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.