mountain (Freydières) for dinner. They had a small live jazz group that evening, so it was packed. You really get the feeling of a small village when everyone knows everyone else, and they all go to the pub on the same night. It was very comfortable, very cozy, and a nice place to be after trekking about in the snow. It was your classic wood cabin restaurant with the snow outside, packed to the brim with friendly people and the hum of conversation. The food was also really good, but I wouldn't expect anything less from a European pub meal :)

I actually recognized a few of the jazz tunes they were playing from the various jazz groups I've been in. They even played Chameleon, which made me smile because that song is so well known back at school. Dare I say too well known... 

After I'd eaten an amazing meal of ham, cabbage, gratin dauphinoise, and apple pie and ice cream for dessert along with a selection of cheeses, we cleared the table and took out Dutch Blitz. Nadia really loves this game, and who was I to say no to playing cards until midnight with no elbow room? Actually it reminded me of camping, and I really enjoyed it. (I won, by the way)

I was super tired when I got home, but was very happy because I think that was one of the best days I've had here so far. 

Today. 

We went back to Freydières to go skiing/sledding/snowshoeing as a family. Mathilde, Olivier, Aline, and Nadia were on skis (with skins attached to the bottom to be taken off at the top of the hill), Clémentine and I were on snowshoes. We hiked for about an hour, then most of us turned back except for Nadia and Olivier. There was only one big sled, so Clem and I squished ourselves in it, tucked our feet in and let go. The ride down was really fun and really long, with lots of twists and turns and snow drifts, and bumps, and a really steep cliff on one side. We crashed a lot and laughed a lot and went really fast and fell over, and somehow we ended up at the bottom. I think we really scared all the skiers we passed; for one thing we actually passed them, for another we were screaming/laughing the entire time. 

Then while we waited for Nadia and Olivier to come back, Clem and I walked to the other side of the frozen lake (around, not over top) and did a couple of sled runs and built a snowman. It looked kinda dejected, with its crooked smile and tiny eyes and single hair (a leaf) atop its head, blowing in the wind. 

Then we returned home, and had raquelette. That is, we had really yummy melted cheese on potatoes with ham and lettuce. This is apparently another dish native to the region. 

We had to leave promptly after that, because Olivier, Mathilde and I had to get to a (mostly) Mozart concert an hour away. It was a really good concert, with a Mozart, two Mozart piano concertos and one Hayden thrown in for good measure. There was even an encore after the show. It was a fairly small orchestra, and frankly I liked the Victoria symphony more, but I am biased in that opinion. On the way back, Mathilde and I did our best to study SVT (Sciences de la Vie et de la Terre), because there's a test on Tuesday. 

15

Feb 21, 22

Yesterday I walked home from the center of Revel (a very small square closed in by buildings) after school, and it was really beautiful and sunny out. You could see the entire valley with Grenoble and everything there were a couple chickens and horses around as well. I took lots of pictures. 

When I finished climbing a small section of mountain I arrived back home, where the family dog Taiga was waiting at the fence. She's the friendliest being I've ever met, and stays outside most of the time, even sleeping out there. She's got super thick fur. 

Anyway, she really likes to play fetch, so what she does is she drops her toy over the fence, so that you have to pick it up if only to bring it back to the yard. But at this point, she's tricked you into holding her toy as she wags her tail and prepares to catch it, and you can either carry it in (it's really gross and slobbery) or you can throw it to her. 

She knows what she's doing. 

Today was Friday. 

I really don't like the way that students are treated in my lycée. No teacher trusts you on your word; you have to get a teacher to validate everything.  

So the way it works is like this: the cafeteria serves all the students at lunch, starting at 11:30 and continuing to serve until 13:30 I think. Students line up outside and are admitted in intervals, scanning their lunch cards on the way. Students with class schedules that only allow for an hour to stand in line, get your stuff together, sit down, eat, dispose of stuff properly, and leave (theoretically) get priority seating. Otherwise they would not have time to eat because there are so many students standing in line (side note: lines in France are a bit more "everyone for themselves" then in Canada. I'm used to it being customary to let others pass in front of you knowing they would do the same, but here if you wanna be in front you gotta push your way through and bugger the consequences. Otherwise you WILL be last, just like us polite Canadians). 

Today our class had limited time to eat, so we tried to get priority passes. The teacher wouldn't let us so we had to go ack around and join the pack of everyone else. It was kinda like being herded like sheep. We waited half an hour, but then we were really running out of time so we went and asked again, this time with the whole class who had since shown up. Only when our homeroom teacher came and talked to the supervisor did they let us through. I definitely think there's a better way to organize things here, and it really bugs me about the lack of trust in students. 

So not a great day at lunch, but later in the evening I taught Clémentine and Nadia the card game Dutch blitz, and watched Sherlock in French with the parents (who both loved it by the way). Tomorrow is skiing again :)

14

Feb 18, 19

Yesterday (18) was a normal day at school. We had croisées, a type of tiny square pasta native to this region, for dinner. They tasted like pasta. I'm trying to think what else happened yesterday... Ah yes, I worked on a PowerPoint for school with Mathilde, I read until act 3 of Le Cid for French, I practiced my orchestra music, and Aline shaved my head for me. It was starting to look strange with patches of hair and stuff. So, average day. 

I brought a granola bar as a little snack today (19), and as I was eating it everyone glanced at me for a moment. They really don't eat any snacks here, ever. Par contre les répas sont très grands. Even if the food here is super yummy, there's a lot of gluten (which doesn't completely agree with me) and it's a strange pattern of getting really hungry, stomach rumbling, then eating until very full and then not eating for a long time again. To me it doesn't seem like a very healthy way of nourishment, but they think that eating little snacks all day when you're hungry is unhealthy. I think the cultures are worlds apart when it comes to eating schedules, but out of courtesy I'm going to eat in their pattern while I'm here (but I don't think it's very healthy). It's not like I really have any other choice: food is put in front of me and I either eat or go hungry. So yeah. 

Another big cultural difference I've noticed is "taboo" subjects. We had a guy come in and give a presentation on addiction and tobacco and drugs, but it also touched on everything from feminism to homosexuality to racism and classism. I noticed some flaws in his arguments, but I was too shy to raise my hand. I wanted to sound like I knew what I was talking about (I did), but because French was my second language I held back. I think presentations like these are fairly rare here, and there are a lot of taboo subjects that aren't really discussed. It's quite different from my school in Victoria, we are really open there with everything and I miss that feeling. I wonder if it's just schools that are different or whether it's a Canadian vs French thing. Maybe there are schools here like mine, but somehow I doubt it. Esquimalt really has an unbeatable atmosphere :)

13

Feb 15, 16, 17

The weekend, and today (Monday). 

On Saturday we went skiing for the entire day (ski de pistes- alpine) and it was really scary at first but then I got the hang of it by controlling my speed, and it got better. By the end of the day I was skiing at an okay level, remembering all of the three or so days I've gone skiing in the past. Meanwhile Mathilde is off skiing backwards and going in circles and doing small jumps, as I snow plough my way cautiously and carefully down the slopes. I did not want to fall. 

I didn't end up falling, but it was a lot of work and the second time around I had to take lots of little breaks to rest my legs, because they were trembling from the effort. I figured out how to kinda give them a break for a bit, by putting my skis in parallel when going straight. It kinda worked. Sort of. I definitely have a long way to go still, considering my favorite part of skiing at the moment is still the téléchaise ride on the way up. 

Sunday was a nothing day. I caught up on my school work from France (of which there is a fair amount at the moment- I've been here long enough to be caught in the net of people who were present last time) and I plan on doing my best in the schoolwork here, even if it doesn't count for anything official back home. I figure, school is school. I'll do my homework. 

I also started on some work from home, but didn't get too far because it was getting really late and there was school tomorrow (what was I doing the rest of the day, you ask? Reading. Darn books wasting all your time :). 

I also practiced viola yesterday, which felt good. I tried to play every fiddle tune I could remember after practicing, but in the end ran out of tunes or could not figure out how they went (of course later while half asleep they all came back to me). I also got my postcard all packaged and ready to mail, and Aline mailed it for me today. Hopefully it will be at my house in Canada in 10 days-ish. 

19:00

Today was a typical Monday: school; math, history, English, chemistry, gym. Lunch was little wheat pasta-like thing with pork and yoghurt for dessert. Now I'm going to go do homework. 

23:30

Good night. 

12

12

Feb 14, 2014

Yesterday was average, so no blog post. As a quick description: stuff happened. I went to school, I came home, I did homework. I do a post everyday, that's not going to work...

So. Today was a pretty average day at school. We got some homework, homework was checked (I did mine- it's nice finally being in attendance long enough to know a bit about what's going on). 

After school Kestrel came over to mine and Mathilde's house because Emma (her OSEF partner) got her wisdom teeth out and wasn't much fun to be around. We made crêpes by throwing random amounts of milk, flour, and eggs into a bowl and then haphazardly pouring the "pâte à crêpes" into the frying pan. The first one was too wet, the second too dry, and by the third it was about right. We were creative with our toppings: Nutella and sugar (except I put way too much chocolate hazelnut spread on mine and had some trouble finishing it). 

Then the afternoon progressed, we watched some Sochi Olympics on TV (this is one of the only reasons I would want a tv- to watch the Olympics every couple years) and I was reminded how "great" tv ads are, especially in French...

Eventually Kestrel left and it was time for karate. I worked more on my catan (still don't know how to spell that- I really should look it up), and was shown some basic blocks to kicks and punches with either hand. My reaction time sucks, not to mention that a lot of the time any appendage that I'm not paying attention to will do whatever it pleases. Such as: I think of my punch, my other hand stays outstretched wherever it was last. I think about tucking that hand into my side, and my punch becomes a half-hearted attempt at a fist-bump. I need to work on some coordination. 

Today it was also valentine's day, and it seems like a bigger deal here then in Victoria, but maybe that's just me. 

Anyway, the way it works is us kids get to eat a wonderful French meal in front of the tv, while the parents get the kitchen to themselves for a nice romantic dinner (of course they still have to bring food in for the kids from time to time). The food was really good- Greek salad and Chinese mini egg roll things for starters, and 4 escargots (I have now had foie gras and escargot in France, and I quite like the snail because of all the garlic and butter. There's not much actual snail taste). Then the main course: roast duck, gratin dauphinoise, rice, and green beans wrapped in bacon. For desert there was a big selection of mini cakes with were way too rich for me to eat a lot. 

Dinner was really good. I'm really full. We're going alpine skiing the entire day tomorrow. 

Good night

(23:12)

11

Feb 12, 2014

12:39

At a restaurant with Mathilde, Ariane (who I just met, friend of Hugo's) and Hugo (there are three in our class- this is the one with red hair). We are eating here for his birthday, I believe, but it also might be Mathilde's or something. Anyway. 

School ended at midi today, as it does all Wednesdays. We had French, English, then history. I managed to save as much paper as I could in history because I wrote really small. We learned more about monasteries and churches in the 1000's and monks and cloisters and people. I took notes. 

In French we started reading the first scene of a play "Le Cid". It's a tragedy, and actually I can understand it and I quite like it so far. It's all about honor and love (forbidden, of course) and knights and princesses. I think it's going to be good. 

In English we did a debate on whether computers were stressful or not. I was the moderator, and lead the discussion. It was kinda boring. 

And now I'm at the restaurant. That's my day so far. I ordered tagliatelle.

21:33

The food at lunch was ok. Not super bad, not super great. I didn't like the fact that there was not nearly enough meat sauce for the pasta. It was really boring. With each bite, I got a hint of tomatoness, and not much else. This was really annoying especially because I like my pasta dishes to be meat sauce with a garnish of noodles. Luckily they give you complementary parmesan, and I used up the entire little container they put on the table. It was kinda like parmesan with noodles when I was done, but it wasn't boring anymore. 

 After lunch we went to the supermarket, and I found out that kit kat makes little chocolate wafer balls that you dip into pre-packaged vanilla flavor kit kat yogurt. We bought some because it was so strange, but I didn't really feel like trying it (neither did Mathilde) so right now it's sitting in the fridge. I don't know if I want to know what kit kat brand yogurt tastes like. 

We went to karate again tonight, and this time Kestrel was with me. Turns out in Canada she had done four years of karate in the past, so there goes my hopes of having another beginner  start with me. It did comfort me a little though: she didn't remember everything. I struggled my way through the warm up, realizing that I really need to get better at running for more than 30 seconds before I start panting and getting tired. Maybe I'll work on that while I'm here. 

After warm up, everyone split up. Kestrel and I joined a teacher person who taught us (me) the basic guard position and three types of kicks and two ways to block a punch and four ways to turn and block. My level of retention now is about 10%. Then he went on to tech us the very first catan (I don't know if it's spelt with a "k" or a "c"). There are apparently many levels of catan, of which two were happening on either side of us with the groups of more advanced students. They looked very impressive. 

By the end of the class, I had the movements memorized (but not perfected, of course). It's kinda tricky thinking of what to move when in a certain position; it reminds me of playing viola because there's a million things that you're thinking about all at once. Kestrel pretty much got it right away, but it wasn't her second day ever in a kimono so I figure I did alright. 

Then we went a little overtime with our class, and I could tell because people started bringing in huge African drums and such. We did the ceremony thing we do before starting or finishing a class, and went home. 

Then I had dinner (cenelle (leftover cheesy stuff), spinach purée (wasn't too bad actually, I think there was a lot of butter), cherry tomatoes and leftover pasta with cheese). Now I'm in bed, and now I'm going to brush and floss my teeth. Good night

10

Feb 11, 2014

Well today was mildly interesting. 

I was slightly tired and falling asleep the entire day, so keep in mind everything had a lazy tinge to it. 

So school was fairly normal. We had chemistry/physics and life science (which I had not too much trouble with- it all kinda made sense), then after a lunch of rice, Yorkshire pudding and some sort of stew thing, they had a French test on a play by Molière and I read a book. 

After school we got picked up by Mathilde's grandma (Oliver's mum), but not before Mathilde was given a gigantic red heart-shaped balloon for her birthday yesterday. Somehow we fit it into the car in the backseat, then we drove home. I should mention at this point that I was almost falling asleep in the car and finding it hard to keep up a conversation in French with the driver.  I found myself speaking slower with more pauses than usual, and my vocabulary was decreasing exponentially. Eventually we just stopped talking, and I decided to have a nap when we got home. 

I went to sleep right away for an hour, after which Mathilde and I were going to leave for the rehearsal of her orchestra before the concert they were playing at tonight. But as I was too tired and had only been to one rehearsal, I decided not to go. So Mathilde left, (probably picked up Clémentine along the way somewhere) and I went back to bed.  

An hour after that, Aline, Nadia, Olivier and I left to go watch the concert. As we were getting into the car, I noticed aloud that on the way back we would have six people and only seat belts for five. Aline said oh yes, she had forgotten but we would figure it out. I didn't worry. It was a short drive in a small village. 

We got pizza and calzones (pizzas folded in half and glued together) on the way for dinner, and I have to say take our pizza here is much better. It's more Italian style, with thin crusts and interesting cheeses. Also one of the pizzas we got was called a "pizza Eva". 

We got to the conservatory and headed in with our pizza. We weren't sure exactly where or when we were going to eat it. It was almost at this point when I had not eaten anything since lunch, about seven hours ago. I guess I didn't realize I was hungry because I was so tired, but now I was really hungry. 

So we walked up the stairs to where the doors to the theatre were. There was kind of an airlock setup, where you go in some doors first, then there's a dark area with little red lights behind the audience up high, then you go through another door to go sit down. But what we did was go through the first door like normal, then inconspicuously place our pizzas and stuff on the floor of the dark area and eat pizza. I was about half way through my piece when I realized what I situation this was. We were crouched around some pizza, eating really fast because we had to, behind a theatre in which a semi-formal concert was going on (I say semi formal because none if the groups were really great, they were mediocre). So yeah. Just hanging about like we owned the place eating our dinner. 

After we finished and saved some for Clem and Mathilde, we washed our hands and went in to sit down. Just in time too, because the orchestra came on just then. Before them was a girl singing "skyfall" but she wasn't that great of a singer, and got off the beat a couple times. It was ok though because her backup piano, drums, and bass trio were super great. 

The orchestra played. Nothing special, just what I expected. Better than advanced strings at central, but much worse than the junior orchestra at the VCM. There were some really good individual players though, including Mathilde and the concert master. 

Then a trombone quartet plus bass played, and they were pretty good. It was nice to hear a trombone again. I wondered if there was any way a trombone-less teenaged bald canadian girl could join a trombone quartet of French balding men. I figured there was a possibility. Apparently the trombone teacher in the quartet is the husband of Mathilde's violin teacher. It's a small place. 

After the concert we all piled into the car, Aline and Olivier in the front, me, Mathilde, Clem and Nadia in the back. Nadia sat on my lap, since she was the smallest. Mathilde and Clem are their pizza in the car, and I mused that we were turning this little fuel-efficient car into a gigantic RV just by cramming it with people and eating food in he back. It was cosy, the kind of cosy feeling you get when you build a blanket fort and then realize it's a bit too small but you stay anyway. And then cram all your friends into it, and start eating pizza. Anyway...

We were all super tired after that so we all went to bed. Or rather, we should have all gone to bed but instead I played viola, Mathilde played violin, Nadia had a bath, Clem did her math, Aline found a strawberry pie (mmmmm...) and we all got busy. Then later Mathilde hogged the bathroom (she's still in there..) to have a bath and I showed "It Must have Been the Dragon" to Aline and Olivier while Nadia and Clem complained about the noise and the bathroom-hogging. 

Then things finally calmed down a bit and I got handed my toothbrush by Mathilde opening the bathroom door a crack, and now I'm writing this. Whew. How is it 23:20? I started at 22:30. Darn, I was totally planning on getting to sleep at a reasonable hour today. 

9

Monday feb 10

School day. 7:22

Waiting at the second bus stop of the day. 

7:34

On the bus. 

17:37

On the bus again. School just finished. Last block was gym, and we did pong pong. Mondays for me are spent mostly sitting around, because I'm here till five thirty but only have three classes. So I read my book. 

Today at lunch there were choices: ravioli with tomato stuff, ravioli with cheese stuff, or fish and carrots with cheese. I took the carrots and fish, and I was very proud of myself for that because here in France there has been so much bread and wheat and gluten, and I haven't been feeling super great. My guess is that is has something to do with that, and I think I was right because I didn't feel as bad after lunch today. 

In summary: today school was long and I made good food choices. 

I'm not going to tell you everything that happened in every class every day, because that would be exhausting. I'll just tell you the interesting stuff, for example: I had my first history class today, and it's pretty much the same as sciences humaines back home. We ate learning about the church reforms of the Middle Ages. It's pretty dull stuff, but it's also pretty easy. Also I learned that other Canadian exchange student Castrelle's name is actually spelt Kestrel. A bit different. I feel like it's the name of a bird, or close to it...

We got our timetables and papers and stuff after gym, because the gym teacher is also our homeroom teacher and we didn't have homeroom last Friday. I need to talk to people about my timetable (emploi de temps en français) because there are some things we need to change. 

K. That's all for now. 

21:40

For dinner we had spinach noodles and chicken. It was really good. For dessert we had blueberry pie. Mmm. 

It was also Mathilde's birthday dinner (it's her birthday today :) and she opened all her presents. She liked the portrait I painted of her, but she especially liked the laptop that she got. Now she has her own computer, which is good because there was only one computer in the house until today, and it was always in use. 

We've all got an orchestra concert tomorrow. I'm looking forward to it. 

P. S.

Sorry if these posts are getting shorter or less detailed, it's just that less is happening. The first couple days were a whirlwind, and now things are calming down a bit. 

8

Feb 8/ feb 9

Yesterday (feb 8):

Me and Olivier went skiing, but then we had to come back because my boots were too small and they were hurting my feet. Luckily the ski hill is only a half hour drive away. Then I worked on a watercolor postcard for the rest of the day, then Mathilde, Albane and I went to a concert in the evening. All in all, it was a pretty quiet day. Nothing much to say, except the concert was mildly entertaining and was in the same hall as karate. I think everything in Revel happens in that one hall. 

It was kinda nice to just have a quiet day; it was the first of its kind since I arrived in France. There were some people who came over for dinner, and we had some of the salmon I brought with me from Canada. I also tried foie gras, it was ok. Tasted kinda just like normal meat. I met another Canadian exchange student (Emma's) at the concert, Castrelle. She had arrived four hours ago, and was really tired. We talked French and not English, for which I was proud of. 

Today (feb 9):

It's morning and we're all getting ready to go cross-country skiing. I think we're just about to leave. Will check in later. 

Back from skiing (all day):

We went cross country skiing all day and I am thoroughly wiped out. I actually wiped out two times (fell over and rolled ungracefully down the slope) , trying to go fast down a hill. Got the wind knocked out of me the second time. Not fun, but ok. We also played "magic square" in the powdery unpressed snow (did you know that "snow plough" in French is "chasse-neige"? That means snow chaser. Such a better name than snow plough). We traced a square with diagonals and horizontals and one person was the wolf. The next person the wolf tagged was also now a wolf, and the game ended when everyone was a wolf. There were only two rules: you must keep your skis on and you must stay on the traced lines in the snow. If you fell over (and I did), you'd better get up quick otherwise you were dead meat (and I was). 

But overall it was a really good day, because even though I suck at skiing at the moment I still love it. And by the end I had improved a little. Also, we went for hot chocolate and Nutella waffles afterwards which helped a lot :)

7

Feb 7

13:15

Just sitting right now at Lycée Pablo Neruda waiting until our next classes start. They start at 14h, lunch was from 12:09-12:30. Woke up this morning, had cereal with little bits of dehydrated fruit, got my stuff together, walked out the door.

We set out again for school, taking the bus down the mountain it was a little early, so we had to run a bit. 

First class was math, so I went to the equivalent of study hall to read "to kill a mockingbird". I'm not giving any spoilers on here, but I will say right now it's a book which I think I will have to read at least twice to get everything out of. There are so many references early on to things that happen later. Also it's a really good book and I couldn't put it down for the entire two hours. It's good that in not going to math because:

a) it's a terrible class

b) I can use the math blocks as spares to finish all of my work from Canada (of which there is a sizable amount). 

Then we went to French and they started writing a critique of a movie they'd seen which sounded really good and worth watching (even if a little sad), so I'll try to find it at the library and watch it, and then I can write a critique too. It's my intention to keep up with homework as much as I can here (why not?). 

23:30

So remember what I said about not staying up late? Yeah, that's not happening. But I didn't get a chance before this, and I will explain. 

The rest. Of school was pretty average: English then Spanish. I n English I can participate as a full member of the class (but it's embarrassing speaking English in front of them all, because I don't want to speak too fast but at the same time I want to sound like English is my strong point and I'm not hesitating). In Spanish, it's a little harder because they've done twice as much Spanish as me, and it's no one's native language. 

On Fridays we get home from school at 6:30pm which kind of sucks. And then we have half an hour at home until we have to leave again for karate. We watched a bit of the opening of the Olympic Winter Games in Sochi on TV before we left. 

Karate is so much fun. It really is. At first I had no idea what I was doing, but after figuring some things out (like how to put on the white robe kimono thing and such) I dove right in. The teacher taught me 3 ways go block someone who wants to stab me with a knife. This instruction included descriptions of what would become of me if I failed in blocking said knife, which included sound effects. In the end, he's a really good teacher. 

I really quite enjoy karate. I will definitely keep doing it here, and maybe even when I get back. I was practicing the three defense moves when I got back home, and they're so much fun :)

It's a lot of work though, but I don't mind. You forget how much you're working when you're busy (It's the same with dancing). Mathilde is really good at karate! It's actually a little scary how good she is. Did I mention she's going to nationals? She said I did really well for my first day, that I was faster than most first-timers. I don't know, I certainly didn't feel fast. I was working today with a girl called Marie. So much fun. Afterwards we walked home, basically a fifteen minute hike up the mountain. Mathilde's friend Élisée met us after karate to walk home with us. She hadn't been at school cause she was sick. 

When we got home we had dinner (leftover soup) and later this evening I taught Nadia how to make a relatively difficult origami bracelet. We did a practice one together, and I taught her how to read the diagrams, and then she made the real thing by herself. I never touched the paper, and it looks super good. Nadia is very patient, et en plus elle était une très bonne élève. She learns quickly. 

Ok time for bed. Tomorrow is my first ski day! Olivier is going to teach me the basics. 

6

February 6

16:00

Right now Mathilde and I are on the bus on the way home from school and I have some time to write because Mathilde is just talking to Martin (a friend). Mathilde has lots of friends, and I can't remember all of their names but here's the ones I remember: Albane, Emma, Claire, Clarisse, Valentin, Laurane, Pierre, and lots more. Those might not be spelled right, because I've only ever heard them out loud. 

School here is different, but not as different as I thought it would be. The thing I've most noticed actually is the paper; it's always graph paper. Maybe I'll take a picture to show you. I don't know why, but it's the paper that I find the most different between Canadian schools and French schools. 

We do take a lot if notes, but there are also oral presentations and such. For example, in French today we started a PowerPoint project on "Le Cid" and in Spanish there were oral presentations very similar if not exactly the same as what I remember doing in Canada. 

Right now Albane has come over to join us. She was listening to music with Pierre until an minute ago. 

Anyway, so schools here are different but the same. The cafeteria was on strike today and there were huge picket lines and shouty people standing around outside the school today. It was a funny first day for me to come. 

So because there was no food available at the school, we bussed to subway for lunch instead. We were going to go to a Chinese food place, but something happened at the last minute, I'm not sure what, and we ended up going to subway instead. Which I was fine with. They were wondering if I knew subway, and I said I did. I think subway is all over. 

17:00

Right we had to get off the bus all of a sudden, so I'm continuing now. 

We had SES first thing, which is kinda like economy. We talked about supply and demand, and prices and demand, and how to calculate the elasticity of price as a function of demand and all that. Also about the paradox of luxury products: when the price get higher, more products are sold, and we talked about why this is and all that. I found it pretty interesting, but then again I had never been in a class like that before. Mathilde said it was boring. The teacher wasn't very good either, enfaite. 

Next we went to French, where they had a test (un "contrôle" en français) so I started reading "How to kill a mockingbird" for my English class back in Victoria. I figured I'd better start it. Next, because it was a double block of French, we went to the computer lab and started a new power point project about "Le Cib" (some Spanish lord from the 11th century called Rodrigo Diaz de Vivir, who defended Spain from Muslim invaders) and abound play that someone wrote based on this legend. I was in a group with Mathilde and a guy called Maxime (or maybe it was Maxine, I couldn't tell). That wasn't too bad, and the French teacher is really nice and everyone respects her as well. 

Then we had lunch, which I already told you about, and then after lunch we went to Spanish. Enfin il n'est pas très gentil lui, he has this was of looking at you which is scary. But he seems ok and good at teaching Spanish so there's that. They just did some little back and forth prepared memorized trialogue (a three person dialogue ;) with a mom and a dad and their son who wants to be a nurse, I think? I only understood about half of what they said because they've been doing Spanish for three years now, and I've only done one year, and it was a year ago now on top of that. So I'm a little rusty and they are way above my level in Spanish and speak really fast. 

Then the last class of the day: Math. Now normally I'm all for math, and apparently the class I was in were all strong students in math, but the teacher sucked. The parents are talking to the principal about finding a different teacher, because what's happening is students who normally excel at math are put with this teacher and all of a sudden their grades go down fast. He really doesn't know how to teach: he goes too fast, he doesn't care, sometimes he teaches the wrong things, etc. The class just generally hates him, and so they just talk the entire time which makes it even harder for the teacher (and the kids). For me, I find that what he is teaching and the actual calculations aren't hard, but the round-about way that he teaches makes it really hard for anyone to concentrate. Also it's impossible to read his writing. 

I was sitting next to Mywïenne (I have no idea how to spell that- it's apparently a name from Bretagne) during math and she seems to be like me: she's really good at math and she likes doing it, but even she didn't know exactly what was going on, and she had come to math every day. This math class is the equivalent of our classe de sciences humaines à Victoria, but ten times worse. Mathilde says each time that have a test, she just uses the textbook to study because nothing she learns in class makes any sense. I probably would too. 

Luckily, because I'm an exchange student and marks don't count here, I can talk to the office and to Mathilde's parents (and I have already) and just go to the library or something during the math blocks. I might be able to work on work from home or something. 

Also we didn't have sports  (PE) today, but apparently we are doing ping pong right now, and then muscle building. 

I just remembered their dog's name! It's Taiga. I think it's a good name. 

18:00

Well I've been writing for an hour now. Funny, it doesn't seem that long. 

After school, Mathilde, Albane and I bussed to the bottom of the mountain, where we hitch-hiked up the mountain with someone named Phillipe (we could tell because on the display it said something about Phillipe's iPhone). Apparently Albane had hitched a ride with him before. I think because revel is such a small village, it's ok to be hitch- hiking about. If we were in a city I'd be a bit more worried. It seems like everyone knows each other here. 

And now I'm sitting at home in front of the wood stove (the only source of heating for the house) and warming my feet. I'm feeling quite content at the moment :)

Oh yes, and I wore my wig ("perruque" en français) all day at school today, just because it was the first day and I didn't know how people would react and all. I think tomorrow I'll wear a hat, and see what happens. It's quite annoying to have to wear a wig all day. It really gets in the way, especially while eating. 

I think later this evening Mathilde it going to karate again. In Thursdays it's heavy workout day, and because she's qualified to go to the France national karate competition in Paris this March representing Revel, she is working really hard at the moment. It means I get to back to Paris once more before I leave France :)

22:00

I'm going to go to bed earlier today. So this is just to tell you what I had for dinner: vegetable soup, fish, pasta, cheese. Voilà. Bonne nuit tout le monde :)

5

February 5, 2014

17:00

I'm waiting at the conservatoire with Mathilde and Clém. This morning I woke up at 11:30, and then Aline, Nadia, et moi ont allé manger le répas de midi avec la grandmère de Nadia. On the way we picked up Clémentine from her collège.

22:20

Ok I had to go quickly there and I didn't have time to really finish. I'll finish now. 

So we picked up Clémentine and drove to her grandma's house. It's not very far away. 

We had salad, pork with a really yummy curry sauce, squash gratin, and for dessert doughnuts and cheese (separately). She was really nice. 

Then we went to orchestra (there is only school in the mornings on Wednesdays) and met Mathilde at the conservatory. Their orchestra is very small, and has only two violas who are both quite shy. La directrice de l'orchestra wants me to play with them in a concert ce mardi, because I think I really support the viola section quite a bit.  Clém was saying at dinner that before you couldn't really hear the violas (and she sits right next to us-she plays cello) and now you can actually hear us. I think it's good. The music is catchy, but simple and fairly easy to sight read. I caught on fast. 

Oh yeah, I forgot: on the way to lunch we picked up a viola for me to use from a friend of Aline's (who's daughter is an OSEF exchange student as well- she has her canadian partner from Nanaimo there right now). It's a bit smaller than my viola at home, and therefore the sound isn't as satisfying, but it will do. I think it's better/easier than renting one. 

After orchestra, Mathilde had a violin lesson in the same building, and Clémentine went to the médiathèque (bibliothèque, mais avec l'accès aux média) to do done homework or read a book. I could have stayed, but I chose to accompany Aline to the market in a neighboring village. It was raining quite hard at this point, and she had meant to buy an umbrella  a couple days ago but forgot, so we stopped briefly at IKEA to buy 2 umbrellas (oh yes, did you know that there is an IKEA here?  I want to go around the entire building later on this week and see if I want to buy anything). 

When we got to the market, we went around and bought veggies, fruit, meat, milk, cheese, sheep's milk yogurt, everything. That took about an hour, maybe 45 minutes. I took some pictures there. We didn't buy any bread though: we had gone to the boulangerie earlier. 

Then we went back to the music school and found Clémentine and Mathilde, but Nadia was still upstairs with her chamber group (she plays piano), so we had a bit of time waiting for Aline to get back with Nadia. 

Now we've made it back to where it started before. It stared writing that bit before this one while I was waiting. 

Aline came with Nadia and all of us five girls headed home. It was a bit cramped in the car at this point: five people, 1 cello, more instruments, and all of the groceries, but we managed. On the way up the mountain, a couple blocks from home, we dropped off Nadia at her African dance lessons. Then there was more space in the car. 

When we drove up the driveway, Mathilde saw Albane (or "Babane" as Mathilde likes to call her) waiting for us in the yard. She was throwing the dog's toy for her: the dog is so friendly; every time she sees someone, she sees an opportunity to have her rope toy thrown, so she alway puts it by your feet and stands back, staring intently. If you move, she repositions the toy for optimum efficiency. 

Anyway, so Albane was waiting for us and she was so excited to meet me. She wanted to be the first Reveloise to meet me (and she was :) 

Then we all went inside and Mathilde, Albane and I sang/played a bunch of songs that most of us knew. Me on mandolin, Albane on guitar (she's really good), Mathilde on piano, and everyone singing. It was fun to play music again after about a week. They also knew a lot of English songs, and I learned some French ones. 

Then Mathilde had to go to karate and Albane left, so I started to upload more photos to imgur for this blog. I managed to get the photos from my iPod onto there, so you should be able to see them now. They're just lumped in with everything else. There are a couple pictures on there of the airplane meal that I took because I thought it was so strange. 

Then we all got called for dinner ("à table!"), which was a really good cheese lettuce and tomato salad, oysters ( I think? Or something similar) with a really yummy sauce, rice with sauce/cheese, and yogurt and cheese for dessert. Also, we have baguette with every meal. I haven't mentioned it specifically, but with every meal I've had in France so far there's always been a little slice of baguette placed beside the plate. Not too much, not too little. They're really good for mopping up any extra sauce on your plate, and also for eating with cheese. 

Then after dinner Olivier showed me a bunch of pictures from when they went to London, and I tried on some ski boots (we're going skiing this Saturday) which were unfortunately a bit too small. 

Then Mathilde got back home and we talked about the attitude of the kids at her school towards people with differences, and we decided it would be good for me to wear my wig for the first day at least. After that, I'm going to wear hats and maybe eventually come to school with nothing on my head. I don't know. I'll see what it's like tomorrow. 

Then I got a bunch of school stuff for tomorrow from Aline and went to my room and now I'm writing this. Whew. Busy day. 

P. S. 

I had a strange dream last night: I dreamt that Lise was a shoemaker or something and she had made this super amazing good quality stylish shoe (it looked like a bluntstone boot that was falling apart), and at first she got tons of publicity but then she got too famous and people really wanted that shoe (there was only one, you see). So one day she told me to get on my bike, and I held The Shoe in my hand as we biked as quickly as we could to a run down shed somewhere just outside the city. Then she told me to wait and guard the place while she took The Shoe inside. Next some people came along trying to kill her with knives for The Shoe, and I tried my best to stop them, and then someone who I thought was Lise's assistant or something turned traitor and pulled out her own knife, and then they all managed to get past me and Lise was killed. Then I got really sad and as I had no family left in the dream I had to join a traveling group of actors to survive. Then the rest of the dream is me being part of various plays from a caravan traveling around medieval/urban Europe. So as I said, that was a pretty strange dream.

4

Feb 4

9:30

We are waiting at the Paris train station right now. What's funny is we are waiting about 200m from where I waited a couple years ago with my family, and I can verify that by the fact that I remember the sound that the announcer makes over the speakers: "da, da, Dah-dat". It's strange and nostalgic. 

We've set up a little camp made up of a sea of blue backpacks in the corner if the station, because we're here for 1 hour. Elsa is being very kind to me as I write this, as we have to be in groups of two or more when we leave the base camp, and right now I'm across the station sitting at an electrical outlet charging my iPod. I wouldn't be able to write this if Elsa wasn't here, so thank you Elsa :)

We are finally going to meet our host families today, and I'm not actually too worried. I know some of us are freaking out a bit, but I'm ok. It's going to be fun going on a train again. I can pretend that I'm away from home for five months traveling around Europe with my family again. Except this time my family is waiting for me in Grenoble. It's going to be sad to leave all the people I made friends with at OSEF, even though I didn't know them a few days ago. 

Ok well Elsa's wondering when I'm going to be done so I guess I'll stop for now and check in later. Bye

12:33

Done our first train. Now waiting in Lyon for our next train to Grenoble. Some people got to go with their host families from here, which made me even more exited to meet Mathilde's family. 

Elsa and I went to Starbucks (along with all the other Canadians). Generally I'm against huge chain restaurants/cafés, but when you're able to get the same food from the same store in two different parts of the world, I have to say it's comforting. Not much else happening right now. Going to try to find a plug for my iPod again. 

Couldn't find a plug, but I noticed that my iPod charges a lot faster here than it does in Canada. It might not be true, but if it is I'm guessing it has something to do with the voltage difference between here and there. I'm just glad my iPod didn't fry itself or burst into flame or something, and I'd be lying if I said I hadn't worried about that... 

13:15

Now we're on the very last train until I meet Mathilde. 

We were talking with some other OSEF kids earlier at the station, saying how we didn't exactly match our exchange partner. For example, if we hadn't been matched together we probably wouldn't have ended up being friends. I don't know what I think about Mathilde, but I know I would have rather have been matched with another girl's student: she was telling me about her and apparently she lives on a farm, and is really outdoorsy etc. Although I'm not saying Mathilde and I don't get on well, I think we do because we both really love music and we're both really nice and accommodating. It's a pretty good match, actually. 

Back at the hotel, Eva was playing a free game called "flappy bird" on her iPod. Somehow she convinced Elsa and me to get it too, and now I  can't stop playing it. Honestly, it shouldn't be that addictive: it's just a pixelated game where you tap to make a pixelated bird flap, and you have one chance to make it as far as you can through a bunch of green tubes. It's actually really hard, but supposedly it's possible to get more than 10. I seriously doubt it. If you are reading this and have an device, I think you should download that game just to verify what I'm saying here. 

That's all for now. 

Also, there are a bunch of trees here with what look like snow berries on them. I don't think that's actually what they are, but they look really neat. 

16:15

Oh my god I'm here. I'm here in Revel and I love it already! Mathilde and her dad came to pick me up at the airport, and I found it a lot easier than I thought it would be to communicate with them. I understand a lot and I'm so excited! I'm also really really tired, but right now I'm just excited. They don't have snow exactly where they live (650m elevation) but we drove a little further up to see a frozen lake and there was lots and lots of snow there! And it was only 2 min from her house!!! I'm so happy right now and I'm sitting in my room on my bed writing this and you know, I think I might just stay here and live here forever. I don't know, Victoria's pretty nice too. 

Olivier (her dad) is just going now to pick up Nadia and Clém (short for Clémentine) from school. Apparently Nadia (10) is really excited and wants to give me a tour of the house, so I'm not allowed to see it yet. She sounds pretty cute. It reminds me of what Tobin would do when someone new comes to our house :)

There are so many things to write about since two hours ago. I didn't even think it was possible, since then I was bored and not knowing what to write. I have my own desk and a big mirror and a big bed and some little patio doors and I'm so exited to give all the gifts I brought to the Croisats. Ok. 

The mountains are all around. You look one way, there's a mountain. You turn around, another mountain. They also have a dog and a cat. Sorry, this isn't making much sense. I'm just writing as I think. They also have a wood fireplace. They got tickets for me, Mathilde, and Albane (Mathilde's friend) to go to three concerts: one Mozart, one Pink Floyd, and one opera. I'm looking forward to everything. 

It's really annoying not knowing as much French vocabulary as I want to. Sometimes there are thoughts in my head but I can't say them properly because I'm missing the right words. Or I know them but I forget them in the moment. 

Mathilde is making chocolate cake. 

I should unpack. 

:)   :)   :D 

23:00

Ok it's really late but I just want to check in one last time before this goes up on the web. We had a lovely dinner: salad (two types), pork in a sweet-tasting sauce, rice, and for dessert chocolate cake (in the shape of a teddy bear), and yogurt. In short, a very nice meal to end a chaotic day with. I also gave them all their presents and I think they were very much appreciated (especially by Nadia). I'm not actually having too much trouble with the French so far, but that could easily change once I start going to school. 

I'm not going to school tomorrow, though, because they're going to the movies and I wasn't signed up. Also I'm just really tired and it would be nice to have a day before I jump into everything. And because I'm not going to school, I can come with Aline, Nadia and Clémentine to their weekly Wednesday lunch with their grandparents. Normally, if I went to the Lycée with Mathilde, we would be eating at school. Nadia and Clémentine are being picked up from their schools at lunch. 

I managed to look at Mathilde's schedule for the week (at school), and it's pretty random. She finishes anywhere from 3pm to 6pm, with classes lumped higglty-pigglty all around her schedule. Wednesdays after school is orchestra, and all three kids are part of it (Clémentine joue le violoncello). Also Aline sent an email to the orchestra director and she write back saying that of course I could come to orchestra, and that violas are always welcome. The director herself also plays viola, and so does Mathilde's private teacher. This proves my theory that all private teachers play viola (all of mine and most of my friend's have), and that violas are in demand all over the world. 

I managed as well to make an album online for all the photos I take during this trip, and the link should be in the post just previous to this one. I've put in there all of the photos I took in Paris, apart from the ones on my iPod. I'll do that tomorrow. 

les photos

I have set up an album on imgur for all of the (good) photos I take in France.
I highly suggest you take a look. It's only viewable from the direct URL.

http://imgur.com/a/Mm6Vg#0

3

Feb 3: Paris day 2

7:30

We just woke up in our hotel room and are now trying to organize what we're bringing today, and also go down to breakfast. It doesn't really feel like day 3 already since I left. Everything has just been happening around me the entire time with no breaks. Anyway, nothing has really happened yet today so I don't really know why I'm writing anything yet. 

8:15

Lots of bread at breakfast. If you were gluten free, the only things you could have would have been fruit salad, cereal and cheese and ham. Actually I suppose that's not too bad, but there was no guarantee that the cereal was wheat-free. The pastries were incredible. So fluffy. However, I should try not to indulge too much in the bread here. Also, I think you can just have crêpes with every meal. 

10:15

We are at Sacré coeur right now. It's this incredible church, completely white stone on the top of a huge hill. There are tons of tourists taking pictures (including me). Inside, where you're not allowed to take pictures, there are thousands more of intricate carvings and candles, and lots of ornate gold things. Including an immense mural on the dome of the church using gold paint or something. Also a great view of Paris from the top of the terraced gardens leading up to it, and atmospheric small alleyways all around. Now we get to go see the louvre with a 1 and a 1/2 hour guided tour. This, I'm really excited for, because last time I went to the louvre with my family we didn't actually go inside. 

13:00

We just finished the tour of the louvre. So many gold things. Did you know that a lot of the statues of Greek gods that we have are actually copies by the Romans? They needed the bronze so they melted down all the Greek statues that found. We saw one such copy of a statue of Artemis.  One of the only original Greek statues is of Aphrodite. It was discovered by a farmer in the ground and was then sold to the French government. My guess is the Romans never found it. What else is interesting is that it can now be proven that all (or almost all) Greek statues were painted over completely with vibrant colors, because of wax remnants (I think?) left on the statues. We also saw all the classics, you know, Mona Lisa etc. Personally, I enjoyed the less famous paintings more because there were less people standing around taking pictures, so I could actually see the painting. We only saw a fraction of the entire louvre though, because it is the biggest museum in the world. They still keep adding extensions, even now. The building was originally a fortified castle: the royal residence. You can still walk through the royal bedrooms and such. Only the ceilings are left, however, and they're pretty decorated, especially with pictures of Apollo (representing the Sun King Louis XIV). Then afterwards the king decided to move to Versailles, and the palace was given to the arts to be a museum. Since then extensions have been added so that it is as big as it is today. I gotta say, the louvre is impressive if only for the history if the building, not to mention the thousands of works exhibited there. 

It's amazing how efficient Paris has to be as a city to hold so many things and people all at once.  

We're having lunch at the louvre now, just a pretty average food court. Food from all over the world was available. Then we went shopping.  

17:00

We are heading back to the hotel now, after visiting the Champs Élylées. Not many interesting things to report. We mostly just walked around and looked at 2000€ handbags. There were lots of department stores, and little cafés. I'm starting to feel worn out again now, and my feet are really tired. Tomorrow morning we are leaving by plane or train to get to our host families. Dinner will probably be good again. 

18:20

Heading down for dinner in 40 min. K, no more today. I'm posting this right now. 

2

feb 2nd, I guess?

I managed a bit of sleep on the plane, but not much. I'm ok, though. 

We just got out of the Paris airport and have organized ourselves into 2 buses. It's about 1 o'clock here, and four am in Victoria at the moment. 

We haven't actually started touring yet, but the plan for today is lunch at beaubourg museum, then a boat tour on a "mouche" boat on the rivière Seine. I'm looking forward to today, but am starting to feel the effects of jetlag. You know you're disoriented when someone says "last night" and you don't know when they're referring to. 

So the first place we went to was called Flunch (for lunch). It was a fast food/salad bar/ restaurant. What was really interesting about it was that at first, it looked like any other little place on the street corner, but when you went in you went underground into this amazing little haven of wonderfulness. The food was average, but the setting was pretty neat.  

Next we walked to Notre dame and took some pictures. It was really amazing. On the way though, we had to make our way through a gigantic Chinese New Year celebration. I think everyone in Paris was there today. There was even a permanent carousel. 

Notre dame was cool, but we had to move on pretty fast so I didn't have a lot of time to appreciate it. I couldn't get it in one photograph, it was so big. 

We are currently stuck in a huge traffic jam in our tour bus. I have to say, they have no traffic rules here. None at all. We are supposed to go on a river boat next but we might not get there in time (even though we could get there in five minutes if there was no traffic). The driver is having a heated conversation with the driver next to him. He just got out of his car and walked up to us, and I think he was swearing in French but I can't understand any of it. ... Now he's back in his car, still yelling, and... Yes! We made it to the bus lane. The whole bus just cheered and jeered at that car. Ha. 

Anyway, traffic jams aren't fun, but I think we just witnessed some real Latin temperament/culture there. Totally different from Victoria.  And we're out of the traffic jam now. We have gained 200m. On our way. 

...

Ok. That boat ride took about three times longer than expected. It's 7pm now and we are all back in the bus, talking about how every single one of us fell asleep multiple times on that tour (including me). It's dark now, and the Eiffel Tower is all lit up and it looks very pretty and romantic. They also put up Christmas lights that sparked like paparazzi cameras all over the tower.  I think a lot if the boat tour was lost on us though, just because everyone is ready to go to sleep. And we still have to eat dinner at the hotel. We took pictures of the Eiffel Tower and all the old buildings. We are. So. Tired. And we just learned that we have to wake up at seven tomorrow. So no more blogging today. Too tired. 

P. S. The water bottle dilemma: in the bus on the way to the hotel, they gave us plastic water bottles. I opened mine up, and the cap fell and I lost it somewhere on the ground. I wasn't about to go rooting around under the seats (especially since everyone was dead quiet and sleeping), so the way I saw it I had two options: drink all of the water so that I could go to sleep like everyone else, and I forget what the other one was (I'm tired, ok?). So I drank a lot of water while half asleep for 20 minutes. Now I'm at the hotel and I'm really really really extremely tired and I'm going to go eat dinner. I hope it's good. 

Update: diner was amazing. I didn't end up taking any pictures, though. It was chicken, gravy, Mashed potatoes, and cheesy cauliflower and broccoli. They also had a HUGE array of desserts, including crêpes, Nutella, île flottant, and some peachy thing. Ok good night. 

1

Toronto, local date/time: Feb 1st, 10pm

I'm starting up this blog again because I'm heading off on another trip: this time an exchange to France. We're spending a couple days in Paris before us OSEF kids from all of Canada split off and go to all of our host families all over France.  I get to take a TGV from Paris :)

So we left Victoria today, and got on a plane to Toronto. I took several beautiful photos of the rockys en-route, and tried to get as much sleep as I could, with some success. It was a pretty uneventful flight, and I was still exhausted from getting up at 4am that morning. 

Well, I was writing that on the plane before take off, but this paragraph is written in the air. We were delayed for 2 hours (sigh) while the plane was de-iced. It was snowing and icy the entire time we were in Toronto. My seat mate, Kelsey, (another OSEF student) has just started watching Cloudy with a Chance of meatballs 2. But I haven't seen it yet so I'm going to try my hardest to ignore it and finish writing this and then get some sleep. 

Anyway, nothing much to report today, just lots of waiting around in an airport, and in airplanes, and contemplating the fact that before we get to our hotel in Paris we won't have really adjusted to any new time zone yet and just finished a travel day of 16 hours. We will also, before the hotel, be visiting Notre Dame, Le Louvre, and 3 more tourist sites as soon as we step off this plane. That'll be fun. It'll be like a challenge: who can stay awake the longest. 

Darn I just looked at the screen next to me. I'm getting spoilers for the animated movie I hope to see sometime, preferably with my family. Maybe they'll have it by the time I get back? (Hint, hint). 

Moving on, I don't know how interesting this is going to be but I'll tell you about my day. 

First we left home at 4:20am, (me, Lise, and Wendy) and arrived at YYJ airport and checked in and checked my gigantic suitcase. It was a couple pounds overweight, but they let it through anyway. I had decorated it the night before with various colors of duct tape, most notably a white tree which resembled the tree if Gondor (maybe Lise could send me the pictures if it from her iPod for me to post?). Other colors included rainbow, red, and blue. 

Kelsey has just informed me that CWACOM 2 is not actually very good and that in fact it is terrible, so apparently I'm not missing anything. 

Back to the story: so, after my bag had been checked, I went through security and said goodbye to Mother and Auntie. Then I met up with all the other tired, zombie kids wearing blue OSEF backpacks (a discussion of the (bad) quality of said backpacks could be an entire post on its own) and found Elsa and Eva. Then we got on the plane. Four hours later, we were in Toronto. The rest is even more boring: we waited for 6 hours in Toronto (and there was this one ad that kept playing with the same annoying little theme music. Every time it came on there was a collective groan), I bought a sandwich, then later some sushi and a chicken caesar wrap. Now I'm on the plane to Paris, very tired, will be going to sleep now. Bye. 

Quick note on airline food: it's not that bad (quite bland, but good considering) only next time try not to run out 

of pasta one seat before mine.

P. S. Some of you might know they're filming Gracepoint in Victoria with David Tennant? Well, now someone's watching the fourth Harry Potter movie, and I just realized that the guy who casts the dark mark at the Quiddich World Cup is played by him. I guess the first time I saw that movie, I'd never seen him as the doctor before, so I didn't recognize him :)

P. S. Photos will be up and running later when I have access to a computer. They will be on Imgur. I'll let you know. There might also be one per post on here, but if you want more go to imgur.