Wowsers!

Note: I wrote this a couple of days back- will update soon (:

Well well well. I DO seem to have a lot to say. My last post was a wee while before I left so there is a bit of updating to do. First things first: Pre-departure:

Well on Wednesday day I went and spent time with my friend Matt, then went home to receive various visitors. (Thanks Jimmy for the gloves!) It was great having people come to visit and say goodbyes. Also I had to get around to finishing packing. Fliss and some of the Boyd clan came around with a beautiful cake for me, merci beaucoup guys! Then Bradley came, and so did Matt and Jon. We did some ruthless packing (I was a few kilos over) which was facilitated by the hard hearts of Fliss and Brad, and I think I went a bit feral giving my clothes away (I mean, if I’m not gonna wear them for 10 months, when am I gonna wear them?) Jon scored himself a sweet pair of onesies, he’d better use them well! Anyhoo after this we went for a power spa at Rachel’s place, and Aimee and Jaimee came too. That was good, I don’t know when I’m gonna feel the sweet, sweet waters of a spa again! After that bid farewell to the Van Rooyens and had a tearful goodbye to Fliss and Bradley. A stressful night’s sleep, but I got there.

The next morning up I got, and off we went to the airport. All went fine and dandy. In fact it went super dandy as the Singapore airlines lady checked my board in as Fragile which meant I didn’t have to lug it around 4 airports with me. As I soon discovered, enough lugging would ensue despite this. There was a group of 12 of us flying together, including 2 girls heading to Spain, so we got to have some fun times at the Singapore and Munich airports. We somehow even managed to make it outside Munich airport, even though we were in transit. It was all pretty lax! We farewelled the Spain girls at Munich and were soon on our final flight to Paris (which, might I add, had TERRIBLE air pressure!) Once we’d arrived at the Charles De Gaulle airport we waited at the luggage carousels with slightly bated breath. All was well however, and everybody’s stuff had made it through safely.

Now here is where the good part begins! We walked out through… Well through nothing much. There was no customs whatsoever. Anyhoo, we emerged and were met by a few AFS volunteers. French AFS volunteers are inexpressibly awesome. They are all really young and did AFS themselves, so they know the drill really well. Also they are super nice people with the best senses of humour. My thanks go out to them for making our arrival weekend so brilliant! We had to wait around a bit at the airport for all the students to arrive, and then we took a coach to our hostel. Once we got there we had to say goodbye to our suitcases for the weekend. Also, our rooms were still being cleaned so we had to wait around in what I must emphasise was SWELTERING heat until they were ready. That whole afternoon was pretty chillaxed as more groups arrived, and us Kiwi’s had a good laugh doing Rhys Darby impressions. It was great going around meeting people and making new friends.

The next day the 270-something of us were split into two groups, and half went on a Paris tour in the morning, and half in the afternoon, while the other group had an orientation meeting at the hostel. Our Paris tour was in the afternoon, and by this time we had made some good friends to enjoy it with. We just drove past most of the sights in the coach but we got out at the Eiffel Tower. Did I mention that it was another SWELTERING day? This did however allow us to do one of the coolest things ever! We went for a dip in the fountains in front of the Eiffel Tower! How awesome is that?

After that it was a bit more of a ride on the bus, then back to the hostel where I whipped out Colonel Max FightMaster (my longboard) and let some of the guys have a board up and down the driveway. Good times. That evening we had another orientation meeting and a mini-party on someone’s room then went to bed (I had to get up at 4:45am to be ready at 5:30).

As I said, got up and ready the next morning and headed to the train station. The lovely Cassandre was in charge of the group of us heading to Toulouse, and we all made it on the train safely. It was a bit of a hard choice between looking out the window at the French-Frenchiness and sleeping, but we did a bit of both. We were all pretty nervous arriving in at the Toulouse train station but our nerves were relieved when we met our families. My host parents, Chris and Laure, are super nice. We even managed to make a bit of conversation on the car ride home.  There is a lot of what they say that I can’t quite grasp, but I can get most of my points across and undertand a bit. Yesterday was harder than today, which I’m hoping means tomorrow will be even better.

Once we’d arrived at the new chez moi, we talked some stuff over and they showed me my room. It’s really cool and French, I shall put pictures up at some point! The whole village is really medieval and awesome! After dinner last night I called mum briefly and we went to a fair, which had HEAPS of rides. They were a bit more extreme than in old Kiwiland! I went on one with Chris, but I ended up vomiting before bed… Anyway the carnival atmosphere was brilliant! I want to go again! And I think France may well have a bit to offer with regard to French boys…

This morning I had a sleep in, had Brekky, lunch and am now in the process of setting up ma chambre. Later I’ll go photograph some of Burlats, and get ready for school tomorrow! Pray for me, I’m scared! Big love,

J

xx