Well... Another post!

I really should become more invested in this blog thing. People tell me writing helps relieve stress and I'm inclined to believe them. I'm doing fairly well as of late, we had so much snow over the last weekend/week that school got canceled for 3 days straight. Freaking. Awesome. Unfortunately, it's all gone now... Back to the lovely, cold, wet, rain. Yippie.

Veux-tu me faire chier?!?!

Oh goodness... I had almost forgotten I had a blog.
Where do I even pick up from here... Lets seeeeeeeeeeeeeee...

Well, I'm doing pretty well lately! My French is finally starting to pick up, which means:

Me-"Hey! Social life! Long time, no see eh?"
S.L-"Yeah! How you been??"
Me-"Been better!"

So that's a plus. Other than that, school's... Alright-ish. Definitely could do without the feeling of uneasiness that comes with not doing anything in class and not knowing if it's really okay or not. Regardless, my doodling capabilities have really grown! Here's and example:

                                                                    From this: September

                    

                                                                    To this: November

                                                 -slideshow of all my doodles at the bottom-


So yeah, I'm getting slowly better at drawing stupid characters which is nice.

Other than that, I'm having an okay time adjusting still. I completely forgot about Thanksgiving when that rolled around a little while back. Well done Max... And I recently received a postcard from my friend Karen Cunningham from the Caribbean which was a nice sentiment. It makes me think I should send out the post card that I purchased over a month ago. Eh, I'll get to it.

I've had some pretty sweet adventures as of late, visiting friends in other cities and such. Taking the train in France does really make one feel French. I had a bit of an issue with the swim suits they force us to wear in gym class here as well... (They call them a "moule-bite" here. Which literally means "Moldy Dick") Lovely. But I guess you have to roll with the punches on stuff like that. It's pretty funny now that I think back on it.

I'm pretty much just rambling right now, I feel there's too much to cover very well...
So the next post will be better written I hope... For all your sakes.

Until next time!!! Leave questions if you have them!


-If you want to see a pic full size, just click on it during the show.-

Wow it's been a while...

Sorry that I haven't posted in a while. I haven't had too much to talk about. Recently I applied for college, and for the application, I was unsurprisingly asked to write an admissions essay. The essay written was on my year here so far, and personally I think it'd do well as a  blog post too. So here yah go, my admissions essay:

Mont St Michel:

Wow, it was a big trip. Like big, soooooo many students, ridiculous... over 200...

Here's how it went down, this past weekend I went to a great big Rotary meeting at Mont St Michel, which is about 2 hours from here... This was a chance for all of the students to meet each other and have a good time, and sure enough it proved to be an epic weekend. Not including my 18th birthday, but I'll get into that later...

So Saturday morning I wake up and make my way to the meeting point to drive to MSM with my host president. I was at the wrong place... No matter, they found me, I was just a tad late. We arrived at 11h, and proceeded to mingle for what was about 1 hour. After getting situated a bit in our bungalows, we made our way to the Mont, what a site... Really, it's pretty damn amazing, take a look on my facebook. We all gawked at how cool it was and couldn't wait to go inside. Then we didn't... We went down to the beach, took our shoes of and started on what can only be described as the Rotarian Pilgrimage. 

2 hours of walking in the quicksand and mud and water and we finally reach a giant rock at the back side of the Mont... I feel this video best describes how we felt when we arrived... And left after 10 minutes... for another 2 hour walk back:

(Watch until about 2:52, after that, this clip has no relevance to my journey on this day.)

And walk back we did... just as tiring too... I believe I can speak for everyone when I say none of us want to see anymore sand for the rest of our stay. 

Upon our return, we get cleaned up and ready for dinner. Upon arrival, we sit ourselves down and wait for food to start. The food didn't start for a while... We waited for about 45 minutes for the folk dancing to begin... which was interesting to say the least. And entertaining for a little while, but hunger was really starting to get the best of us... This was made evident when the bread finally arrived and my friends Zev, Tyler, and I engaged in a friendly competition of "chubby bunny." (Chubby bunny is a game where you try to shove as much of a certain kind of food in your mouth without swallowing, and then saying "chubby bunny" preferably to the amusement of those around you... otherwise it's just gross and stretches out your mouth...) Anyway, I won with 7 pieces of bread at once, with Tyler and Zev right behind me with 6 each. I don't want to play ever  again. 

Food finally arrives in buffet style... Not smart with over 200 students....

I personally met some cool people while waiting though, so it wasn't all fail...

Finally after eating, we were all ready to get our party on. Rotary had planned a Dj to come and give us a good time from 11 to 2AM, problem was that he was an hour late... LAME. And let me tell you this, when it finally did start, as fun as it was, he was a terrible DJ, and at the rick of multiple comma splices, he couldn't keep a beat if he had a basket... Jeeze... But still, it was fun to let loose. (Again, see pics on facebook.)

They promptly kicked us out at 1:30 for bed, and believe me when I say "bonne nuit est BONNE NUIT" for Rotary, they don't like us youngins out an about after hours. Which was fine either way, I roomed with mah boys Tyler, Tyler, and Zev. (I'm aware there are two Tylers.) All in all it was pretty good.

The next day my friend and fellow 'Mer'Kn and I walked to the Mont for some touristing. It was nice, and many people wished me a happy birthday... In song... In different languages... In public... It was fun ha. And finally after some lunch, we said our goodbyes and made our way to our respective districts. 

Later that night I shared a lovely birthday dinner with my host family, my official best French friend, Pierre-Edouard, and the next door neighbors. I got new hats and a knife, -squee!- 

Overall it was a massively successful weekend, one I hope to replicate in epicness soon.

A bientot!!

A quick stat...

I've received many questions about how many fast food restaurants exist in the states... Here in France there's basically 3, McDonalds, Quick, and Subway... So to bring light upon how fast our food is in the states, here's a list:

"J'ai reçu beaucoup de questions sur le nombre de restaurants fast-food existent dans les Etats ... Ici en France il ya essentiellement 3, McDonalds, Quick, et Subway ... Donc, pour apporter la lumière sur la façon dont la graisse nous sommes dans les Etats, voici une liste:"

Do all posts really have to have a title? Seriously...

Well, still no HUGE news in my life here in Lannion. But, as such, I've had time to notice some of the little things here that really strike me as different. As you can imagine, living in a completely different country can have some major differences. I first came here when I was in third grade and have a mother who is obsessed with French culture, so naturally I've been jaded to these major differences for some time now... But regardless there are still certain things that really strike me. So in order to explain these differences I have comprised a list.

1. Soda cans are weighted:
I have no proof on paper for this one... But I swear the weight of the cans here is different, every time I finish my soda, it feels like there is a little left in the can. So naturally I take a sip, only to discover the can is empty... I know I'm not crazy... I think they weight the bottom of the cans here to save a little extra cash.

2. Only caramel corn at cinemas:
Besides the fact that I say "cinema" more often than "movie theater" now, there are many other different things about them. Like the lack of buttered popcorn. I saw a movie with some friends last week and was surprised to get this tasty treat in lieu of buttered popcorn. I was sure that it was some special promotion or something, but no one really mentioned it. So when I finally asked if they have buttered popcorn, he replied as such: "You guys put BUTTER on your popcorn?!."

3. They really do call it a Royal with cheese.
Nuf said.

4. The kissy-thing, shaking hands, and personal space:
As I become more integrated into my school society, I begin to greet more than 2 people every day. And here there are two distinct ways to greet people. For girls, you do a bisou... or something spelled along those lines... This is nothing more than a kissing-like motion on each cheek of every girl you know the first time you see them for the day. (This takes FOREVER, and frankly the kissy sound everyone makes gets annoying after the 12th time in a row.) But for men/boys here, a simple hand shake is all you need to greet one another. Not many 'knucks over here. (Unless of course they're doing it to humor you.) I find all of this just fine, but for me, I've always been accustomed to giving hugs to people when they leave and the traditional man hug thing all American guys do. You know what I'm talking about. But then again, I suppose I get my fill of physical contact whenever a line is involved. The French must be the most impatient people on the planet, because every time there is a line to get into somewhere, there is a massive crowd of people surrounding it with little or no space between people. It's like a clown car without the car. I personally could do without this. Oh well.

Obviously there's more but those are the main points that I've noticed...

On a more positive note, I've finally consulted with my school on what exactly they expect from me as an exchange student. I'm still not sure. I guess I just need to engage a little more in class... Which I GUESS I can do. On a happy note, Spanish is no more! Soon I will be taken out of my Spanish class, which is amazing because frankly I do less in that class than in my others... That's really hard to do by the way.


Well I think that's it for now! Ill update soon...ish... At the latest, Oct 11-12th.
Talk to you all soon!

OK so it's been a while...

10 days to be exact. The reason for the delay is the lack in real news on my trip. I'm starting to fall into a groove which is good, but rather lacking in major excitement. SO. For something to tide you all over, here is a compilation of the doodles I draw in class:


Taking notes- The Max Hoeschele Method:

That, in a nutshell is how I spend my time in class. In my opinion it's more productive than staring blankly at a teacher as they talk at me.

Interesting things are bound to happen soon! And when they do, you'll know 1-5 days after!

Thanks guys!

Well... it's been a week:

Since my last post, so I think right about now is a good time to give my report! And let me tell you, it's a good one. Aside from homesickness, my trip is really starting to look up! My linguistic skill are starting to improve a bit, which is definitely a plus... I feel like the book they gave us wasn't lying to me after all. I'm making more friends in school, and getting more comfortable around acquaintances. And not to mention my frisbee practice every monday and tuesday. It's probably my favorite activity ever. I've always thought that physical activity is the one activity in which everyone can communicate regardless of language, and it holds true here. I don't speak very much with the team members, but we all seem to understand each other just by playing.

Another subject which I'm excited to talk about is my first rotary district meeting! So much fun to see all these people whom mostly I didn't know were anywhere close to me! I made friends with a lot of them, and finally got to let loose a little with slang and such. It was mad dank. (If you don't know that word, no surprise, use it in context to get definition... It's interesting to see how slang develops like a language in different parts of even just the US.) And I met some real chill 'Mur'kans!!! (Americans) It feels good to be a part of that whole exchange student subculture. We took a bus trip around the coast and talked about the upcoming rotary euro bus trips to spain and the rest of europe... Damn am I excited for those!!!

By the way: Thats me in the back right corner doing the Nixon peace sign thing. The Americans didn't have a flag, so that was our best alternative... Pretty sad I know... Also, click on the pic for a bigger version.

 On the same day I also went boogy boarding with my host family. THAT was fun as hell, I can't wait to try it again sometime.

Well that's about it for now. I want to hear from you guys!!! So please comment, and remind people to check back every now and then because I haven't forgotten about this blog yet!!

Sep 7th. Things are looking up!

I had my third day of school today, and it was so much better! Started the same, going to class... wandering aimlessly, feeling awkward. All that normal exchange student stuff. BUT THEN, people! They talked to us, and even asked Israel and I to follow. Shortly after, they ditched us... I was annoyed. But then gym class came and frankly I love gym class. One of the few places in which words aren't really needed to communicate. Awkward laughs about how ridiculous we looked doing the exercises the teacher was having us do were the only communication needed. After that was lunch, which went down smoothly due to the lack of a line. (Thank god)
 Ans after that, things continued as normal, but then again! People!! And this time they didn't ditch us. We now have friends! It's facebook official... Soon... So with our new group of friends, class sped by. God afternoon. Then... FRISBEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE. Twas epic. Although very different than what I'm used to, I really enjoyed the first practice. The players were very friendly, and even some spoke English! I'm excited for my next practice. By the end of this year I will no longer have a bad pull called a "Hoeschele". (congrats if you get that reference) Ok, I would probably write more here, but I'm close to dead right about now. So.... Bye. =D

Sep 2nd. OMG

Ok first day of school. DOWN. And I have stories!! First let me tell you... I'm tired... I can't believe how much I don't understand French! Seriously. Maybe this will explain a little:

Anyway... Let me break down my day for you. 

I get to school, and it's probably the most chaotic scene I have ever seen at a high school in my life. Kids everywhere... No rhyme or reason, just crowds and crowds of people. It was hard to tell what was going on really. After finding out what class I had first, I regrouped with my fellow exchange student Israel, and we went to "homeroom". He seemed to be just as confused as I was. 

We get to our homeroom, and waited for maybe 10 minutes for our teacher to show up... OY. We finally are allowed in, and are introduced as exchange students. This, as you would expect, sparked the interest of the other students. But not really in the good way. They just kind of... stared at us, and laughed when we didn't understand something. They weren't mean... just.. yeah. So our teach talks for 20-30 minutes, I understand nothing... Then Surprise!!! She's a math teacher. She then proceeds to give us what i assume were the plans for the CERN. I struggle with them, and somehow manage to answer a question correctly... Yay guessing!! Class ends abruptly and Israel and I go outside.

Lunch:

Let me make this clear... Me, as an American, appreciate my personal space bubble. French teenagers on the other hand... Don't. My bubble was popped very quickly in the lunch line. There was what seemed to be 100-150 students all trying to crowd through one small door at once, this was supplemented by a presumably sadistic group of adults who would let the students though the door every now and then, laughing as the group would essentially trample each other to get the food inside. The food was okay. 

French:

After lunch, more math! this went the same as before, flew by. But after cam French class. This class was hard enough for me when it was in English... But holy... The teacher was nice enough, he tried to help Israel and I as much as possible. The project was to create what i think was coat of arms which answered  some questions about our personal lives. Mine turned out like this:

An example of how my day went... 

After this class was over, the day was done. I walked home, and here I sit... Oh wait, I have a rotary dinner tonight... Damn!

Update:
Rotary dinner was fun! I finally to speak a little bit. My mouth's basically been shut for the past week. Met some cool people and got money!!! So I'm not complaining. =D

Sep 1st. Here. We. Go!

Ok so, the past week has been pretty awesome! Lots of fun, I love spending time with my host family, and I'm starting to get a feel for things. But I'm also starting to compare my life here to that of a pet. I spend a lot of time following my owners around, eating whatever food they give me, looking at the confused while they speak to each other and perking my ears up every time I hear my name. Ignorance is grace though, and frankly I always thought my dog was pretty happy, so maybe I don't have it too bad. School starts tomorrow. Oh school, how I missed you! It feels akin to how I miss the black plague. But, life moves on. I'm a little nervous, but that's to be expected I suppose. I'm taking all language courses I think... English, French, and Italian... Italian is the one I'm most worried about. How am I supposed to learn a language that's being taught to me in another foreign language?? Oh well... I'm mostly worried about the social aspect... I suppose I'll make friends soon enough though... I hope haha. That's mostly all on my mind lately... Spending a lot of time at the beach lately... =D

Aug 30th....OMG

Ok, so I haven't posted in a little while... But enough has happened in the last couple days to fill a blog post haha. So I have done a lot these past few days. I went to the beach with my host family which was a lot of fun. I went kayaking for the first time ever. And that was really fun, if not stressful on the arms. I took plenty of photos... My french is still pretty suckish... lol, everytime I think I am getting better, something happens that knocks me down to size. Today I went to visit the director of my high school here in Lannion, and quite frankly I couldn't understand a damned word they were saying. It seems that with anything of importance, my language centers stop working. Perfect. After that I got a physical... Which, unrelated to the school visit, was just as confusing. At first at least, it happened pretty quickly so it wasn't much of an issue. Although the waiting room was like a shouting match for babies... I hate crying babies... ugh. I went to the video game store today, which was pretty nice. Something I'm familiar with. I noticed the price of the upcoming "HALO Reach" which was €70... Holy crap!!!! If I get an xbox here, I'm buying all my games from the US. I'm starting to feel more comfortable here, which is good since my rising frustration levels with the language would kill me if I was uncomfortable.

I'm here!

Yup I finally made it. The trip was hell though, let me tell you. The first couple flights weren't so bad. Made a couple of new friends. But the last leg... OMG! I wanted to kill myself! One other student and I missed our flight to Brest at 10AM. Go figure, and the only other flight was at 9PM. leaving us 11 hours to kill... Longest 11 hours of MY LIFE. And this whole time, all I wanted was sleep. Beautiful beautiful sleep!! By the time I arrived at the Brest airport, I was ready to collapse. My host father and brother greeted me. Along with my host father's friend who appearance saved his life earlier this year... I have yet to find out how... They had a giant boogy board with my name painted on it, which was really cool! I got my luggage and began our trip home. This trip had some surprises of it's own when the car's lights stopped working in the middle of the dark... THAT was fun. But over all it was a nice trip. I get to my host's house and they have been having a birthday party for my eldest host sister, Louise. I ate some food and had some pepsi, while they spoke to me. I'm a little frustrated, because I can understand a good deal of what's being said, but I can't respond! So they take my short replys as a indicator that I don't understand and repeat it in english. Haha I hope I get the hang of this soon... I woke up today at 3PM local time. This is going to be a long week haha.

Aug 25th... I leave today.

I don't have much to say here... too stressful I guess. I said goodbye to everyone tonight, it doesn't feel like I'm not going to see them for a year... Still hard though. I'm almost completely packed... I leave at 7:45 AM from Cortland. Wish me luck.

Aug 24th.. Tomorrow I leave.

Well, first post... Here goes. I leave tomorrow, my first flight from Syracuse is at 10:17 AM. Then from there I have a long trip to France that ends on the 25th. I don't really want to get into the whole deal... Lots of stress!!! My last week has comprised pretty much of me trying to see everyone who wants to be seen before my great journey over the big puddle. Looking for some new music, and packing... A LOT. My bag is huge... Some people might say it's not but I know it is!! I'm a little stressed, as to be expected I guess... I'm really excited too, but I doubt I'll really get into it until what's happening hits me. I still feel like I have weeks left of hanging with familiar friends, and going to familiar places. My friends are all leaving for their respective universities, so I guess it's high time I get the hell out of here too. Shit's about to get real, and I'd better jump in head first... As a great man once said, "If it's worth doing, it's worth OVERdoing." And no I will not bring you if you can fit in the suitcase, but you're welcome to try.