Here are a couple of photos from my school, Lycee Guillaume Fichet.
Last Sunday, all three of my host families got together with me, Cami from Bolivia, and Gabriella from Ecuador, to take a hike in the mountains. We went up Sur Cou and saw a beautiful view of the whole valley and had a picnic up top. About an hour up, 40 minutes down. It's cool here how you can see the snow descending the mountains as time goes by and winter progresses! Right now the snow is still on the upper quarter of the mountains.         Hello everyone!! So it's unfortunately the end of vacation, and I have another 8 weeks of school starting tomorrow. I visited some of the chateaus of the Loire Valley and also the farms of Ardeche. Today I went to Yvoire, a beautiful tourist town that's crowded in the summer, and I also went to harvest some apples at 1 Euro/kg with my host-dad. Sorry this note is so short, but it's getting late, and I need to get up early tomorrow morning! (PS: there are some more photos on Facebook!)                  These are some pictures of a shopping outing I took with a friend, Camila (the sweet Bolivian girl on the right in the first picture below) at Annemasse, a town about 10 minutes north of my current house. I had a lot of fun and bought a lot of stuff!! Tonight I'm going to the cinema for the first time with my host family, to see a movie in French called "Les Petits Mouchoirs" (the little tissues). Everything's good, and I keep learning French. Next Tuesday, I will have been here for 2 months, and it's so hard to believe that time is passing so quickly!           Here are some pictures of my school! (School= Lycee Guillaume Fichet. Town= Bonneville, Rhone-Alpes, France. Bus Ride= 25 minutes. Hours of school a week= 30)      Here are a couple of photos from last Tuesday when we had school of because of greve (teacher strike), and my friend Cami and I went to Annemasse, which is 10 minutes from my current house. We got some shopping in, and I bought a sweater!! Which is important because it's getting cold quickly here, just like in Ohio. I still need more sweaters. And hats, gloves, scarfs, love sleeves..... But anyways, I'm having an awesome time here and am getting over my homesickness! Miss you all! Sami              Hey everybody, Last Saturday I went to the Retour des Alpages in Annecy, which is a festival celebrating the farm animal's return back to the valleys for the winter. There were a lot of crowds, as well as cows and other animals walking in the street! Hope you enjoy the pics! And last Sunday my host family and I went to Echirolles, a town close to Grenoble, which is a famous city a couple hours south of here. At Echirolles, we went to see my host sister in a Judo competition for some hours, and I got to see some Judo in action! Today, Tuesday, I don't have any school because of "greve", which is when the teacher's strike because they want to retire at 68 instead of 63. This movement is really active this year, so I've already had a couple days off of school. Well, hope everything's good at home! Sami    Salut !
I just spent a wonderful weekend with my friend Gabi from Ecuador and her host family, who is my second host family that I'll be living with for 3 months starting January. We went grape-harvesting (les vendenges) in the mountains, which is about as difficult as it sounds because of the steep incline, but it was still awesome!! Afterward, we enjoyed some authentic Savoyard fondue, and I think it's safe to say that French people love their cheese and bread. Today we visited my second host-father's dad who lives by a lake called Aix-les-Bains, about an hour south of here. We had a 2 hour lunch and went lakeside for a while. The view was just beautiful with all of the mountains and the great weather we had today! Tomorrow I go to school, and I have vacation for a week at the end of October. Bonne nuit (good night)! Sami Hey everyone!! I enjoy receiving all or your comments on my posts :) (Mom- I hope your hand gets better soon; Dad- have fun in the cold, I guess, and say hi to everyone for me!!) It's getting chilly here, and it's really similar to Oakwood weather. I have to wear a couple sweaters a day now, and I need to buy gloves pretty soon, but it's not too bad at all. School is going well even though the hours are so long! I think I'm getting used to it by now though, and it doesn't seem that bad, even though I get home at 5:30 or 6:30 every school day! However, on Wednesdays there are only a couple classes for everyone, so we all go home at lunch. I went to the Chateau de Menthon the other day, just outside Annecy, with my host family and my exchange friends, Cami from Bolivia, and Gabi from Ecuador... Here are some photos! Hope all is well in the states!! :) Love, Sami      So it's been a while since I've posted!
Well today I went to Annecy with some of my friends to do some shopping! Thank goodness because I really need more clothes haha. (I bought a blue sweater, a pink shirt, and a rosy tank-top.) I am still in dire need of more sweaters, gloves, and closed-toe shoes. It's kind of difficult hanging around with my friends though, because they all speak Spanish! They're all from Bolivia, Argentina, or Mexico. They all speak some English, but I think that they prefer their native language. In a way it's good, because I can learn Spanish too this year! French is getting pretty good for me. I still can't have a really smooth conversation, but I can always understand what's going on... except in class. School-wise, there was "la greve" last Thursday, which means that some of the teachers went on strike to change the retirement age from 63 to 67. It's a controversial topic, and I'll be having a few days off school this year because of it. My next (and first!) school vacation is the last week of October, and my family might take me to Italy, but nothing's certain yet! I'm having a great time, despite my homesickness, and everybody is really nice and generous! Thanks for keeping posted! :) Sami | AuthorI am staying in France for a year through the wonderful Rotary exchange program, and I will be returning to Oakwood, Ohio for my senior year sometime next summer. ArchivesJanvier 2011 Categories |
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