So on Wednesday we traveled back from Normandy to Paris which was about a five hour bus ride. We stopped twice. Once in this tiny town, that was supposed to give us more of an idea of what the Normandy region was, and once to give the driver a break. In France almost everything is unionized and obviously they are very big on protest, so their unions are a pretty big deal. So everyday workers have regulations that are put there for protection and are strictly followed. For example, our bus driver couldn't drive like more than 3 hours without taking a 15 minute break. Also, our professors kept telling us that they have like a maximum amount of hours or meters that they can drive and then once they've done them all, they will just stop. They will pull over to the side of the road and be like "ok, that's it for today". Kinda crazy? Anyway that didn't happen to us.
We stopped for only about 15 minutes in the small town and - I know I keep saying this - but this town was honestly one of the most picturesque we had been to. You'll see what I mean. I mean, everywhere is beautiful in France, but this town every view, every street, every house: gorgeous.
Then after a long day of travel we finally arrived outside of Paris where we were meeting our host families. I was soo nervous. I mean this is essentially our family for the next 2 months! What would they think of us? What would the interactions with them be like? We had received a paper beforehand which told us the basics about our family. They lived in a banlieu outside of Paris. There was a mother, father, and 4 kids. 3 boys and 1 girl with respective ages of 22, 20, 16, and 14. When we got off the bus, we waited for our families. Watching girls getting picked up two by two while we waited must be similar to how dogs feel getting chosen at the pound. Then we were told that no one could come pick us up. That news kinda deflated my excitement completely. No one was coming to pick us up? We weren't going to have a real family? Were we those dogs at the pound that no one wanted? But then a boy around our age and a young looking girl popped up and introduced themselves. They were our oldest host frère and youngest host soeur, Quentin and Joanne (I'm still not sure if that's spelled right) - and Quentin brought along his girlfriend Sophie. And they came to get us! They quickly excused their parents because they were out of town for a funeral. We crammed into a little French car (Puegot peut-être?) with all our luggage and were off. It was about a ten minute drive and then we saw our new house. It is seriously lovely. It has this beautiful jardin in the front yard and is probably three stories high. They gave us a quick tour of the house and then told us we'd eat around 8 or so. We have a whole basement to ourselves with two separate rooms, a shower, bathroom, and even mini-kitchen/bar complete with microwave, fridge, and sink! It is awesome! My room is pretty large and I even have a double-bed all too myself. I feel so spoiled! I found out that since the parents wouldn't be getting home until Sunday, we would just be eating with Quentin, the college boy, and his friends. He probably invited nearly 15 friends over, some girls some boys, probably close to half and half maybe leaning in favor towards boys. All of them were going or went to university. It was une grande soirée (big party). He and the boys and some of the girls helped cook. They made a salad, Ratatouille(! Just like the movie! Except it looked different) and then barbecued meat. True to French form we had an apéritif before the main meal - some hummus and bread. Then a salad. Then Ratatouille. And then the barbecue. It was good. Neither the salad nor Ratatouille were something that I loved but they tasted good. The Ratatouille was made in the traditional style, in a big pot with lots of vegetable dumped in and stewed for a while. The salad was spinach leaf with tuna and tomatoes and other salad-y things, so it was alright. Mostly I was glad that I made it through my first super French at-home-meal! I ate everything which was a success for me. That day and the next were holidays for the French so there was a lot of drinking going on. They had whiskey, vodka, wine, champagne and beer. But don't worry, the French don't drink in excess like Americans so they never really got drunk - plus they were splitting all that alcohol between nearly 15 people, even if it was a lot. I thought that there was some good conversation and I even got a chance to really practice my skills. Unfortunately, it kind of overwhelmed my French abilities since I can't understand people who don't talk right to me, so typically I couldn't understand most of the conversations going on between other people. But that was alright for me, just try to fly under the radar, hopefully improve by listening. It was fun. By about midnight I was ready for bed and so I a fait des bisous (gave the cheek kiss) like I had learned earlier that day when meeting everyone, to whoever was left. Overall, a long day but a very fun one. I love the new house and the family is incredibly nice - it's more than I could have hoped for!
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