Re-cap...

So since I am starting this about 3 weeks into my exchange I am going to do a little re-cap.

I arrived in France on the 26th of september after a solid 18 hours of travel... and a six hour time-zone jump... the flights weren't bad... I had trouble sleeping on the flight, so that kind of sucked, but the kid sitting next to me was an 18 year old who lives in Paris and is a Terminale (senior) in high school. He was really cool, and he made me really excited to meet more french students! After arriving at Charles-de-Gaulle Airport, we waited in a customs line for an hour and then got our passports stamped and were allowed to enter the country. Most kids were meeting their host families, but I was meeting a Rotarian and another student from Canada. I searched for a solid 20 minutes before asking my chaperone if he knew where my ride was. The chaperone told me to find My host club's exchange chairman, which I did, and then waited with him for another 20 minutes before I was told what was going on. OH! and the wheel on my 50 pound suitcase broke off en route... so that was just the topper on my awkward morning. I then dragged my suitcase through the airport, up a broken escalator, and on to the tram, which brought us 3 terminals away from where we started. Again we had to walk... down two flights of stairs across the terminal and up an escalator. Wow my arms were tired. I met my ride and the Canadian student who is also going to school in Rouen, but at a different high school. and we returned to the parking garage to get into the car and go to our new homes.

Once we got into the car, the thing I feared most happened: the Rotarian started speaking in French! very fast French, and I was very tired! So after his third try, I understood and we decided to take a detour through Paris so we could see the city before the 2 hour car ride to Rouen. It was just as amazing as I had remembered. I can't wait to go back and actually stay for a little while!

I slept for the whole 2 hour car ride to Rouen... and I woke up as we were pulling up next to my new house! it was a lot bigger than it looked in the pictures, and the yard was huge! There are 8 foot hedges around all of the houses, it is very private, and very stereotypical European...

I got a tour of the house and unpacked... the first day is always awkward, but my family was so nice! and they speak some English, which will help a lot as I am getting my footing.

My first full day in France, we went into the city! It was so cool! I really love the city, it is the perfect size. I was very excited to go to high school in the city and be there everyday. We went to l'Eglise Jean d'Arc, which was awesome and modern with a lot of meaning. and Le Cathedrale Notre Dame de Rouen, which is SO COOL! it is SO BIG!

The supermarket here is called E. Leclerc... It is so cool! it is very similar to Walmart, but there is a bookstore/Music/Entertainment store attached. I was impressed. I am both excited at how convenient and close it is, but I am also disappointed that the French don't shop exclusively at small specialty stores for everything. The Bread and Cheese here is so good! as well as almost all of the other food!

I have been shopping a few times, French clothes are hella cool, I miss color sometimes though... they pretty much stay in the green, blue, black, grey range...

French birthday parties are so awesome! I'll make a separate entry to write about my experience!

Dieppe is an awesome village on the northern coast! it was so cool! More about this in another entry...

hmmm... What else... too much to think about now... I'll add more memories later.

Peace,
Jared