Do
you hear that? Sorry. That’s the obnoxious sound of me laughing at myself after
reading my first posts upon arrival. And I apologize if some of the icicles
hanging off your gutters just fell; I just slapped my face out of embarrassment
and the sound waves reverberated all the way across the Atlantic…
This
will be a brief reflection because I’ve been getting complaints that I am
long-winded, hem hem, Jasmine (I’m not so sure that deserves merit in my sacred
blog, but since you wrote me a lovely letter, I’ll look past it just this
once). It was true that I was thinking and dreaming in French after the first
day or so, but it was little conversations with A LOT OF MISTAKES. I’m just
realizing how much I didn’t know before and how much I have learned so far. If
I am speaking with another exchange student or someone who speaks English and
French I can easily go between the two languages (and every other sentence has
a word or phrase in French that has become so normal to me and it slips through
the cracks.) In the beginning I was struggling to say things like, “When I woke
up” and “I’m not hungry anymore.” I just wanted to take a moment to pat myself
on the back because I’ve learned so much. It’s just hard when I learn a new
concept or tense and start to integrate it into my everyday conversation
because I make so many mistakes! pat on the back – you’re doin’ alright,
kiddo.
Can
I just say that the French really know how to eat? They can pack it in! For New
Year’s my Canadian friend, Tina, came to visit me and we were astonished at the
mountains of food. We basically ate Thanksgiving dinner five times, I’m not
kidding. Turkey, gravy, mashed potatoes with nutmeg, green beans, cakes,
crackers, my favorite couscous dish, anchovy dip, olive dip, chocolates, foie
gras and fig jam on fig bread, and clementines were consumed with relish.
Leftovers were quickly replaced by new meals. It’s too bad the food is
excellent and that I can’t push the excess under my plate, but I’ll work on
coming up with a portal to transport the leftovers to you guys.
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Snickerdoodles! |
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Soup made by Simone - soooo goooooood |
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Christmas Eve dinner |
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La buche de Noël (Christmas cake) |
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New Year's cake |
For
New Year’s Eve Tina and I stayed at my house with my host sister, Lucie, her
husband, Axel, and some family friends while my host parents went across the
street to be with the “old people” as they said. We had a great time, ate so
much food, counted down in French, and gave each other a whole mess of bisous
when it became << l’année deux
mille treize >> “2013”.
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Jean-Pierre, Sabrina, Magot, Xavier, Will, Lucie, Tina, and I |
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Tina and I in front of (covering) the Christmas tree |
While
Tina was at my house we were able to make a Persian dish called Adasi that her
Canadian mom makes. It was sooooo good! We also went to Fréjus together, and my
friend, Emma, took us on a walk around Puget-sur-Argens. It’s so nice to hang
out with another exchange student every once in a while (I know it’s not
encouraged to do all the time, but during vacation it’s wonderful) because we
helped each other speak French, we watched Gilmore Girls and Grey’s Anatomy for
the first time in France, and gave my host family another perspective on our
culture. I was also fortunate to have had the chance to meet my host mom’s
brother, his wife and son, my host mom’s aunt, her husband and his sister,
along with a few friends of the family. My host great-aunt (can I say that?),
her husband and his sister live in Monaco so naturally; I was invited to hang
out with them when it got nicer. When it gets nicer? But it’s like sixty
degrees out every day… in January.
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Tina (Canada) and I at Fréjus Plage (beach) |
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Adasi |
Overall,
I am so thankful for my host family and how generous they are. New Year’s
resolution: make more of an effort to participate in preparing meals, learning
the language by asking questions, cook, and draw for my family.
I am
currently at Tina’s house in St. Tropez, which is ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS! Her
house is so cute, there’s a different atmosphere to the town probably because
it’s spotted with Louis Vuitton, Dior, Gucci, Fendi, and Dolce & Gabbana
like it’s normal. We got to walk around by the port last night, bought
ingredients for chocolate chip scones, and watched some more Gilmore Girls.
This morning we went on a run and had a snack with Tina’s host mom’s two
friends in a café that looked out onto the port. It was fabulous!
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Annie, Juliette (Tina's "host granny"), Tina and I at the café (Janie is taking the photo) |
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The brioche "Gateaux des Rois" at the café |
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Pétanque |
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"Swaggy Maggie" even in St. Tropez |
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Tina and I near Place des Lices |
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The port in St. Tropez at night (right by the café we ate at) |
And I went to Nice with some friends!
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Paulina (Colombia) and I in Nice |
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We took that last picture when we were waaaayyy up there |
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Nice ladies and gentlemen |
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Marie, Emma, and Sarah :) |
Aaaaaand for those of you (thank you Erik, Singer, Eduardo, and my daddy) who guessed Madge's real name thank you!
Her real name is:
Brigitte! WHAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!! Take a little time to digest that. I was in shock the entire day.
Ciao and bisous à tout le
monde,
Maggie
I have to say that even after you told me Madge's real name and after reading this blog post (sorry I am a bit behind)I still can't remember it. Oh well. I guess she will forever be just Madge to me, any other name is just crazy talk ;)
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