A New Year!

It’s been quite a while since my last blog update and I’m definitely due for a new one. I’ve been keeping extremely busy these past couple of months with Christmas, New Years, changing to my second host family, and school of course.

I changed host families on Christmas Eve. Even though I had already met my second host family and was good friends with my new host brother I must admit, I was nervous.

I had spent my last 3 months at Catherine’s house and I truly bonded with her. It was great of her to take me in and make me a part of her life. I was able to experience many new things with Catherine and I really enjoyed my stay with her.

My second host family lives in a town not far from Aubagne called La Ciotat. It is a right next to the Mediteranean Sea and as you can see from this picture it's absolutely beautiful.

I enjoy watching the waves crash on the beach. You can even see the sea from my balcony!


Upon arriving at my second host family’s house I was greeted by Claudette, my new host grandmother, Freddy, my host mom, and two adorable dogs, Vianna, a yellow lab, and Leah, a small white and gray dog.

My host brother, Mike and his father, Gil arrived shortly after and we all enjoyed a Christmas Eve Feast. I immediately felt welcome at my new host family’s home. My nerves quickly went away and I had a great Christmas.

My new host family gave me a silver necklace with a pendant in the shape of France with the names of the major cities engraved on it. I was so excited for this present because not only will it always be a great souvenir from my exchange year, but also, it was made in my host father’s jewelry shop.

For New Years I was lucky enough to make a trip up to Paris with my host brother, Mike, and my future host sister, Emilie. We stayed for 5 days at Mike’s friend’s house and my best friend from the US, Sara, was able to join us. It was great to spend New Years with both my American and French friends.

We also went the Moulin Rouge for the first time. The Moulin Rouge is one my and Sara’s favorite movies so it was great to see the real thing. Of course, we couldn’t go inside to see a show; it is over $100 a ticket!

I am proud to say that I have now been to three Disney theme parks in two countries! People who know me well know how much I love Disneyland so you can all imagine how excited I was to be able to go to Disneyland Paris.

We did some touristy stuff but we also got to see what the real Parisian life is like as well which was interesting.

A couple weekends ago my host brother, three friends, and I took a day trip to Cannes, less than 2 hours away. The NRJ Music Awards were going on and we stood at the end of the red carpet and got to see both French and American celebrities such as Mika, The Black Eyed Peas, Kesha, Kelly Rowland, David Guetta, Millow, Michael Bublé, Robbie Williams, Jean Paul Gaultier, and my favorite French artist: Tom Frager!!

I continue to see my first host family as well. Last week we went to Teavora with some other friends. Teavora is a tea house where the floor is covered in sand and it’s decorated really cool.

Last weekend I also went to a birthday party of one of my good friends from school. The theme was flashy, and I definitely looked the part. We danced and had a lot of fun. This is a picture with the birthday girl, Ariane.

I’m half way done with my exchange year and looking back I can already see how much I have changed. I have come a long way in my level of French from my first day in France but I know that I still have so much more to learn. I have good days and I have bad days but through it all I know it’s worth the homesickness and the frustration of the language barrier. France is treating me well :)