At the beginning of this vacation I went on a three day long Christian youth retreat with my two host sisters. I am a Cashew, (Half Christian, Half Jewish...It doesn't really work when written out--but you get the point). So I explored my Christian side as my twin got to connect with her Jewish heritage by visiting the concentration camp, Auschwitz, in Poland. I think it's best to leave it at that we had very polar opposite weekends.
I came back from this Christian Youth Retreat just in time for Halloween. However, they don't celebrate Halloween in France and so I spent my night watching the "Les Indestructibles" better known as "The Incredibles" in the US. The Incredibles is my favorite movie (I'll admit it I've watched it probably a million times so I can practically recite the lines) and so I actually understood all of the French. The movie was hilarious because all of the voices were really high except for Mr. Incredible who had an extremely low voice.
Thursday, I left for Paris with my family. It was amazing! You can check out all of the photos I posted earlier. They're a bit repetitive because I couldn't choose which ones to delete. Paris was absolutely amazing. We stayed at my host-aunt's house. She lives in a suburb close to Paris and Versailles. She showed us around the city. It was really fun to explore Paris with my aunt because she knew the city well and the best times to visit certain attractions. Also, we found entrances to attractions that tourists don't know about! My favorite part was being able to talk to French while exploring Paris. It was exciting to be in Paris, but I found it better because I was speaking French! I didn't feel like just some wide-eyed tourist, (even though, let's be real, I was half the time). In addition to Paris we visited Versailles. The Château was absolutely gorgeous and HUGE! Again, you can take a peek at my photos. My favorite part was going up the Eiffel Tower. Normally I'm terrified of heights, but it was breathtaking to see Paris from on the second story. Overall, Paris was magnifique!
The rest of the week was filled with hanging out with friends and just relaxing. I watched two other
movies: "Intouchables" and "Brice de Nice". "Intouchables" is one of the best movies I've ever seen. I'll add the link to the trailer at the end of this post.
I would really recommend it! However, Brice de Nice had to be the worst movie I have ever seen. It was about a surfer who is severely stupid. It was just so bizarre. That or I just don't understand French humor.
I was excited to follow the US presidential election from France. I woke up at 4:00 AM on November 7th to find out the results. (Yay, Obama!) To celebrate Obama's victory some friends came over and we made crêpes.
(Wow. I just realized that this makes me look like I have one friend! Haha. There were actually six or seven of us, but I guess Karolina can represent the rest our friends. :)
My host family was following the election more closely than me. Everyone here is very interested in American politics and economics. It makes me feel even more American by how much I don't know about my own country let alone others. The other day my parents asked me about the voting system in America. I had to explain how the electoral college worked...in French. It was so difficult trying to explain.
During this break I visited Tours three times. The first time I went shopping with Elise. The second time we went to La patinoire (ice-skating rink). Mathilde used to do figure skating as a sport and so she showed off all of her tricks and jumps. I loved ice skating, but it made me a little sad. I realized how much the winter in Minnesota. The third time I returned to Tours was for a Christian rock concert. Those aren't exactly my thing, but my whole family was going and so I joined. The band is called "Glorious". You can check out their website:
It was nothing I expected. In the middle I turn around and behind me an 80 year old nun is crowd surfing! What?!?!?! I kid you not. I wish I hadn't forgotten to bring my camera. In short, it was an adventure...
Today was the last day of my two week long vacation. I finished off my final day by seeing the new James Bond movie, "SkyFall", with Kristine, (another exchange student from Norway). It was really good. However, it wasn't too scary because we were laughing the whole time at the voices in french. The timing of the dubbed voices were so incredibly off. The antagonist was so ridiculous looking that we couldn't take him seriously. Despite this, I recommend the movie. I have a feeling the original is better than in French.
Although I am not looking forward to sitting in class for hours tomorrow, I am excited to see everyone. I've enjoyed my two weeks of vacation and hopefully school was feel too long tomorrow.
À bientôt,
Becca
Voilà, the trailer to"Intouchables." Enjoy!
