Life in France

Bonjour mes amis!

Just thought I'd update you en la vie en Paris! This might take a few entries b/c there's a lot to say!

How about a family portrait first... Parents Bernard & Nathalie, kids Mathieu (17), Sebastien (16), Domitile (14) and Guillaume (13). They live in a Parisien suburb in a gorgeous house, I have my own bedroom and bathroom! The family is SO SO SO NICE, words cannot describe, and I'm just very happy here! The whole family is very athletic and musical, Mathieu & Seb go tandem-mountain-biking every day, Domitile just got back from an intensive sailing program on the west coast of France, and Guillaume is also sailing somewhere... and they all play at least 2 instruments and sing. It's kinda insane! Oh and the dad is sailing across the Atlantic in a month, just for fun... yeah. Moving on before I make you all feel any worse about yourselves :) haha

My daily life: well I'm taking French classes, intermediate level, but I think I'll switch to advanced because intermediate isn't really challenging me at all... anyways I have class Tue-Fri 8:30-12:30 which is good because then I have the afternoons to do whatever I want, but bad because I have to get up painfully early. I leave the house at about 7:20, walk twenty minutes and catch the 7:45 train to Paris which takes 15 minutes then 15 minutes on the metro then another 5 minutes on a different line, then a 5-10 minute walk. I usually JUST make it, but the french are always late so our prof is never there anyways. After class, depending on my energy level, I go out to lunch/sightsee etc. with kids from my classes, go on organized tours/outings with the language school, or just wander around solo, or just come back to the house and chill here with the kids (who are on school holidays this week). I get free admission to just about all the museums b/c I'm under 18 which is AWESOME and discounts on almost everything else...

It is FREEEEEEZZZZINGGGG here at the moment, and I mean literally freezing. It's usually about 1-2 degrees when I walk to the train station in the morning, which actually helps me because I walk VERY fast/run to keep warm. Oh and yesterday it snowed! At 3 in the afternoon... it was insane! It got cold very quickly here, and everyone keeps saying how strange it is for it to be this cold at the end of october... 

Some cultural differences: 

food is obviously the biggest and BEST difference, thank god I walk so much otherwise I would have gained a ton of weight by now... with all the tempting boulangeries and patisseries etc.! I actually don't eat out that much expect for lunch some days because it's just so expensive so I try to bring food from home, but I may eat an occasional pain au chocolat after class somedays :)

mealtimes: we don't eat until 8:30 which is new for me... meals are very slow, lots of conversation, multiple courses, so salad or vegetables first, then meat and potatoes/rice/pasta, then cheese & dessert. I actually really like it b/c I'm a VERY fast eater so it's helping me to slow down a little haha... Nathalie is a great cook and I love everything she's made so far! I've also been helping her a little so I can acquire some new recipes!

transportation: i'm obviously speaking to the americans now, not the europeans haha... I have now MASTERED the Paris metro system and suburban train system, I know the different lines and directions and timing and how to get a good seat and which end of the platform to stand on, and I'm also a pro at sprinting through the station and elbowing past people and throwing myself up/down escalators and stairs to arrive on the platform just in time to squeeze into the train as the doors close, very satisfying haha. But my morning trip is INSANE, I mean I've seen car-rush-hours before but never a true people-rush-hour. The trains get so full that about half the people standing on the platform don't even get into the trains and we're all smushed in and it's just like one big race basically. We all have our different shortcuts through the station and ticket turnstiles that are faster than others etc. haha I just laugh sometimes watching people walk through the station like they're on some kind of CIA mission...

If anyone's looking for a movie recommendation: The Visitor. I went to see it last night with a girl from class, our cinema was right on the Champs-Elysees which is spectacular at night, and the movie was amazing! It was in English with French subtitles, and I tried to force myself to read the french but I just didn't have enough will-power haha. The movie's about a man who returns to his apartment in NYC after being away for a few months and he discovers a couple living in his apartment, they're illegal immigrants from Syria and Senegal who got keys from a friend who is in the "find-empty-apartments-for-immigrants-to-live-in" business... the story unfolds as the main character decides to let the couple stay and they become incredibly good friends and basically put some meaning back into this guys life. Then... dun dun dunnn, the glorious USA immigration office intervenes in their happiness and it all goes downhill from there, but that's all I'm saying, you have to see it yourself! It's an incredible portrait of the life of an immigrant and how badly the immigration system in America needs reform. 

ok I'll save the rest of my update for a new post over the weekend.... I'm off to Versailles tomorrow with an au pair I met yesterday!

'a toute' as the kids say.

rach xx

Paris, partie deux

Bonjour!

Paris part 2 has begun, I am once again without my family. But, this afternoon I will be adopted into a new family in a Parisien suburb. This family is absolutely wonderful (I met them yesterday), 4 kids ages 11-17. Basically, I get free food and accommodation and they get free english lessons. Parfait!

The past 5 days in Paris with my family have been amazing. I adore speaking french and have received a few compliments on my french too which is the best feeling in the world because Parisiens are known for their stuck-up attitudes towards foreigners. Last night I went out to get an icecream from the most amazing gelateria around the corner and charmed my way into getting a large icecream instead of a small because of my beautiful french and perhaps a little bit of charm... haha. All in the name of good food, of course.

I am slightly concerned about my trip into Paris everyday for french classes, I'll be getting up much earlier than I have been recently and walking 20 minutes to the train station then getting a 15 minute train into Paris then the metro then another short walk to class... haha it'll help me get rid of all the pain-au-chocolats I've been eating :) I am really really really hoping there will be some people close to my age in my classes! I'm ready to meet some people and have some fun, living the life of a french student! England was great being completely by myself for a month, but it was lonely and I don't want to do the same thing here. So I'm going to use my very best skills learned from countless Open Houses and New Student Orientations at school, oh and moving schools 4 times. 

Yesterday morning (Saturday) I woke up and looked out my window and felt like I was in a different city... why you ask? Well, everyday other day I've been here (weekdays), everyone wears black all the time, all occasions, everywhere, it's just a sea of black. Yesterday, the weekend arrived and suddenly everyone was wearing color haha it was so weird! Jeans and bright coats and funny hats, I mean they might have been the tourists coming in for the day, but it was still very different regardless. 

Tonight, at this new home I am in, there's a "soiree de dance" which basically means "dance party" in the basement. I didn't quite understand everything but I believe that a lot of kids friends are all coming over for a party, but I don't know if it's like the 11 year olds friends or the 17 year olds friends... haha could be interesting. And I'm looking forward to the music selection, most likely insane french techno, woooooooo!

Ok well I'm off to post some postcards and get the metro to where my classes will start tomorrow just to double check I know how to get there, then I'm public-transporting off to my new home!

Au revoir, vous me manquez beaucoup!

rachelle xx

Oh la la! Paris!

Bonjour mes amis, je suis en Paris, la ville d'amour et des lumieres!

After getting back to the Netherlands on Friday night, I had 3 days to unpack and clear my head before the next adventure... Me, my parents, the boys, and mum's sister and neice from NZ all jumped on the Thalys highspeed train and arrived in Paris yesterday! We are here until Sunday, at which point everyone but me leaves and I stay on for a few more weeks, living with a french family and taking french classes!

Last night we walked around the Latin Quarter and admired all the amazing shops, had dinner at a tiny restaurant, and icecream from an amazing gelateria, not french, but worth it! Then we wandered back to our apartment on Ile de la Cite via Notre Dame which looks absolutely incredible lit up at night. Our apartment is a dream, high plaster sculpted ceilings, amazing tiles in the all the bathrooms, a huge amount of space considering there's 7 of us, and an absolutely ridiculous location overlooking the river seine with balconies in all the bedrooms. I'M IN HEAVENNNNNNNN :) Today we walked a couple hundred meters to Notre Dame and walked around inside but were unable to climb the towers because of a requiem service, then we bought one of those 2 day passes for a hop on/hop off tour bus that stops at all the major sights and headed for La Tour Eiffel! I had my little headphones plugged into the audio tour thing on the bus, and listened to it all in French. I can't say I understood all the information, but good practice nonetheless. We went up the Eiffel Tower, all the way to the top, which was even more amazing than I remembered. The sky was surprisingly clear and we could see all the way to Sacre Coeur no problem (see my pictures @ www.picasaweb.google.com/rachtait)! 

Afterwards, we jumped back on the bus and got off at L'Hotel des Invalides for some lunch (it was three o'clock by then). I had an amazing Omlette Mixte, which was a ham and cheese omlette with fries and salade, then went to le Musee Rodin which I wasn't so keen on at first but it was absolutely amazing. I'm definitely much more of a sculpture person than a painting person. It was just so ridiculous to see this things casted from bronze and copper, and sculpted from plaster and marble and jade! Some absolutely huge pieces were made from a single block of material. And you can't exactly mark the block with the final design because it's 3D. And the gardens surrounding the museum were filled with his sculptures too and gorgeous roses and trees. It was so picturesque! 

We all jumped back on the bus and walked back to the apartment then mum, dad, and paul went out to see the opera, Rigoletto, a l'Opera Bastille and the other four of us stayed in and watched the Da Vince Code in preparation for tomorrow's trip to the Louvre. 

I just cannot put into words how much I love being in Paris and the atmosphere of this city and the energy, but it's not completely crazy and fast-paced all the time, there are bridges and river walks and huge gardens everywhere. It's such an amazing balance. And speaking the most beautiful language in the world in one of the most beautiful cities... what more can I ask?

So to sum up, after not wanting to pack my suitcase 2 days ago because I thought I was sick of traveling and living out of a suitcase and sightseeing, there's not another place in the world I would rather be right now! And it's so nice having the family here too, because being by yourself can get pretty lonely. Although, I HATE how difficult it is for the 7 of us to make decisions, we spend about 15 minutes choosing a place to eat, and when you're by yourself it takes about 30 seconds.

Bon, c'est onze heure et demie donc il faut que tout je me couche! Dormez-vous bien :-)

rachelle xx

Back in the Netherlands... pictures are up!!!!

http://picasaweb.google.com/rachtait

I'm back home again in the Netherlands which is FANTASTIC :) I missed my family so much!!

This also means I have my camera cable back and have transfered hundreds of pics... you can see them @ the website above. That album only covers some time in London, Canterbury, Whitstable, Dover, and Edinburgh. 

The next album will be just Lake District because I have sooooooooooo many pictures of my hike.

Then Leeds, Yarm, Bristol, Bath, and back to London.

So it all should be up in the next few days! Enjoyyyyyyyyyyyyy :)

Yarm. Bristol. Bath. London.

This is gonna be a challenge... 9 days worth of recounting. Here goes:

Sooo I left you on Monday the day before I went to Yarm. Yarm was amazing, very bittersweet. Stayed with our old friends the Harrisons and being in their house was like a time capsule it was amazing! I remembered so much of it, the art on the walls, where things were in the kitchen, the garden etc. It was a very strange feeling because we knew a huge number of people over the ten years, yet very few people knew I was back. I just felt so incognito if you know what I mean. I looked like a tourist, and I was essentially, yet I have so much history there and know a lot about the place still.

I visited our old house and the new owners very kindly invited me in and let me have a cup of tea and a tour... the basic layout is the same but they changed all the GORGEOUS flowery and stripey wallpaper, huge loss! haha :) As I walked into each room, I had vivid flashbacks of how it used to look and particular occasions like birthday parties and christmas dinners in the rooms. Very strange...

I also got to see 5 old friends, who were really my absolute best friends in elementary school: Sammie, Emer, Vicky, Rach, and Bizzy. It was cool because none of them are incredibly close anymore yet they all go to same school still (have their whole lives) so there's a pretty deep bond and it was really nice being all back together again. And characteristics of us then remain to this day which was BIZARRE. The loud one was still loud, the stylish one was still stilish, the rebellious one was still a rebel, the quiet one was still quiet. It was so interesting!!

Apart from those two key visits I just wandered around really which sounds boring but it was comforting being back and seeing the old shops I used to go into and the new ones that I've never seen before, and walking past houses where we used to know people. You can't help but imagine what life would have been like if we'd stayed there... I would have one more year of school then be going off to an English university and would, most likely, have different friends and some sort of job. We can never really know for sure what was better or worse, but after going back I'm very happy that I got to see other places, live other places, and meet other people. There's definitely a huge part of our 'family soul', if you can call it that, in Yarm because I mean 10 years is a long time!! More than half my life!! It truly embodies my childhood, and it's important not to forget a place like that...

After Yarm it was back to London for a night then off to Bristol to see the Monks for 3 nights. All really well and very busy. Elise (dad's goddaughter) and Chris share their birthday which was on Monday, so Elise had a party on Saturday with 18 other energetic eight-year-olds. So I was happy to entertain and supervise for a few hours... then Sunday we went to Daniel's football game and on a little sightseeing tour of Bristol. I saw the flat where Aunt Clare & Uncle Tim lived, and the flat where my Dad lived with Stuart and mum for a while as well... it was weird because Bristol is really where all those friendships got cemented, our circle of English family friends, the Monks, Taits, Greens, Calders & others, it's where it all started over 20 years ago!! Very inspiring that those friendships are still going strong today :) And great for me too, free accomodation haha!#

Had coffee on Monday morning with some of Chris's friends which was hilarious because one of them had just got back from a singing holiday in a convent near Verona and had the most horrifying travel experience, getting no sleep the night before leaving, losing her phone at the airport, almost missing her plane, getting on the wrong train, missing her stop, then being asked to pay a 50 euro fine for having an incorrect ticket (she'd found the right train at this point), refusing to pay the fine, and being escorted from the train by Italian policemen. Oh, and not speaking any Italian of course. Instead of feeling bad (which we did a little), we were all in stitches because the way she told the story was HILARIOUS.

After that I got on a train to Bath, about 15 minutes from Bristol, and looked around the incredible Roman city. Visited the Roman baths which are (you guessed it!) 2000 years old which is, if I may quote Mr. P, "mind-boggling". The whole city is just so beautiful, and really goes beyond the medieval feel of a lot of towns I've visited. This might sound bad, but it was also an interesting break from the christianity aspect of history in so many cities... instead of cathedrals full of crucifixes etc. there were temples full of statues of Roman gods and other figures of mythology, very interesting...

Monday night I got back to London and have been here ever since. I've had an amazing time with G&G who have just been so kind and more than generous while I've been staying with them. I'm recovering from a pretty bad cold so haven't been doing too much here, but we've walked around which is gorgeous at the moment because all the leaves are changing colors and falling. Admitedly not as beautiful as Virginia, but still nice :) Today, we went off to Peter Jones and Granny got, drumroll please, an iPod!! So now I'm in charge of setting it up and giving tutorials etc...

Tonight Granny & I are going to see French & Saunders LIVE ON THEIR LAST TOUR EVER!!! I'm beyond excited, my family bonded watching Dawn French in the Vicar of Dibley and own a substantial DVD collection. What a way to finish up a UK tour, with the ultimate in British comedy! Tomorrow, if I haven't died from laughing, I'm visiting Exeter University. Yes, the big day has arrived, the ultimate reason for this trip to England is this big visit. I was about to say I have mixed feelings, but to be honest I'm not sure that I have any feelings at all. I'm going in open-minded and I think that's about all I can do. I know so little about the uni that it's just educating myself really... expect a full report over the weekend.

Friday I go back to Wassenaar I cannot believe it's time already!! But I'm VERY VERY VERY VERY EXCITED to see M&D and C&P and to have more than 2 pairs of jeans and 5 shirts to choose from every morning!!!!!!!!! Haha shallow, I know. Four days in Wassenaar then I'll repack my bag (blahhhh) and we're all off to Paris for 6 days (yayyyyyyyyy)! I'll let you know the plans after that in the next entry...

You can hopefully fingers crossed expect pictures of the past month this weekend or next week, once I have access to my computer! Prepare yourself, I've taken about 600, but I'll try and narrow them down a little before uploading them.

I'm having an amazing time on this year of adventure and hope you all are having fun wherever in the world you are!

rach xx

Edinburgh. Lake District. Leeds.

ok prepare yourselves because I have a lot to catch up on aka 8 days!

last monday I left for Edinburgh, it was about four hours on the train but a GORGEOUS journey winding through areas that I used to live in, along the coast and through the hills. In Newcastle the driver announced that the windshield was cracked, how that happened I have no clue, so we changed trains which was essentially a mad race of hundreds of people around Newcastle station trying to find another train to get on. Can you picture me sprinting up and down escalators with my backpack on?? :) Eventually found a new train but luggage storage on trains is AWFUL! I was ok b/c my backpack isn't that big, but there was this old couple who were trying to find space for their suitcases and the woman was just sitting down bossing her poor husband around, and yelling so that everyone could here. Then the other people in the carriage started yelling that he was trying his best and helping him, it was actually quite funny because they were essentially telling this old naggy lady to shut up.

Got to Edinburgh and it was raining, of course. I stayed in the Edinburgh Backpackers Hostel which was much bigger than the Canterbury Hostel; not as welcoming but tons of people so I didn't really feel lonely. I had one roomate who was from Norway and seriously looked like she was one of those elves from Lord of the Rings, long hair pinned back with fancy clips, long skirt, big flowy blouse and she comes from the northern part of Norway where there's 24 hour light in the summer and 24 hour darkness in the winter, sounded FASCINATING! Other roomate was Adrian from Mexico, who was planning on going on a haunted walk that night and I really wanted to go on one, but not by myself, so we went together and it was SO SCARY. Of course it's just my luck to end up in a 4 person group and the other two people were a couple who were really strong believers in the paranormal and ghosts and stuff. Every time we walked into one of the underground haunted chambers in the vaults, he would say something like "I feel a bad presence in this room, everyone be carefullllllllllll". He was a freak essentially and didn't help the fact that my heart was either beating a million miles a minute or not at all the entire time.

The next day (Tuesday) I walked up the Royal Mile to Edinburgh Castle in the POURING rain only to find that I had to pay £12 to get in because there are no student discounts, so annoying!! The castle was very cool although I prefered Dover Castle, probably because it was a freezing sleet gale in Edinburgh that morning. Then I walked all the way down the Royal Mile past a million stores selling kilts and bagpipes and your clan's tartan and heritage and other tempting tourist things, to a museum called 'Our Dynamic Earth'. It was all about the origin of the earth and life and current issues in the world to do with the environment and population etc. It was really well done actually, very interactive with a 'time-machine' concept that took you back to the Big Bang and volcanoes and glaciers and continental formations etc. And there were only about 3 other people so I got to press all the buttons and pretend I was 5 years old it was awesome :) At the end there was an exhibit of aerial photographs of different cities and areas around the world, showing population variations and what urbanization is doing etc. etc. Made me very nostalgic about my biology class last year!! THEN I went to Holyrood Palace, the residence of the Royal Family when they're in Scotland. Absolutely amazing inside, carved ceilings and gorgeous tapestries and portraits. It was especially interesting because Mary Queen of Scots (who I wrote one of my IB papers on last year) spent a bit of her life there and it's where James I/VI was born and also where David Rizzio was murdered, you can see the blood stain and everything it's CRAZY.

As I was walking around I was having flashbacks to coming to Edinburgh on a school trip with Teesside High Girls School when I was ten. I was only at that school for a year, and I don't keep in touch with any of them anymore which is quite sad, but it's amazing what you can remember from 7 years ago and all the places you end up in life...

Ok so that finished up that day, went to bed early b/c I went hiking on Wednesday morning to watch the sunrise from Arthur's Seat which is like a hill/cliff thing right next to the city, AMAZING views but FREEEEZZZZINGGGGG cold and super windy. I felt a little stupid in my hiking boots though because it was a steady grassy slopes all the way up and took me about 30 minutes to climb. I saw tons of true Edinburgh residents who climb it in the AM just to walk their dog or for their morning jog. Seriously, I saw 3 runners who were running up the mountain and along the cliff-face as part of their morning jog, haha lovely... It was amazing how peaceful it was up there though, you were right over Edinburgh but you felt completely detached from the noise and people and traffic.

After my hike I got the train to the Lake District (Edinburgh to Oxenholme to Windermere then a bus to Grasmere). Grasmere is literally two streets surrounded by a lake and mountains it was GORGEOUS! The hostel I stayed at was so nice, wayyyyyyy nicer than the Eburgh one. I was exhausted from going and going non-stop in Edinburgh, so I just relaxed my first night, I walked around Grasmere and bought some pasta and chicken to cook my dinner then curled up by the hostel fireplace with my book looking at the window at the mountains... bliss :)

Ok what day are we up to now?? Thursday. Woke up and ate breakfast in the hostel (and stole toast, sausage, cheese and an apple from the breakfast bar for my lunch... impressive right??). I asked at reception for a good hike that would take up most of my day with some good uphills and nice views, then I left the hostel at about 10. The first part of the hike was nice and easy, up to Easedale Tarn, there was a small stream flowing into it from farther uphill and a beautiful waterfall from it going downhill. Then I crossed over the top of the waterfull which was SO SCARY and luckily my feet didn't get too wet... Then I hit the slightly more complex path, thank god I had a map otherwise I would have gotten so lost b/c the path was nonexistent for quite a bit of the time. So it was very intense uphills and bogs for a couple of hours, through rain showers and sunshine to the top of a series of ridges. There was a gorgeous tiny lake set on top one of the mountains and I took my lunch break here, yuummmmm cold toast and sausage and cheese in the rain :) Then I walked along the ridges which was a series of ups and downs over various peaks and this is where I got kind of sick of walking... haha about 4 hours in. It was mainly because of the stupid path which went through knee deep mud and along sheet rock which was very slippery with the rain, then a couple of times it just disappeared completely haha.

So 7 hours later I made it back to the hostel, freezing covered, covered literally head-to-toe in mud, and starving! So I cooked the rest of my pasta and scrounged some sausage and tomato from other hostellers for my gourmet meal... then I didn't move for the rest of the night because my legs were so sore haha.

Ok now it's Friday, and off to Leeds!! I was really sad to leave Grasmere. I really wanted to stay longer, unlike almost all the other places I've been. There's just SO MUCH to see & do.
Bus to Windermere, train to Lancaster, train to Leeds. Met a really nice New Zealand woman on the first train who's going to Turkey for two weeks on vacation but who lives in London now. I was talking about working in Aunt Phyll's vineyard in March & April and she was gobsmacked to hear that she owns AtaRangi because she's obsessed with their wine, I always forget how famous it is...

Got to Leeds and the Calder's (Clare the mum is my godmother and Stuart the dad has known my dad for over 20 years and they have four kids) fantastic house. Instantly felt at home :) And basically I just spent the weekend going to their sporting events and hanging out with them which has been so nice. Yesterday Cosima (eldest daughter) and I got the train to York for a few hours just to see the Minster etc. We actually spent most of our time in sweet shops, fudge shops, and tearooms (does that surprise anyone??)...

Today I went into Leeds and tried to go to the new Leeds Museum but it's closed on Mondays (just my luck) so I just walked around for a couple of hours and looked in shops etc... it's so easy to resist buying stuff when you know you have to carry all of your possessions around on your back!! Tomorrow I'm off to Yarm where I lived for the first ten years of my life and I've only been back once since we moved so it's going to be VERY VERY weird!! I'm staying with our good friends the Harrissons and have a long list of people and places to visit, including old friends and houses and schools and cafes :) I wonder how much of it has changed...

Ok well I'm sure you've all fallen asleep by now with how long this post was, so I'll love you and leave you!!

Missing everyone but still having a great time!

rach xx