I'm writing this from my new bedroom on a farm in southern France. I arrived in Marseille earlier this week and from leaving the US to arriving to my small French town, I could describe this as one of the most bizarre experiences I've had (in a positive way). Although it's mostly been the amount of change that's occurred in the last couple of days, it's hard to believe I'm actually here already, not to mention for a year.
Everything has gone well so far. I didn't miss my flight, lose my passport, or forget anything important. I did forget my earbuds, which is pretty disappointing, but if that's my biggest problem, I'd say everything has gone smoothly. Despite the drastic adjustments with the language, culture, and host-family, it's surprisingly relaxed here. My host-dad has continued to tell me one of the few phrases he knows in English: "Here we live a simple life." The house here is on a farm in the hills about ten minutes from the village Lauris. We have goats, chickens, pigs, dogs, a donkey (my personal favorite), and a cat. Around the house there are olive trees, fig trees, strawberries, melons, and even a vineyard by the mountains. My little host-sister, knowing I'm from Chicago, finds it amusing how intrigued I am in everything around here. I'm allowed to go walking anywhere I want in the area, including the village and the mountains. The weather here is sunny (apparently like this all year), and the whole atmosphere is calm. I don't know how else to describe it; everything around here is laid back.
I'm at my desk right now, next to my window looking out to the garden. On my desk my host-sister Jeanne left me three macarons and a small glass filled with flowers she picked outside. My host-parents, Gabrielle and Sébastien, are working making cheese and Jeanne went to take a walk, so I have some time now to make a blog post about arriving in France.
Leaving Indiana:
I left from the airport in South Bend on Monday. Even though I had started packing a week before leaving, I was up until 3am Sunday night trying to finish arranging my suitcase. This is inevitable for people with a tendency to procrastinate like me, so to all the future outbounds reading this -start packing asap. I managed to finish packing Monday morning, went to the camera store to get my lens cleaned, and went to the airport for my flight at noon.
My simplified itinerary:
South Bend - Atlanta
Atlanta - Paris
Paris - Marseille
The woman next to me on the flight to Atlanta was headed to a conference. After hearing I was on my way to France to study abroad, she told about her exchange to Thailand in college. I was able to relax and talk with her about exchange while drinking orange juice, instead of worrying about how I was about to go abroad alone, which was nice. When I landed in Atlanta I texted another girl from Ohio who supposedly had the same flight as me to Paris. I met up with her at our gate and we got to know each other while snacking on spring rolls in the food court. I ended up meeting about seven other Rotary exchange students at the airport, because all the students going to France travel on the same day.
Going to Paris:
I sat with Mariana, the girl from Ohio, because we chose our seats together a couple weeks ago. During the flight, I watched two French films (I was tempted to watch American films but figured I should get in a somewhat French mindset), talked with Mariana, ate mediocre AirFrance plane food, brushed my teeth, and slept for the remaining hours. When I saw Paris from the plane window I woke up Mariana, who then was terrified because she was scared of plane landings. We arrived in Paris in the morning, around 2am in the US.
Mariana and I stayed together because we had the same connecting flight to Marseille. After security and customs, I met two girls from Brazil and two boys from Taiwan. We briefly talked and exchanged pins before they went to catch their flights to other districts in France. While I was waiting at my gate, I found Brice, an American going to Toulouse who I had met at the Calvin Conference. I also recognized Pauli, a Chilean going to my district who I been in contact with since May. The flight to Marseille was only a couple hours and Mariana, who was terrified at the landing in Paris, was happy that she had managed to sleep through the landing this time.
Meeting People:
A lot of things during my Rotary exchange process have caught me by surprise.
1. Country Placement- Instead of an announcement at a Rotary meeting, I got a call during Algebra class from a Rotarian who simply said, "Have fun in France."
2. That I was applying to study abroad for a year- I thought I was being interviewed for a short exchange over the summer until they asked me why I wanted to leave for a year.
3. Where I was going in France- I didn't get an email from my host-district or host-parents but rather a series of confusing texts from someone I had accidentally blocked on Instagram who had turned out to be my host-brother.
4. Meeting my host-family at the airport.
Pauli, Mariana, and I decided to go to the bathroom to rearrange our stuff, brush our hair, etc. before going to meet our host-families who would be waiting outside. We were walking down the hall to what we though was the bathroom, until we heard bunch of people (who we came to realize were our host-families) calling our names. They were waiting directly in the hall you enter when you get off the plane. Looking back, it was probably easier to be caught off guard because we didn't have to stress to much about first impression. My host-sister had a cute sign with "Bienvenue Wasa" andI met my host-mom and my second host-family.
The Rotarians had us take pictures and we were lead into a room upstairs where even more Rotarians were waiting. They had set up a table with foods from the region, like olives, chocolate, and calissons. The first difference I noticed in France was that the caps on the plastic water bottles were made to flip open, not twist. The change in language was hard as expected and I understood nothing. When we left to walk to the car, my host-sister Jeanne was non-stop talking to me in French. She was hysterically laughing at my inability to speak and understand French but it made me realize early-on that nobody cared if I messed up in French.
The drive from Marseille to my town, Lauris, was about an hour long. I had thought about how awkward the drive would be, but it was fine. I was too busy taking in the view of the region. It looked more desert-like than I thought and although it's obvious, the plants were really different, which I hadn't thought about. We eventually drove up through a long driveway to a small house and Jeanne showed me my room. Because it's summer, which is lavender season, the my bedroom smelled like lavender. For lunch we had some light pasta and avocado. My host-parents explained that most of the food we eat is from the farm, or traded with the others in the village. After my host-sister showed me around the farm, a took a nap until evening. When I woke up I had the weirdest feeling because it was when I realized I was actually in France.
For dinner I had some soup with bread and cheese, eaten with everything all the time here, and we watched a movie before going to bed. My host-sister seemed genuinely concerned that I had managed to sleep until the afternoon the next day. Now at the end of the week, I think I've finally adjusted to the time here (six hours ahead of New York time).
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