OK! Finally updating my blog again! These last couple of weeks have been really interesting for me. I'm now officially in the "groove" of normal life in France. I am also comfortable with my host family and all of my new friends at school. The weeks consist of a lot of school, so i don't get to do much, so i save all of my activities for the weekends. The school system makes it very difficult to change classes around, so trying to take a few different courses is next to impossible, but i have now signed up for my second optional sport, escalade.
Thinking on the more positive side, i do have my weekends to look forward to! Now that most of the other exchange students are nice and relaxed with their host families, it's easier to negotiate and plan dates for get-togethers at large cities or going to parties. The weekend before last i had a couple of the exchange students come over the chez moi and spend the night, which was nice to fraternize and relax. This last weekend however, i went golfing with some of the exchange students, and stayed at the houses of the two exchange students who came over the weekend before that. There were only five students there, but still a great time for practicing a little golf.
As for school and my progress in the language, there are definitely up and down days, but there is an increasingly visible change and progression of my proficiency in the language. My "possy" of French friends are really nice and mellow, and just so happen to be the coolest group in my high school! Though some subjects are lost in translation, there is still lots of successful communication between my friends and I. After about 2 months being here, when i speak English too much French words start to slip out, and i think, more simple topics, in french often. I don't have much of a problem with the accent, and i feel as though i can speak more relaxed french now as i don't try so hard to formulate sentences anymore. Though that all sounds good, there is still much more to accomplish and many more milestones to be reached, like writing one of my blogs in all French!
The biggest problem for me at the moment would be the restrictions rotary has put onto travel, which has made it difficult to go to different large cities, but a fix seems in order in the near future. Speaking over the near future, i am throwing a little soiree at my house the first Saturday of the vacation, and i got a half and half mixture of exchange students and my French friends. If this is being read in Mrs. Schwaner's class, my key advice to the students for the fastest possible way to mastering French is sleeping in class.
