All Good Things Must Come To An End...

Hello all,

I write this with the heaviest heart I have experienced in the longest time! Today is the day where I have to leave France, and as I sit waiting 8 hours for my flight to Norway, it is hard for me to hold back the tears! My experience in this country has been nothing short of outstanding. I would not take back a single second. On the way to the airport this morning, I even requested my teacher to change his mind and extend the trip to a year. Yeah, let's just say that didn't go over too well hahaha. With all of the amazing sites, great experiences, new friends, stronger relationships, inside jokes, crazy encounters, late nights, sleep deprivation, class time, ping pong games, music, incredible culture, and many other things, I can't think of a better way to spend a summer. So, just to keep you all updated, this is what the past couple of days have entailed:

Ping-pong breaks during school.

Thursday, July 25th was my last full day in La Rochelle. After a fun morning of class and beating Austwelve and Adame in pingpong, we went out for our last lunch in Vieux Port. I also got to spend dinner with my host mom and her boyfriend, and after that we walked around La Rochelle at night for the last time. On Friday morning, we all parted ways from our host families and climbed on the bus. This was so horribly sad for me, because I grew very close to my host mom during the four weeks that I lived with her. She did 6 bisous with me (the french cheek kiss for saying hello and goodbye, but the normal number is 2) and made me promise that I would Skype her often. Getting on that bus and driving away from La Rochelle and all of my memories there was a very disheartening experience.

Last day in La Rochelle!

But, while I was sad to leave La Rochelle, I am so amazingly happy that I got to spend time with the people I grew so close to all while traversing one of the most beautiful cities in the world. Every minute of every day, I was surrounded by great people from all around the world (even Germany!), which made the France experience even better. Thank you all for being awesome! (For those who requested to be in the blog: here you go David, Simon, Austin, and Cec, now you are officially in the blog! Sorry I didn't make a homage to me and Austwelve's friendship, like you all wanted! haha). I also made friends with a few locals of La Rochelle, which made it even harder to leave. I credit all of them and my host mom for helping me excel in my French speaking skills. I couldn't have gotten better without their patience and help!

At the top of the Eiffel Tour with Piero, Ceciley, and Liz.

Friday afternoon we arrived in Paris and said our goodbyes to the other schools that were traveling with us. I don't like so many goodbyes! After that, we arrived back at our hotel and basically had free time until Monday in Paris. We chose to spend as much time as possible with our friends that we met in Paris previous to going to La Rochelle. We attended an apartment warming party, had dinners together, and even climbed to the very top of the Eiffel Tower on our last night. Paris is so ridiculously gorgeous, especially in the dark with all of the amazing lights. We even got to see the Tower shimmer, which happens every so often. As we discovered the tower, I was able to talk with my good Parisian friend Piero. It was really awesome to be able to speak with him for the whole night, because I realized how much I love the french language. He had been helping me with my speaking ever since I met him, which has been about 5 weeks now. I cannot even begin to describe how much he has helped me improve! And I have been teaching him english at the same time! Also, it was really humorous for me because at one point, I was speaking with him in french and then turned to talk to my other friends in english, when two girls approached me and asked me a question in english. I had to ask Piero the question for them in french, and as I turned back to the girls to respond to them, I accidentally responded in french. My mind has become wired to think in the beautiful french language, and I can't get enough of it. Overall, I cannot put into words how magical my last weekend in Paris was. It was the perfect ending to my France trip.

Gorgeous last night in Paris.

So, as I sit here in the airport waiting for my flight, I have mixed emotions. I am ridiculously sad to leave France and all of the people I met behind, but I cannot contain my excitement to go to Norway and meet up with my amazing college friend Marin. Our travels around Europe are just about to start, and its unbelievable to me that it came so fast. This is the summer of a life time, and I constantly stop and wonder how I became so blessed. About 20 times in the past 3 days, I have stopped my friends and just said "Can we just stop and look at our lives right now." God is good. Let the excitement and blessings continue!

Next stop, Norway!

Bisous, tout le monde :)

La Vie de La Rochelle

Bonjour tout le monde!

Wow, I just realized that I haven't blogged for two weeks! My time here has gone by so ridiculously fast and I am trying to fit in as much as possible, so I haven't made much time to update my blog. So, here is a brief overview of my last two weeks.

Life in France literally could not be any better (except for the addition of air conditioning, due to the fact that it will soon be in the 90's every day, hello beach!). I seriously cannot remember a day where I have been bored or thought about wanting to leave. I think La Rochelle completes me somehow. There are no words to explain how amazing life here is, but I will try my best.

Everyday, I walk 10 minutes to school and then have class for four hours. We take a 30 minute break in the middle, when we go down to the caf or go out in the courtyard and play ping pong. By doing that, we met two German brothers taking French classes at Soup de Co this summer too, Simon and David.  I am now in a ping pong bracket with them and two other guys and I intend on crushing all of them (thanks Highland for the practice this year :) )! Also, Simon and David have been coming out with us whenever we go to the beach or downtown, so it has been awesome to get to know another culture through them. In addition to that, it has been really interesting taking classes at Soup de Co, because I get to meet other students from all over the world. So far, I have conversed with students from Germany, China, Libya, and of course France and America. Having friends from different places is really exciting, and everyone is always opening invitations to come visit their home countries. Looks like I have a lot more traveling to do!

Ceciley, Simon, and I!

Life with my host family is awesome. They take me to festivals, movies, restaurants, and many other places. I have spent quite a bit of time with them, which is somewhat unusual for the American kids here. But I am happy that they want to include me in their everyday life! It's really fun! Also, like I said before, I speak 100% French with them and this has helped me immensely. I have found that I can now speak for hours in French, and I have even had political, economical, and educational based conversations with them and others in La Rochelle. When I came to France the first time, I was terrified to use my French speaking skills (or lack there of). But now, I will talk to literally anyone. For example, everyday I take the same walking route to school. Therefore, I see the same man everyday because he works at a student apartment building by my house and he is always working outside. After passing him everyday for two weeks and exchanging "bonjours" each morning, I decided I wanted to know his name because it made me think of what I have talked about in my Overflow group at Hosanna Highland in Mankato (For those of you who don't know what this is, it is the campus church that I am a member of at school. The Overflow group teaches us that it is important to live as Christ-Like as possible, and one of the means of doing so is spreading God's love by just showing others that you care. Therefore, we are encouraged to reach out to the people we meet, even if it means just saying hello.) So, Friday morning, I approached him and told him that because I see him every morning I would like to know his name. He was pleasantly surprised and told me that his name is Frédéric. It seemed like it made his day. I now plan on talking with Frédéric every morning and I am excited to see what that reveals! In addition to that, I am comfortable speaking with whoever talks to me here. La Rochelle is a very safe city, so I have no problem getting to know the locals. Currently, I have great friends at our favorite Kebab place named Hedi and Mourad. I also became besties with my cab driver, Djamen. Last night I even taught him how to say "I am going to go to the train station" in english because he has a lot of english-speaking clients!

At a town festival with my host mom.

In addition to going to school, hanging out at the beach, shopping, spending time with my host family, and conversing with the locals, I also have the privilege of going on weekend excursions with Soup de Co and the other American students. Last weekend, we took a bus to the region of Cognac, where Hennessy Cognac is made. We took a boat tour of Cognac and also got to visit the Hennessy distillery, which ended with a tasting. It was surprisingly really good! This weekend we took a 2 hour bus ride to Nantes, a city north of La Rochelle. There, we visited Les Machines De L'Ile where they are making a large mechanical tree house. Also, we rode a three story carousel and saw a large electronic elephant. Afterwards, we toured the Chateaux de la duc du Bretagne. It has been really fun to explore places all over France, but it makes me appreciate La Rochelle even more. I cannot wait to return home every weekend because I just love it so much. Someday, I would be extremely content to live here permanently.

Chateaux de la duc du Bretagne in Nantes, France.

Hennessy distillery in Cognac

For those of you who are my Facebook friends, you probably got annoyed with all of the Francofolie pictures I uploaded in the past week! :) So, I guess I should probably explain exactly what that is for those of you who saw it all over the newsfeed. To start simple: Francofolies is the bee's knees (Mary reference). It is a massive music festival that is held in La Rochelle for 5 days every year in July. It attracts 150,000 people to La Rochelle, so the city was extremely busy. Venders set up tents in the streets, entertainers were constantly doing things around the port, and music was ALWAYS playing. The atmosphere of La Rochelle during the Fracofolies was completely different than the normal atmosphere, but it was extremely fun. Each night, there were 4 or 5 bands that play at the main stage (which you have to pay for). Most of the artists were French bands, along with some British groups sprinkled around. We payed to go to two nights of the Francofolies and it was extremely worth it. While I didn't return home until 4am both times and I had school at 8:30am the next day, I wouldn't take back a thing. Even though I didn't know any of the artists, I loved all of the music. It was so fascinating to hear French music and I am now hooked on a couple of groups. What was really interesting though, was that a lot of the French groups only sang in english. Apparently that is a thing here! It was hilarious to hear the French fans sing along to these songs in horrible english, trying to formulate what words were being sung. I am positive that 90% of the audience had no idea what any of the lyrics meant, but they were loving it. Also, the second night we attended the main stage, it was Bastille day in France (their version of the Fourth of July). Therefore, the concert took a pause and we got to see fireworks over the port. It was gorgeous. I have decided that I have to come back to Francofolies, it isn't an option.

Francofolies main stage!

Second night of Francofolies!

So, overall, I hope this has given an insight to what my life has been like for the past three weeks in La Rochelle. As of today, I only have 6 days left here, which makes me extremely sad. On Friday, I will return back to Paris, stay there for three nights, and then I am on my way to Norway to see my wonderfully amazing friend Marin :) So, while leaving France is something I do not want to do at all, I have a light at the end of the tunnel because I get to travel around Europe with a best friend of mine! So, I will try to update my blog more often than I have in the past three weeks, but I will be extremely busy!

Bisous,  à bientôt!

Home Away From Home

 Coucou mes amies!

I hope all is well in the land of free! The 4th of July was this past week, which marked the first time that I was out of the country for America's best summer celebration. While I missed celebrating our Independence Day, I am currently in the most beautiful place I have ever been, so I can't complain.

La Rochelle from the Ferris Wheel

As of today, I have been in La Rochelle for one week. This past Saturday I began my journey in this gorgeous sea port city in Western France. So, for all of you wondering what my life is like here, I will fill you in. I live with my host mom, Sergine, and her two cats (One of which, named Venus, I am not very fond of. He bites me often.). Sergine also has a boyfriend, Dominique, who comes over on the weekends. He teaches me how to mix drinks and gives me good traveling tips. Sergine is an awesome cook! Everyday, we have breakfast and dinner together, but on the weekends we have every meal together. Lunch and dinner consist of four courses: apéritifs (drinks and snacks), the main course (usually a meat or pasta of some sort), bread and cheese, and then desert. After every meal I am completely stuffed. Everything I have tried I have liked quite a bit, even mussels! Not only are the meals extremely tasty, but they are also a great opportunity for me to improve my speaking skills and learn more about the French culture. We literally sit down together for 2 or 3 hours every single meal and talk. My host mom doesn't speak any English, so we communicate with what I know. This may seem crazy to most people, but I actually am really happy that she doesn't speak English. It forces me to speak French as much as possible throughout the day, and I learn a lot more this way!

Having apéritifs with my host mom, Sergine!

We live in an adorable little house that is a ten minute walk from my school. I attend Soup du Co, which is a private French business university in La Rochelle. There, I have class from 8:30am-12:30pm Monday through Friday. I am in an advanced French conversation course with eight other students. It is extremely challenging, but I can sense myself improving quite a bit! After class, we go to the cafeteria for lunch and have an extremely cheap meal for 4 euros (yay for student discounts!). From then on we have the rest of the day to enjoy La Rochelle. We have bus passes so we literally can go wherever we want (I seriously love public transportation). So far, our routine has either been shopping, going to the beach, or studying at a cafe in Vieux Port (the downtown area of La Rochelle). Yes we study; this study abroad trip isn't all fun and games! I currently have two papers to write, one test every week, one large exam, one presentation, and weekly journals to write, oh la la! (the French form of my goodness!) But, the French way of life is so relaxed. I have not felt stressed at all here, even with all of the work I have to do. I choose to enjoy myself rather than worry about the future. If I were in the states, I would be stressing out to the max. But, I have decided to live like the French culture and minimize my worrying as much as possible! It's awesome!!!

Vieux Port

In addition to school during the week, we also go on weekend excursions. Just today we took a one hour boat ride to Ile d'AIX, an island off the coast of France. We toured a compound there from WWI and hung out on the beach for hours. The water is beautiful here and the sun is strong (which is why I have been applying SPF 50 about 6 times per day). We will have an excursion for every weekend we are in La Rochelle.

Monument on our way to Ile d'AIX.

Overall, I can honestly say that this has been the best experience of my life so far. I cannot imagine a better place to call my home for the next three weeks and I know I will miss it immensely when I have to leave. The culture, sights, atmosphere, and people in La Rochelle are like no other. I wish you could all experience this amazing city alongside me!

The port at night!

À bientôt!