Aprés la Pluie, le Beau Temps

A lot of sad things happened last week- I ran out of my favorite body wash, I got stung (twice) by a wasp while riding the tallest roller coaster in Europe, and, to top it all off, it's been raining. Great.
But lately... I've been thinking a lot about this French proverb, the proverb I decided to use as the title for this blog post (THANK YOU MS BARBER FOR TEACHING IT TO US). The literal translation is "After the rain, good weather." Which could figuratively mean, you have to go through tough times to get through to the good times. I think this applies SO MUCH to every exchange student in one way or another. We all go through difficult or sad times- learning the language, the occasional pang of homesickness, making friends, making mistakes... but through all this hard work, we are going to have the best year of our lives- a year that will stick out in our memories forever.
These past few days have been amazing, and yet, incredibly sad at the same time. Who knew such contrasting emotions could occur at exactly the same time? Anyway, on Wednesday, I went to a Brasserie with a few of my friends from CLA. It took us about 30 minutes to search downtown for a restaurant that served dinner as early as 5:30 (I KNOW! Crazy right?). It was an insane amount of fun! I love how easily we all became friends. I remember the first day of class when I met Mana, Tomo, and Enrico, and how hard it was to speak to each other in a language so different from our own. And now, we may not be fluent, but I really think we've improved! We can (more) easily associate with waiters (it's harder than one would think!), and we can have a conversation without constantly asking to repeat what the other said or ask for the meaning of a word. Learning French is a slow and painful process, but I'm definitely getting better!

Tote, Tomoyuki, and Enrico :)

Anyway, back to Wednesday. I had the most AMAZING steak ever... with (GASP) FRENCH FRIES. "French Rare" steak (basically they put it on for like 5 minutes and it is done) is actually REALLY GOOD. It's so juicy that marinade is almost unnecessary! Loved it. Then, after our fantastic meal, the guys-Enrico, Tote (a really awesome Thai person who lives in thesame host family as Tomo), David, and Tomo, all walked Mana and me to the bus stop. It was so sweet- they waited the whole 30 minutes it took for our buses to come, in the pouring rain, after dark. It was so incredible being able to make such amazing friends after such a short time here. I'm planning on visiting Enrico and Tomo on Wednesday (I have a HALF DAY every week! SCORE!), but it's still going to be so sad without Mana there (she is going back to Japan after a week in Paris). We spent so much time together after school- going to cafés and patisseries and, yes, practicing our French. I hope that I make more friends at the high school, too, as amazing as my CLA friends are!

I had this amazing idea a few days ago. My sketchbook was completely empty, so I decided to use it as a way my friends could write a little message inside so I could remember each of them after exchange (even though I'm sure I'll remember them all anyway). Enrico wrote me the sweetest poem IN ITALIAN! It made me tear up just a little bit...

TRANSLATION:
 Like the swallows have migrated
you fly from world to world
this trip is fruitful
for you, for those you love

be careful while walking
the flame is never extinguished
there is color in your day
in your heart there is love

cheep cheep the Swallows always sing
but your songs are the most beautiful
a new friend, Voila!
I hope one day we will meet again!

I'm going to miss them so much! However, like my host dad said (in French), "you can't fall every time you take a step. You have to keep walking or you won't experience everything." I loved that. It's like this song that I've had stuck in my head this week: "may your past be the sound of your feet upon the ground, carry on". I can't wait to see more things, meet more people, and live my life in the shoes of a French person. This journey is fantastic, and it is only going to get better. There may be rain and tough times, but after the rain, there will always be good weather ahead.

The tallest roller coaster in Europe! The first drop is all the way on the right (this shot was taken from the parking lot)

Looking French Already!

"Aprés la pluie, le beau temps"

Random things:
-Riz Pilaf: do we have that in America?
-their standard pillows are square shaped.
-Pharmacies are as abundant as Starbucks in NYC
-They DO sell jeans with holes in them at your average store!
-It is polite to have both hands on the table while eating.
-They listen to English music here!
-Buses are used by EVERYBODY, not just bums. It's actually looked upon as a good thing- saving gas, etc. Plus, there are no school buses here so all the kids use the bus to go to school
-Figs are SO GOOD. Seriously.
-There are NO SUVs here... there are mini vans and tractor trailers, but no SUVs...
-Their cop cars look like ambulances. They make a different sound too, that is SO HORRIBLY ANNOYING.