My first week in France, the first time i’ve ever lived away from my parents. It’s been quite the first week. I arrived on Friday evening to negative temperatures and a light sprinkling of snow. I was greeted at the train station by my host father Stephane and my oldest host sister Jeanne. That evening I was feeling absolutely exhausted so after a quick dinner it was lights out. I was glad I had the weekend to try to get over the jet lag and climatise myself a little. Everything here in France is so different to things back home. While the countryside is beautiful, much like home, France differs in the fact they have heaps of petit villages scattered all over the countryside. My village, Voiteur, is a cosy little place about 20 minutes drive from the main town of the region, Lons le Saunier. The sense of community togetherness was immediately apparent and my host mother Valerie seems to be friends with all 800 people that live in Voiteur! I spent most of my first weekend just resting and exploring the local area with my host family. My host brother Germain actually speaks pretty good english which seems to be quite rare in rural France. He is really patient and has already taught me more french than I thought it possible for my mind to absorb. The surrounding area is quite stunning, there are about 5 or 6 villages all in close proximity which are situated at the bottom of a massive canyon. I am told that back when the dinosaurs were alive it was a massive river that has moved on over the years and left a massive scar cut through the rock in its wake. We travelled to the top of the old riverbed and discovered a frozen waterfall that was quite magnificent. We also went to the top of the cliff overlooking the the valley and got some amazing photos. With the weekend behind me I felt I had adjusted a little to the new timezone and it was time to head off to school. The school I am attending with my host sister Jeanne is a “Lycée agricole”. This means that it has more of a focus on the environment and preservation of nature than the other general schools closer to large cities. The way school works in France is that there are three steps in the schooling system, primary school, college and lycée, at lycée every student completes their “BAC” which is the qualification they need before they head off to university. I am in “terminale” with Jeanne which is essentially the final year before university. I actually found school quite difficult for the first few days. The days are much longer than in New Zealand, when we arrive in the morning it is usually still pretty much dark and when we leave in the evening it is usually dark again. It never gets boring as French students have such a range of subjects however it was a little frustrating as I struggled to understand the students as they talk so fast and all the subjects are obviously in French. On Wednesday school finishes at 12pm so Valerie decided that Jeanne, Julia (my 9 year old host sister) and I would take a trip across the border to Switzerland for the afternoon. In a word, Switzerland is AMAZING! We had to cross some of the smaller alps to get across the border and the whole place was coated in snow, it was basically a winter wonder land! We arrived at the house of a friend of Valerie (she has lo
ts of friends) and had a cuppa tea (they drink soooo much tea and coffee over here, I think its because its so cold). From the house we had possibly the most amazing view i’d ever seen, It is hard to put into words. It overlooked a massive frozen lake (there are quite a few of those in eastern France and Switzerland and ice hokey and skating is very popular) as well as a cool little town. In the distance we could also see a snow storm approaching. I have not yet mentioned the food in France but for me that’s probably the highlight thus-far. That evening we had Fondue, with a special fondue cheese as well as fresh bread. It was like nothing I’ve ever tasted before! The last two days of school that week I found a lot easier than the previous three, something just clicked, perhaps I relaxed a little and suddenly I felt I was beginning to get a better grasp of the language and was starting to make friends at school. On Friday evening after school I also played indoor football with the local club, while it was mainly their 1st and 2nd mens teams so they were hella good, I still had a really fun time and didn’t make a complete fool of myself :) It was also nice to do some exercise as at the moment my brain is working overtime with the new language but with all the snow (we have had 15cm over the last weekend) it has been hard to stay active. Anyway, this Saturday and Sunday have been pretty chill, I met up with my Co-ordiantor Bernard and we went on a 3 hour trek yesterday around the local countryside. It is currently 2pm on Sunday afternoon and I think we are about to head out to watch Julia hurtle down a snowy hill on a boogie-board! :) Can’t wait to see what the next week holds and will write another blog post to keep you updated next Sunday, Ill also add photos so you can see just how beautiful France really is.
