My first week and the Week-end neige.

Salut !

So, last time I posted, I hadn't started school and now, I've been going for 6 days.. I started last wednesday, at 8am, and boy was that the toughest wednesday morning I've ever lived - I had to set 6 alarms, and snoozed every single one of them.  I only had three hours of class though, so that made things a bit brighter. When I arrived at school, the year level co-ordinator took me to my class, introduced me to them, then left. I went and sat by myself, but got talking to two girls in front of me who were nice enough to let me spend the free period with them. That day when I got home, my host mum had a hot lunch (curry and rice) ready for her, her mum, my host brothers and I. Definitely can't say no to that!
On wednesday afternoon, I went and profited from the Soldes (winter sales) and got completely kitted out with my snow gear. Jacket, pants, boots etc. Then I went off to Zara and profited further from these amazing sales. They're even better than the boxing day sales! They mark the price down even more as the Soldes go on, and they last for over a month. WIN.

THEN. On Saturday I went to the snooooooow! It was about two and a half hours away, but I went with Lucia, Lorena and Jorge, some other exchangers from Annecy, and they made the drive feel like about half an hour. They're heaps of fun. When we were going up the mountain, the temperature started at 3 degrees, then slowly dwindled down to -2 degrees, and they still didn't think it was cold! Then I explained what the weather had been like before I left and they understood.. Once we got there, I eventually got around to meeting all of the other (roughly 50) exchangers too! I was really nervous, but I have no idea why, they're the best bunch of people to spend your exchange year with! (Or half, because of the northern hemisphere school year) After a while we got into groups for our rooms for the night, I shared with 2 Brazilians and an American. Crazy to say the least. But crazy fun. At dinner we were officially welcomed by the YEP committee, but then got to chat amongst ourselves for the rest. I'd only met the people I sat with that day, but it felt like I'd known them forever! After dinner, we had a talent show, with about 10 acts, so it didn't last very long, so instead we just danced to mostly south american music, and had snowball fights when we got too hot. Very good night.

Sunday was death. We woke up early, had breakfast, got our snow gear on and then set off on a 20km/5 hour trek through the snow up the mountains and back down. We had lunch half way up, with the most amazing view ever, then kept going for a little bit, and started our descent, which involved a looooot of sitting and sliding down! I lost count of how many times I fell over... Clearly someone who doesn't come from a country with much snow... Anyway, when we got back to the lodge, we drank hot chocolates, talked some more, then had to pack up and leave. The drive home was sooo good, I slept most of the way, I was wrecked. But it was one of the best weekends of my life. No kidding.

I'll write again soon hopefully,

Bisous à vous.

Je suis bien arrivé !

I've FINALLY arrived in Annecy, after around 34 hours of flights and stopovers! And all I can say is that it is like nothing I could ever have imagined... My flight from Paris to Geneva started it all off, seeing the snow-capped Swiss alps as we flew in to a very frosty Geneva. After meeting my host dad, he took me for a drive around Geneva to see the important things, and it was absolutely incredible! I wish I had have thought to take photos, but I was just too awe-struck to think properly.. I'm sure there'll be more chances to get there in the next year though..

Then I got to Annecy. Wow. This city, that I've barely seen much of, is one of the most amazing cities I've ever been to. This below, for example, is the view from my bedroom. Could it be any better?

Also, my host family are so nice! My host dad lives in Geneva during the week, and comes home on weekends, same with my eldest host brother, Alex, who goes to school in Thonon. So there's just Caroline, Arthur and Hugo here. They've made me feel so at home though, it's great.

I start school on Wednesday, but only have half a day (win!). I'll be meeting with another exchange student, Lorena, who will be in my class I think, on Wednesday morning so I can have someone to show me around etc.

That's all I've got for the moment, I'll try write again after my ski weekend this weekend with all of the other exchangers!

Bisous ! 

On y va !

So; it's the night before the big day. The last night with my family, the last night in my own bed, the last night of normal. I don't quite know how I'm feeling, but I'm pretty damn excited! It's really odd to think that I won't be here for a whole year...

Last week I finally found out my first host family! I have 3 brothers: Hugo (10), Arthur (13) and Alex (15), as well as a host sister Marine (17), but she's in Brasil on her exchange year at the moment.. My host mum's name is Caroline and my host dad's name is Eric. It seems like they have a lot planned for me, so I'll be real busy!

Next weekend I'm going to St. Jean de Maurienne for a "week-end neige" with all of the other exchange students in my district! Pretty sweet event for my first weekend in France! It'll be super cool to meet them all too!

As for tomorrow, I fly out for London via Singapore at 5pm, then fly to Paris, then Geneva, where my host family will meet me, which is only a half-hour drive from Annecy. Pretty crazy that Switzerland is only that far away...

Anyway, I'll try post again when I arrive, depending on what my internet situation is...

A bientôt !

Thus begins my year...

So, three weeks to go until I leave to France for the year!

I tend to ramble on and go off on a tangent, so expect a lot of BIG posts full of NOTHING. But, that's what a blog is for right? Writing everything down. And I have no humor, so don't expect anything interesting. Also, during the year, I may slowly forget English, and start writing in 'franglais' so please call me out on that..

I guess I should tell you all a bit about my year. I'll be staying in Annecy, a city of about 60,000 people in the heart of the Rhône-Alpes in France. It is such a beautiful city, I can't wait to experience something other than Warrnambool! I'll be living with a few different families for 3-4 months at a time, just to mix things up a bit. At the moment, I've had no contact with my families or my rotary club, so I'm a bit nervous! But I'm hoping for some news in the next few days..

That's all I've got right now, I'll just leave these pictures of Annecy here to make you jealous.

Bisous.