I Miss Carpet

                  You might be wondering why I titled this blog post “I Miss Carpet” instead of “WowI’mReallySorryIHaven’tPostedInAWhile.” The reason for this absolutely bizarre reflection came from a conversation with two of my exchange student friends during my stay in Antibes while on break. Eamon, from Canada, asked Hannah (from Michigan) and I what we missed the most besides friends and family members. I immediately blurted out, “Carpet,” with more fervor than intended. Neither the food (there’s nothing quite like the food here; I just had the best curry I’ve ever tasted made by my host mom) nor the changing of the leaves even had a chance alongside carpet. However silly that sounds, it’s one hundred percent true.

I’m sitting out in the veranda at home where it’s currently around seventy-five degrees, granted it’s enclosed, but that just stands for extra proof of why people down here keep their richly colored skin year-round. There’s honestly no need for carpet since it’s warm nine out of twelve months in the year, but there’s something so comforting about carpet that my feet are still going through shock.

Greater significance behind such a surprising answer is that I realized how little I needed in order to feel at home. Give me some English breakfast tea, some books, a bike, and a fireplace and I’m good to go.

While I stayed with Hannah and Eamon in Antibes I had several other moments of appreciation that took me aback. One was how instantly we exchange students got to being good friends, another was that our host parents have been so gracious to bus us around and make sure we’re doing well, and lastly how beautiful France really is.

Hannah had stayed with me for three days during which we had a Halloween party with some of my friends, visited Saint Raphaël, and Fréjus centre, but I was a little embarrassed with how little I had explored each town. We took the train back to Antibes to her house where we immediately went on an expedition to uncover every glorious nook and cranny of that beautiful city. Even the next day as we headed downtown under sprinkling rain we didn’t stop enjoying café-hopping, eating pastries, and taking it all in.

Yes I ate cactus fruit. It was kind of gross. 

THIS on the other hand (sea urchins) was really good and since they move after they're dead, I was extremely amused.

After two days in Antibes, Hannah, Eamon, and I took a fifteen-minute train ride to Cannes and spent the day shopping around and feeling slightly less international. At first I wasn’t impressed. The sheer number of designer shops, expensive food, and people was everything that screams, “over-developed,” in my opinion. That all changed when Hannah and I hiked up through winding streets up to the clock tower that overlooks the city. I found my favorite spot. Number one, it has a free bathroom, and number two, the view is something I had only dreamed about. We returned to Cannes for my final day where Hannah and I went back to “The Spot” as we now call it, an open market, and took as many pictures as my fatigued camera battery would allow.

The view from "The Spot"

"The Spot"

The famous Carlton Hotel

The garden at "The Spot"

Hannah with our beloved baguette

Me posing dramatically with the baguette

I forgot to mention that even before my time spent with Hannah and Eamon, my host sister, Mary, came to visit and my host mom took me to a town called Le Trayas, which is in between my city and Cannes. We ate a lunch of baguettes and cheese, grapes, and clementines while resting against the rock wall surrounding us and looking out onto the Mediterranean that made this cove a hidden paradise. Then Simone took me on a hike in the mountains behind us where she showed me my new favorite view. From our viewpoint we could see Agay, Cannes, Antibes, Nice, and a few islands. Simone laughed and said to me that the only thing missing from that day was my camera, which I had stupidly left at home.

Important cities for further comprehension: my city is Puget-sur-Argens, I've been to Agay, Saint Raphaël, Fréjus, Les Trayas, Cannes, and Antibes. Nice, you're next on my list.

Something changed between my classmates and I after break because now more than ever I’m accepted as not just “the exchange student” and “Maggie,” but “Maggie the flipping awesome (okay, I added that) American exchange student that has a sense of humor and I want to hang out with her.” More opportunities (and vocabulary) arose for me to be myself and make people laugh and now after almost three months in France I’m feeling pretty good in my class. My goal to greet every single person in my class with bisous has also almost been met. Last Friday I greeted a good eighty percent of my class; the other twenty percent are guys that I don’t talk to as often. We’ll see about that! Ha! 

Just to give you an example of how my class can be hilarious, I will have to tell you about what happened in Spanish class last week. We were in groups of three to five and we all had to write a short play in Spanish. Of course I only had Spanish in grade school (thank you Megan Durkin! I can actually pick up on some of it thanks to you!) Nevertheless, my part was brief. One of the guys in my class exited the room for about five minutes and entered wearing a bra over his shirt, earrings, a hat, possibly a skirt, and holding a handbag. We all burst out laughing and I’m not surprised that even after the teacher reminded us not to take pictures that one appeared on Facebook later that day. I also drew a mustache on myself in order to be “El Mendigo,” but nothing compares to Lucas cross-dressing.

One thing that I can attest to my success with making friends in my class is due to playing handball in gym. If you have ever seen me do any type of sport you would know that I’m no superstar. But for some reason I completely rock at handball. In a much smaller scale, it felt like I was a superhero just discovering the extent of my incredible strength. There were a few times where I launched the ball from the goal and it soared above my team and the opposing team’s heads with their eyes following its trail.

Three quick side-notes:

1.                   I finished two books in French: a piece of classic French literature that is completely morbid and crazy called, “Caligula,” by Camus, as well as the first Harry Potter book. There are some freaky differences between our version of Harry Potter and the French version like Snape is actually Rogue, Hogwarts is called Poulard, the houses are Serpentard (Slytherin), Poufsouffle (Hufflepuff), Serdaigle (Ravenclaw), Scabbers is called Croûtard, muggles are moldus, and death eaters are mangemorts.

2.                   Before break I took a few tests. I was positive I would succeed in math and that the other tests would come back ungraded yet corrected, however it was all contrary to what I had thought. In math I got a 9/20 (just so you know, nine isn’t all that bad according to their grading system where it’s amazing to get anything above a 17 and not uncommon to get a 5.5.), in econ I got an 11/20 (that was completely guessed on but she’s nice to me J ), in science I got a 16/20, and in English I got a 19/20. Why not a 20/20 you ask? My teacher explained that I had written too much. Really?! Honestly, it won’t ruin your ego to have a 20/20 in your class especially since I am FLUENT IN THE LANGUAGE! Oh well.

3.                   Last night I went to a basketball game with some friends to support another friend who is on the Fréjus team. They lost by twenty points, but I swear that there was an unfair disadvantage; a Swedish girl on the opposing team was a freaking GIANT! She was well over six feet tall and me being five foot seven or so makes me stand out… All she had to do was raise her hand up and tip the ball into the basket. It was crazy.

I will give you a quick update on what happened this weekend as well. In a week and a half my host parents will be on a plane to Senegal to spend fifteen days with their family back there and due to my rotary insurance I wasn’t able to go with them. Instead I will be staying with my wonderful neighbor, Clelia, who is a few years younger but one of my best friends during that time. I will not be getting a wink of sleep, I can assure you of that right now, but I am really excited! Two days ago I was invited to her house for a party and was also the day that her best friend from Russia came. Sasha is incredibly nice and it was fun to speak completely in English with them and get messed up every time I switched back into French.

My future host sister and friend, Clelia

                  Yesterday I hopped on a train headed to Cannes by myself where I was to meet Hannah, Gabi, Emily, Paulina, and Charlotte who are some of the other exchange students in my district. I was the first to arrive and therefore had the most amazing time wandering about (don’t worry, I know Cannes from the time that I went with Hannah). There was an art and antique market, an open food market, and of course “The Spot.” 

                  After my free time I met the other girls at the train station where we walked to McDonalds and then a sit-down restaurant to buy pizza. Unfortunately we didn’t receive any plates or knives to cut the pizza but using our instinctive exchange student skills we used the butt-end of the forks and looked extremely strange. Once we were done eating we shopped around a bit and then Charlotte, Gabi, and I had to catch our 4:36pm trains.

Charlotte using her fork to cut the pizza...

The Cannes Film Festival building

Art and antique market

I swear this isn't photoshopped, painted, or fake in any way. 

                  Once home I had the opportunity to finally skype my mom to wish her a happy birthday as well as see her reaction as I told her what her birthday gift would be: a trip to visit me!!!!! I can’t express how exactly I felt when I decided to ask my dad if my mom could come to France, but it was one of the strongest feelings I have ever had. There were many reasons as to why I wanted my mom to come see France with me, but I can assure you that “missing her” was not the reason. My parents and I have come to the conclusion that I might have those days where I miss them every once in a while, but in truth, I am doing just fine. Between skype and email, we are keeping in contact when we need to and that is sufficient for this year. All of that aside, I cannot even begin to say how excited I am that I get to show my mom this beautiful area and all of the wonderful people who have taken care of me so far.

There is so much more to say, but I think I’m getting symptoms similar to carpal tunnel syndrome so I will leave it at that.

GROS BISOUS!

Maggie