Vinterferie!

Hello dear readers! I have something to share with you! Two weeks ago, in the beginning of March, I spent probably the best time so far in my exchange year…

Tuesday, March 4th, Hedda, Jakob and I spent an incredible nice day and evening together. First after a few days at Heddas placewe went in to the “city” called Lannion. We decided pretty quickly to go bowling, but first we decided to buy what we needed for camping and a small gift to the the family Lempereur to host us for two nights.

After we had bought what we needed we went to the bowling area to play a round, and that was a lot of fun! We played just one round, and we got strikes and everything! I have to say it’s a long time since I played bowling the last time… Right when we finished our round of bowling, Célia came. Célia is an incredibly nice girl I met during the international week in Lannion, in fact she was Lanes host sister for the week.. We stayed in this area until 20:30 playing air hockey, and pool, lots of fun!

Then we got picked up by Jannick Lempereur, who brought us to his place, close to the ocean. We could leave some of our stuff with him in his house, and then off we went to find a place to camp.. After a fifteen minute walk we finally found a place to camp, a small grass plot, not far from the sea. When we found the place we set our tent, went searching for rocks for our camp fire. After finding everything we needed to make a fire and the tent was set we could finally sit down and celebrate Hedda and Jakobs 18th birthday. We had bought a bottle of wine, but of course forgot a wine opener.. No problem though because we improvised, and opened the bottle with a shoe and a rock ;) When the wine was served in some plastic cups, the hot dogs were smoking, the fire was warming and the conversation was all about our good camping memories, I almost felt at home. This feeling I got in this exact moment was a feeling I have missed, a feeling that brought me back to late summer nights at our cabin URA. And it doesn’t stop there when the fire died out and the wine was empty, I glanced at the sky to see countless stars, the sky had cleared up and it was incredible to watch all the stars. It was the best night so far during my exchange year, because a little part of me felt at home, a feeling I haven’t had in a long time. The next morning, Jannick woke us up right at the time of sunrise with fresh pain au chocolat and croissants. It was so incredibly nice of him to do that, and if you read this THANK YOU JANNICK, for everything!!!

I will soon make a post where i put mostly pictures!

Halfway, Fest Noz and more!

Hello, long time no see! It has been almost three months since last I blogged and a lot has happened, I will keep it brief and short, and if you want more or have questions, just ask me!
First I just want to start with the fact that I am fine, for those who worry… I am having a splendid time here in France! This time I will keep the text brief, however I will put in a few pictures!

First I can start with the month December:

The weekend of 1^st December it was arranged for a Thanksgiving dinner in Brest, and that was an awesome weekend! I had a lot of good conversations and got to spend time with the people I love the most down here :) 

Well I can say that Christmas came extremely fast, I didn’t really get the “Christmas feeling” before, well late… The 15^th of December, my little sister Nea turned 11, and I am so happy I could be a part of the morning tradition, with breakfast in bed, thank you Skype!

A few days later Jakob, Wilma (from Finland), Fiona (another Norwegian) and I went to IKEA to get some of the Scandinavian Christmas. It was so cool and nice. We bought IKEA-pølse, gløgg, pepperkaker and smågodt!

Then Christmas came, which was nice, but probably the toughest period so far… Christmas Eve I spent with my host-family’s extended family, with cousins and grandparents in Normandy! In the days that followed Christmas Eve we also went visiting the extended family on the mother’s side (close to Nantes). At new years I had Norwegians over to my place, spending the night. It was Fiona and Jakob, we ate Chinese food, and jumped into the new year on a lawn in Liffré somewhere.

Sweden flag and IKEA

From the left: Fiona, Jakob, Wilma and me !

After New Year, I went through a tough period where I missed my dear ones back home and I did NOT want to go to school… But after a week or so it was all better! Also my computer broke during this period, but now it is fixed, with windows 7 French J

When it comes to sports I am continuously progressing in Western horseback riding, and handball is too easy, we win about 45-17 almost every time. 

After New Year it was time for galette de roi witch is, judging by the name goooood galettes! It has more or less the same concept as risengrynsgrøt (med mandelen). Here though it’s like a cake and there is a collective piece in it. 

Gingerbread war house...

Gingerbread airoplane.. 

Awesome Indian game, love it!

Olympic Games opening ceremony!

Brazilians just loooove norway ;)

In tha car!

Some uality time in the car :O

Pure norwegian sexyness ;)

Moillau au chocolat :)

Then a week ago I was halfway in my exchange year! The first week of February all the exchange students were invited to do an international week in a hotel and restaurant school. It was so much fun! We made beef bourguignon, moillau aux chocolat and other things! Honestly the best week so far! During this week I was in another host family, and it was sooooooo nice! The family’s name was Lempereur (the emperor) they lived really close to the ocean, in a cozy house, with a dog. I had during this week two host siblings: Marcelo and Liliana, really adorable! I laughed so hard at Marcelos jokes and Liliana was just adorable. The parents was Dayu and Jannick a really nice couple, with whom I could have interesting discussions and great moments!

And now this weekend I was for the first time at a Fest Noz, a traditional way of “partying” in Bretagne. It was really cool, and I think it’s something worth experiencing. I felt I got closer to the traditions in this region, and I liked it! 

ALLEZ LES BLEUS!!

Hey, again I’m back! I know it has been a long time since last I blogged, but I have been busy and I am sorry for that. I have quite a few things I’d like to talk about. 

First off... ALLEZ LES BLEUS!! THEY HAVE BEEN QUALIFIED FOR THE WORLD CUP!

 

ALLEZ LES BLEUS!!

Well, I feel like I have been really well integrated in the class and the handball team, and I feel that everyday things like talking more fluently than ever, and doing homework, and actually understanding what we are doing in the classes. I have played two handball matches since the last time I blogged and both where big wins! The first one we won 34-14 and the other 18-38.We owns the crap out of the teams down here, it’s so much fun! As we did in BVIF and Haslum, we sing in the shower when we win! The song is in my opinion very cool, and it goes like this:

Si t’es fier d’être LIFFRE’ en tu clap tes mains (clap, clap)

Si t’es fier d’être LIFFRE’ en tu clap tes mains (clap, clap)

Si t’es fier d’être LIFFRE’ en

Si t’es fier d’être LIFFRE’ en

Si t’es fier d’être LIFFRE’ en tu clap tes mains (clap, clap)

Si t’es fier d’être LIFFRE’ en tu tap tes pieds (tap, tap)

Si t’es fier d’être LIFFRE’ en tu tap tes pieds (tap, tap)

Si t’es fier d’être LIFFRE’ en

Si t’es fier d’être LIFFRE’ en

Si t’es fier d’être LIFFRE’ en tu tap tes pieds (tap, tap)

Si t’es fier d’être LIFFRE’ en tu dis OH HA ! (OH HA !)

Si t’es fier d’être LIFFRE’ en tu dis OH HA ! (OH HA !)

Si t’es fier d’être LIFFRE’ en

Si t’es fier d’être LIFFRE’ en

Si t’es fier d’être LIFFRE’ en tu dis OH HA ! (OH HA !)

Si t’es fier d’être LIFFRE’ en tu fais les trois (clap, clap, tap, tap, OH HA !)

Si t’es fier d’être LIFFRE’ en tu fais les trois (clap, clap, tap, tap, OH HA !)

Si t’es fier d’être LIFFRE’ en

Si t’es fier d’être LIFFRE’ en

Si t’es fier d’être LIFFRE’ en tu fais les trois (clap, clap, tap, tap, OH HA !)

 Furthermore I have had another western lesson and I am progressing well! This time I learned to clean the horse put on the saddle and trot! I am enjoying the so much that I am learning so many new things down here!

I have also been active in the Amnesty association and took part on my first stand on Marché des Lices! It was a cold but cool experience, and especially interesting and also cool to see the market waking up!

Otherwise in school things are going great, I am starting to get notes now in almost all the different subjects, ranging from 3-5/20 to 20/20… Although things are going well I was really surprised when I got my average in all the subjects, I had a better average than 1/3 RD OF THE CLASS! With 12.70/20, I am so happy! AND SURPRISED??!! I was honestly shocked when I heard that… But I think it’s safe to assume that the  teachers have been nice to me, mad I haven’t passed all the tests either, but that does not matter because 12.70 is 12.70 BASTA!  

So that’s it for this time, but I will try to write in shorter intervals, like that it can be short and more precise, I think I miss out on some things when there is several weeks between each post…

Until next time!  

2nd week of vacation + one week :)

Hello I'm back!

 (absence of pictures)

Better later than never?

No I am sorry I haven't posted anything the last two weeks... I have ha a lot to do an it was simply not on the top of my list..:)

I would like to start with what I did the second week in the holidays!

Monday morning we (my family and I) worked in the garden from around 11AM to 5PM...:) It was a nice thing to do and I was glad that I could help them in the garden, although while working I was happy, but a little sad at the same time. I was of course thinking of my family back home, and the times we worked in our garden, or even the times we had "Dugnad" on URA (for those who doesn't know the place - my cottage) cutting trees and bringing them to the outdoor fireplace, GOOD MEMORIES!<3

Back to reality.

After working in the garden, we took our stuff an headed for Brest! We arrive late and there my "uncle" and "aunt" waited for us with warm food! It was a nice pasta meal and afterwards I went to the beach house where the other AFSers waited for me!! We had the beach house for two nights, IT WAS AWESOME! We were all by ourselves, but the neighbors watched out for us ;) the first night we danced, played cards and had a party! The next morning we ate breakfast and then we walked to the shopping center, which we thought was a 40 minute walk but it turned out to be a 1h10m walk!! Thank god we took the bus home which goes once or twice a day...Me gusta!

We slept outdoor...!

 

After doing shopping,

Shopping list: classified*

Price 37€ each, 7 people :)

We made tacos and boller, we had such a great time…

My planning on the trip is going forward, I asked for families in AFS that could host us and I already got 4 possible places! Belgium, Milano, Berlin and Riga!! And that only after a few days! I really hope this plan works out!

After the three days with the other AFSers we took the bus that goes twice a day in to Brest, where most of the people took the train home, but Payton, Phoebe and I went to the Aquarium! After the aquarium, I was picked up by my father and then we went to the family of my father, really nice family! They had already hosted many times before and I felt that right away. The following days (Thursday and Friday) we went hiking along the beach in the beautiful landscape around Brest! Friday was my favorite trip; we walked round an island wonderful trip! Watching the waves crashing into the rocks along the shore really reminded me of the stormy days on URA with the big waves and the cozy living room playing card and drinking tea from a tea cup with a turtle on it.

Oceanopolis :)

When we came home I had a lot of homework to do because I didn’t do anything in the vacation, so I ended up working 5-6 hours on Sunday… However the result turned out to be fairly good, I mean I wrote 7 pages in total IN FRENCH!! Throughout the week I had a lot of work to do so there was not so much that happened – the usual. Saturday we went watching THOR!

And today, I’m here writing, until next time…!

le Toussin

Hello again I am sorry for not updating my blog lately, and there are two reasons for that: The first and most important is that is vacation so the rhythm is different, I sleep long and have lazy days chill and enjoy the vacation… I started the vacation Friday morning by tripping on the bus stop with my hands in my pocket soooo I fell right on my knee, when I think back on the situation it must have been hilarious to watch me trip, hahaha

Saturday it was planned for those who wanted from the AFS group to collect apples for charity, it was great, but honestly we AFS youngsters weren’t much of help, we just talked the whole time. At one of the apple picking places we were picking apples in the garden of some really rich people, I mean they had a collection of cars; I only got one word, incredible. At lunch we ran through the cornfields and it was a lot of fun.  It was really awesome and I had a BLAST, I bet the other AFSers also did. It is really awesome that we have the possibility to have weekends like this. We have so much in common, and we have already started to plan a trip in the end of the year, hopefully it will work. However there’s a lot of planning to do!!

Let the planning begin like an investigation!

From the back: Fernanda, Melissa, Arthur, Phoebe and Payton!

Almost everyone of the AFS bretagne group.

Woods near the cornfield...

The fields!

CRAZY CAR COLLECTION!

TACO!

Fountain of youth!

Saw this kid in town, he's a boss!

Saturday night I went to the cousin of my host mother for his 40^th birthday, it was sad because I was extremely tired after the apple picking and it was distant family, so as a result me and my host sister watched Game of Thrones almost the whole evening, hers idea..

Sunday I had a day with the parents of my host mother and her family and it was nice, I enjoyed getting to know her family. 

THE PACKAGE!!

GOT ANOTHER PACKAGE!! THANK YOU!!

The rest of the week I originally had planned to go to some friends in my class, but poor planning resulted in a lazy week, with homework, movies, GTA, TACO, planning of trip and TRESOR!!! Today I woke up early for the first time, went running and now I’m here ;)

By the way yesterday I watched a hilarious film with my host siblings – BRICE DE NICE!!! hahahaha

TRESOR<3