je suis ici! // i'm here!

bonjour! wow, i cannot believe that i am in france right now. it's crazy to think that i will be here for two weeks! first off, i just want to say that i am actually quite homesick. it's really neat staying with the bordenave family and speaking with them, but i really miss my own family. it's hard seeing them bond with their parents when mine are half-way across the globe. but, this is an experience i need to embrace! when will i have the chance to live with an actual french family again?

anyhow, now to fill you in on my first two days in france! the flight was okay -- really long and quite boring. however, it was pretty empty so i got to move to another part of the plane for part of the trip and lay down over two seats to sleep. i think i got about two to three hours of sleep. when we got off of the plane, we had all had to have our passports checked. i felt like we were coming into ellis island or something -- everybody was silent, just praying that they could make it into the country. i noticed that the official was asking my classmates questions, so i was a little nervous. but, when i got to the counter, the official looked like he was of indian descent, and he looked at my name, closed my passport, said," bonjour, c'est parfait. au revior." and i was on my way.

from the airport, we took a two vans to enghien-les-bains. the town is gorgeous. it is small, but very classy and the architecture is so beautiful. i think i took about 100 pictures in the van itself. it was weird, because i was hoping the fact that i was in france would hit me when i saw the country, but of course, it didn't. the roads are all very small and really curvy. we reached the town in about 20 minutes, which is really good apparently. there must not have been a lot of traffic. after unloading our suitcases and gathering around the man who was organizing our arrival, a woman walked up and said, "bordenave." it was my french mother! i couldn't believe that i was the first one being picked up! she was so welcoming and had a big smile on her face -- i had been super nervous, but her kind impression made me comfortable. she took niki, leah, and i with her (i have no idea why niki and leah were with us... and neither do they) and we went to their house. it is so pretty! of course, the house is smaller, but each room is decorated like a magazine! we talked to her (mostly, i talked to her...) and then we went back to the school to pick up camille, my french sister. all of the people coming out of the school stared at us like we were aliens. it was incredibly awkward.

at first, camille was really quiet. but once we were around each other for longer, she opened up and began to speak more. after coming home, her mom made us lunch - a salad with cheese pasta and we talked. i was proud of myself for successfully communicating with them! after eating, the three americans (niki, leah, and i) sat in the living room and slept for about an hour while her mother dropped camille off at school. for some reason, i was feeling so sick! it might have been the food, but i'm not sure. when her mom came home, she asked us if we wanted to pick up her sister. i think we all needed fresh air so we agreed and took a small tour of the town (montmorency) on the way to picking up camille's youngest sister, manon. we picked then picked up camille and her other sister, mathilde from school as well. niki and leah left with their families and i returned home with the girls. i was incredibly nervous now that i was by myself, but we did some homework together and talked. they speak so fast!

i spent the evening listening, watching, and talking to them until the father came home. he was really nice too! he told me right off the bat that i was good at speaking french... it made me feel good! we all had dinner together (chicken with curry and rice) and it was really interesting listening to all of them talk. i'm really lucky that i have a family that is so open and understanding, though! after eating, i wrote in my journal for a bit and went to bed. day one was good!

on to day two! i woke up and got ready and then ate a piece of 'pain au chocolat.' it was really good! then, i went to school. when i got there, it was funny because i had to 'faire des bises' (kiss the cheeks) of people with they said 'bonjour' to me. anyhow, the entire day at school was crazy. after every class, they have time in the courtyard where they talk with their friends. everyone was staring at us like we were some rare piece of art and whispering as they pointed. they could obviously tell that we were american! i had a flood of questions coming from people and it was a bit overwhelming, but i managed to get through the day (including the part where we had to stand in front of the class and answer questions...).

after school, i decided that i wanted to go watch camille play handball. the team wanted me to play with them, but i didn't feel like playing so i took pictures and tried to figure out what was going on! joni's french sister plays on the team as well, and joni actually played with them. i told the team that i would play with them the next time i came. after watching her play, we went to eat with the family at a creperie. it was really small, and kind of intimidating because i was in a public place speaking french. i ordered my food correctly, though! after eating, i felt really sick and still do. hopefully this feeling passes soon. my family has a lot planned for me tomorrow!

hopefully, i will get some rest now and be in a better mood tomorrow. the homesickness thing rarely hits me, but it hit me hard this time. i miss my family a ton, and my friends. i wish this was a one week thing right now. it's sad, but i can't wait for monday when we go on the excursion with just our class. oh well, i'll live through it!

i miss you all!
xoxo,
jyothi