today was jam-packed with stuff to do -- and, guess what? it was all where i live: montmorency! the entire time i've been in france, i've been living in a town called 'montmorency,' about fifteen minutes away from enghien-les-bains, the town that i go to school in. i haven't done much here, but stay at home, sit at the bus stop and take only one walk in the park. so, i'm really glad that i had the opportunity to stay right at home and experience the town!
i went to bed really late last night due to the fact that my family had people over till about 2 am. i woke up and found camille eating a bunch of junk food for breakfast, so i of course, joined her. then, i went upstairs and decided to add a nice touch to my blog by changing the template... isn't it perfect?! that's when my french dad, christophe, walked in and told me that we were going to the market in two minutes. i changed my clothes in record timing and was out the door! montmorency is really small, so we walked by foot to center of the town where a market had been set up. there were a lot of food vendors, but more clothing vendors, which surprised me. anyhow, i got my fair share of purchasing things in french, because christophe made me buy chicken and two baguettes! boy, was that nervewracking...
after going to the market, we came home and then, christophe realized that he needed to go vote. we were out the door again within three seconds! the voting system here is really different, i noticed. right now, they are doing regional elections and there are two rounds. the first round is where everyone votes for whatever candidate is running and then round two is cut to two people running for office. the citizens get different pieces of papers with the candidates envelope on it, and they put their selection in the envelope, and then throw away the other ballots. and then, they finish the process by having someone open a box and allowing them to put their ballot inside -- it was really neat!
my day continued to go at a fast pace -- when i came home, we ate a quick lunch and then headed to camille's handball match. it was super intense! joni was there and we watched the first half. it was so fast-paced and incredibly exciting to watch. then, came the coolest thing ever. camille's mother picked us up and we went to see a ceramist in action. dominique, one of camille's mother's friends, creates these ceramic robots. my french mom, cathrine, has them all over the house. they are so cute! we got to go to the 'atelier' and watch her make them, which was by far, one of the most amazing things i have done in france. it is really spectacular seeing all of the monuments and museums, but every tourist sees that... no one ever gets to see a common person at work -- especially, an artist like dominique. some of her art is even going to be shown at the grand palais!
after that amazing opportunity, we dropped joni off (she came with us!) and went to pick up mathilde, who had a sleepover the previous night, at dominique's house. dominique's daughter, lilou, is mathilde's best friend (camille told me that "best friends" are really big here... you have to have one. i think that's weird...). their house is fantastic! dominique and her husband are both artists (she's a ceramist and he's a painter) so their house is super artsy. it's nested in this cove with a bunch of plants and the inside is full of their art and crazy furniture from ikea. i love it! they also had a rabbit hopping around the house, which was kind of bizarre...
anyhow, to top off my day, christophe took me to the top of the mountain (montmorency is a town on a mountain!) to see the eiffel tower at night! we went to a park and then got kicked out by the police, dang it. however, at eight o'clock, i was able to see the lights turn on. the view was spectacular! upon seeing the eiffel tower tonight, i realized that i leave in two days... what?! it seems like i've adjusted (finally...) and now i have to leave this all behind. though, i'll miss it here, i do believe that it's time to come home. i miss my family a ton, and while it'll be hard transitioning back into school, i have to do it sometime soon. my experience here has been incredible, though. i wouldn't change it for the world... not even a chanel purse. :)
lots of love! miss you guys so much!
xoxo,
jyothi
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