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!