I have arrived. Je suis arrivée. Yes, it is just a little bit crazy!
I'm constantly surprised by how real everything feels, I shouldn't be, but for some reason I felt like everything would feel like a dream because when I was preparing it felt like a dream. It's great though!
The plane ride was 7 and a half hours long, and I slept for about an hour and a half... not very fun. What was great was that I met up with a bunch of other exchange students in D.C. and flew over with them. When we all got off the plane and went through customs all our host families were there waiting for us! It was an amazing sight. After some searching I found my host family (as well as the mother and son of my third host family), there were beaucoup de bises (cheek kisses, something that I like but am still getting used to!), and we left the airport.
I noticed while driving that everything is smaller... the cars, the streets, the houses, everything but appetites! They really know how to eat here, and they eat very well!! My first food was pain au chocolat. All the food has been wonderful. We stopped at home, I saw the house and everything, and we set off for the beach in the north of Belgium, in a Flemish town called Koksijde. By this time I was extremely tired, being awake for about 24 hours with no more than two hours of sleep. We walked around the town, went to the beach (it was the stranges feeling standing in the sand thinking "England is right across from me, how crazy is that???) got ice cream (mmmhmm), got caught in the rain (it's always raining!) and finally arrived back to the beach cottage. By this time I had been awake for about 30 or so hours with 2 hours of sleep, and I felt like I was about to die. I went upstairs and had a petit meltdown, took a shower, and came back down where everyone was watching a concert on TV. I fell asleep in the chair, and then they woke me up saying "Savannah, on va souper maintenant! (time for dinner)" to which I responded (in English, French was beyond me in that moment) "I think I'm just going to go to bed". It's a good thing that my host family's friends understand English. It was about 7:30 at night, I fell dead asleep, and didn't wake up until 10 the next morning! I felt quite refreshed. After a nice breakfast of plums, a croissant, and nutella, we walked around the beach more, got waffels, went to the grocery store (also much smaller than in America!), went back to the house, ate lunch, and drove back home.
It was so so so nice to come here. One of the reasons that I wanted to do a year abroad and not a summer traveling type program was because I'm the kind of person who hates living out of a suitcase, not having my own space, and not being settled. I was VERY happy to have my own room (it's awesome! With a cozy loft and my own bathroom :D), get my stuff in place, and relax. Today was nice, we went to the supermarché and I played Wii and watched Pirates of the Caribbean (in French with English subtitles) with Perrine (my host sister) and her boyfriend Sevan. It was a good day! It was also the first day that I skyped with my parents and a lot of my friends and that was really nice. It was good to "see" a lot of people!
I'm feeling pretty good about everything, I like the lifestyle here, there isn't really any culture shock. I think I'm doing pretty well with French; when people are talking between themselves it's difficult to understand, but when they're talking to me I usually understand pretty well (I think they use simpler language, haha). I'm able to express most things, and they know quite a few single words in English so they can help me along a bit without giving me a crutch. English is everywhere here, so most people know at least a few nouns/words. My host family is so so so sweet. They're wonderful. Freddy is my host dad, Valérie is my host mom, and Perrine is my host sister (their other daughter Florence is on an exchange in Finland). They're so helpful and patient with me and I'm already learning a lot! Tonight I had my first real conversation at the dinner table, it felt really good!
Tomorrow I'm going to a Braine-l'Alleud rotary club meeting, apparently they have really wonderful food! I think it will be really fun. Pics coming tomorrow.
Bonne nuit, à bientôt!
I'm constantly surprised by how real everything feels, I shouldn't be, but for some reason I felt like everything would feel like a dream because when I was preparing it felt like a dream. It's great though!
The plane ride was 7 and a half hours long, and I slept for about an hour and a half... not very fun. What was great was that I met up with a bunch of other exchange students in D.C. and flew over with them. When we all got off the plane and went through customs all our host families were there waiting for us! It was an amazing sight. After some searching I found my host family (as well as the mother and son of my third host family), there were beaucoup de bises (cheek kisses, something that I like but am still getting used to!), and we left the airport.
I noticed while driving that everything is smaller... the cars, the streets, the houses, everything but appetites! They really know how to eat here, and they eat very well!! My first food was pain au chocolat. All the food has been wonderful. We stopped at home, I saw the house and everything, and we set off for the beach in the north of Belgium, in a Flemish town called Koksijde. By this time I was extremely tired, being awake for about 24 hours with no more than two hours of sleep. We walked around the town, went to the beach (it was the stranges feeling standing in the sand thinking "England is right across from me, how crazy is that???) got ice cream (mmmhmm), got caught in the rain (it's always raining!) and finally arrived back to the beach cottage. By this time I had been awake for about 30 or so hours with 2 hours of sleep, and I felt like I was about to die. I went upstairs and had a petit meltdown, took a shower, and came back down where everyone was watching a concert on TV. I fell asleep in the chair, and then they woke me up saying "Savannah, on va souper maintenant! (time for dinner)" to which I responded (in English, French was beyond me in that moment) "I think I'm just going to go to bed". It's a good thing that my host family's friends understand English. It was about 7:30 at night, I fell dead asleep, and didn't wake up until 10 the next morning! I felt quite refreshed. After a nice breakfast of plums, a croissant, and nutella, we walked around the beach more, got waffels, went to the grocery store (also much smaller than in America!), went back to the house, ate lunch, and drove back home.
It was so so so nice to come here. One of the reasons that I wanted to do a year abroad and not a summer traveling type program was because I'm the kind of person who hates living out of a suitcase, not having my own space, and not being settled. I was VERY happy to have my own room (it's awesome! With a cozy loft and my own bathroom :D), get my stuff in place, and relax. Today was nice, we went to the supermarché and I played Wii and watched Pirates of the Caribbean (in French with English subtitles) with Perrine (my host sister) and her boyfriend Sevan. It was a good day! It was also the first day that I skyped with my parents and a lot of my friends and that was really nice. It was good to "see" a lot of people!
I'm feeling pretty good about everything, I like the lifestyle here, there isn't really any culture shock. I think I'm doing pretty well with French; when people are talking between themselves it's difficult to understand, but when they're talking to me I usually understand pretty well (I think they use simpler language, haha). I'm able to express most things, and they know quite a few single words in English so they can help me along a bit without giving me a crutch. English is everywhere here, so most people know at least a few nouns/words. My host family is so so so sweet. They're wonderful. Freddy is my host dad, Valérie is my host mom, and Perrine is my host sister (their other daughter Florence is on an exchange in Finland). They're so helpful and patient with me and I'm already learning a lot! Tonight I had my first real conversation at the dinner table, it felt really good!
Tomorrow I'm going to a Braine-l'Alleud rotary club meeting, apparently they have really wonderful food! I think it will be really fun. Pics coming tomorrow.
Bonne nuit, à bientôt!
My house
My street
Braine-l'Alleud
Some pics of Koksijde where we stayed at the beach. Train, neighborhood, me, (right), my host sister Perrine, and they're friend's daughter Julia, the beach, amazing Brazilian dancers, my familiy's dog, Belle, my room (with a loft!), views from my window.
