Ahem, so I'm really sincerely sorry and I know I really don't have an excuse, ASIDE FROM BEING A KICKIN' EXCHANGE STUDENT.
Ahem... now that I got that apology out of the way, here's what I've been up to the past three months.
March:
March came with vacations, which was really lovely, cause school gets annoying after a while, you know? So all my friends and I had two weeks vacation, and my host family went skiing. So I went to stay with a friend for a few days, merci marie! <3
Her family is really nice, and we had some good times together: notably, her introducing me to "le voyage de Chihiro which is a really amazing film by the Japanese film maker Hayao Miyazaki.
A few days after vacations ended it was 100 days before the start of the BAC, the french end of highschool examinations, SO OF COURSE, being awesome and cool and everything, all the Terminals (Grade 12s) had a crazy "parade" through the streets of Metz, my host city... I say "parade" because it was more like a travelling block party. There was a huge truck blasting club music and more than one thousand students around 18 years old following it. It was wicked. something I'll never forget.
Later that same day I played in what's called "Le concert des Lycées" (http://www.mylorraine.fr/article/le-concert-des-lyceens-2014-nous-enchante-a-larsenal-de-metz/26000). Again, HUGELY grateful to have participated in this, because it was really something incredible. I should have DVDs sent to me next year, so I'll have a huge party at my house :P
Two days later I went to see a representation of The Glass Menagerie with all the english students of my grade level. That was reaaaaaaaally something else... Hearing British actors try to adopt a South American accent was rather difficult to understand.
The next week it was PARIS BABY for the Journées Rotarien de Jeunesse, or Rotary Youth Days, which happens every three years in France, and I was lucky enough to take part in it this year! Had an absolute blast, as one usually does in Paris, and I met a lot of really cool people from around the world! The best part of the weekend was seeing all of the Canadians here in France. That was truly wicked. I must also admit that I played piano and sang for over one thousand people (most of which were exchange students) as part of a talent show, so I'm pree pleased! It was a good time.
APRIL:
First thing to report: DELF blanc. Practice test for my french level exam. That went really well actually, I felt really good about it!
This is when things start to get interesting for me: clubbing. The French as a people REALLY ahem, "go hard"? Seeing as I wasn't legally an adult before I left for exchange, I really discovered clubs and bars (of sorts) here in France. My first clubbing experience was A. M. A. Z. I. N. G. I went with a friend of mine from Thionville, and we went to one of the top 5 clubs in France, modeled after a club in Miami. This particular evening was slow at the start, but at around 2 AM (I told you the French partied hard) there was a DJ named Gregori Klosman who just happened to play Ultra Music Festival in 2013. SO he's a really freaking good DJ. I stayed until about 4/4:30 AM then decided to call it quits and go home and sleep, because the next day just happened to be...
The District Conference! Which was interesting enough, I mean there was a whole production about the exchange students, and we had to thank people and stuff so that was all well and good.
The best thing about my host city being situated where it is, is that there are other countries within driving distance if you want to... I don't know, want to go clubbing in Luxembourg? That's exactly what I did! Yay neighboring countries!
A few days after that it was the birthday party of Aaron, an exchanger from Zimbabwe. He lives in Verdun, which is super cool cause history. His birthday party was pretty cool :3
Immediately after was back to school (four day weekend), which was really difficult. I'm not enjoying all this start-stopping of school. But the good thing was that in just a few short days I would be again on vacations!
VACATIONS AGAIN: DESTINATION, ITALY
I'll probably do a separate post for the Italy trip...
MAY:
After I got back from Italy, I had a few days resting period, then I took a trip to Alsace with my host father, grandmother, and brother Etienne! Alsace is the region of France right next to Lorraine, and it has some beautiful things to see. We stayed in the "summer house" of my host grandmother, which was super cozy and nice. We then spent a few lovely days visiting the surrounding cities, and tourist attractions. The last day we spent in Strasbourg, where I met up with the lovely Annie Richardson! (whom I met in Paris for the JRJ)
But all good things come to an end, and so we returned to Metz just after Strasbourg, but not after having the car battery die on us in a parking lot in Strasbourg... Fun stuff that was!
Going back to school was difficult, especially (I had to google translate the french word for that, shows you how integrated I am!) since I had to do a presentation on Canada, and the differences between France and Canada for a class of Secondes (Grade 11s). Presentations are not my strong point...
After that it's been really quite quiet, I went for a "gouter" at my host sister's apartment, then slept over for the weekend and that was all well and lovely.
It was all nice and quiet until the actual DELF EXAM AND PARIS!
I'm pleased to announce I passed the DALF (diplome d'approfondissement en langue francais) with a mark of 14,2/20! Which officially means that I can come back to France for University (Mom ;) )
Literally the day after I had my exam, I took the TGV to Paris, to meet my auntie! We spent four marvelous days together, doing all sorts of touristy things: Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triomphe, Champs-Elysées, Versailles, le Louvre etc.
Then, unfortunately, it came time to say goodbye to all of the exchange students. We aren't all leaving at the same time, and will be trickling home within the next month and a half, so we all got together a week ago to say goodbyes, have flags signed, shed tears and all that fun stuff.
And now, I have less than a month left, and everything seems to be rushing by so quickly.
