Greg's French Foray

"But sooner or later, we find the end to everything. But life goes on"

2009-01-03T18:38:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone.
So today is Sunday and I leave France on Wednesday and I just wanted to do one last blog post before I no longer have the need to do one.
So it's been 1 year (almost to the day) since I left my comfy life in NZ to try something that I knew would be a life changing experience. As I left I wasn't really sure what to expect, although I had my hopes of how it would be. Looking back on it I dont know why I found the first weeks so hard but I can still recall the feelings I felt.
12 Months later, Here I am, sitting inside "My" house in France, thinking about coming back to NZ and leaving my comfy life I have created here. I have changed so much this year in ways not even I have figured out yet and I can tell now that its going to be a long process to get re-adjusted into my life in NZ.
This year has been absolutely amazing. I have done and seen things that have blown my mind, but the most important thing, the thing I am going to miss the most, is the people I have met. This year has truly been the life changing experience I thought it would be and I wouldn't change a thing about it.

I just also want to thank everyone for following my blog though out the year. I hope you have felt somewhat included in my "French Foray" and have enjoyed seeing the things I have seen and done this year.

See you all soon
Thanks Heaps
Greg

!!!!! PARIS !!!!!

2008-12-22T10:45:00.001-08:00

Hey Everyone,
Just got back from spending a weekend in Paris with my host family. It was good to finally get to see it after 11 months, especially as it was all lit up for Christmas. Anyway, the photos are pretty self-explanatory.

The Petit Palace and The Grand Palace

The Hotel de Ville

My dinner on Sat night. Cheese only.

The Place de la Conchorde

The Eiffel Tower

The Notre Dame

The Sacre Coeur

"Greve"-ing with the "Grenouilles" (Striking with the Frogs)

2008-12-09T08:28:00.000-08:00

Today was the day that I became truly French. Striking is pretty big a part of the culture in France and I'm glad I got to do it before I leave. Today at school most of the students went on strike because the government in France is changing around the Baccalaureate so that you can't take some subjects like History and Economics which all the students are really annoyed about, so instead of just living with it, most of the public schools all over France did whats called a "Blockus" which is pretty much where you put a bunch of rubbish bins, grills, etc. in front of the entrance of the school so the kids can't get it. Most of the schools only have 1 small door that leads out onto the street which is pretty easy to block up but our school has steps that lead up to 3 doors so it took us about an hour to block it all up. In that time some kids had gotten inside and, unfortunately for them, had to stay inside unil 5:30pm when the school day finishes. It was a pretty cool sight to see and something that I felt I really needed to experience.
(the photos are a bit smaller cause I took them on my phone).

This is what my school USUALLY looks like.
But Today.......

2008-10-26T16:58:00.000-07:00

Hey Everyone.

Sorry I have been so slow with my blog but my laptop has been out of action for the past two weeks, but its back up and running now so I thought it was about time I finally got onto my blog.

So after the holidays I changed host families to my 3rd and final host families. Its been going really good with them and I'm having an awesome time.

I have started school again. Im in 2nde again (The equivalent of 5th form) which isnt that bad. The only down point is that im with kids who are about 3 years younger than me. Its still good fun and school is a lot more interesting now I understand everything (My french improved HEAPS during the holidays).

2 weeks after school started I had a Rotary weekend to meet all the new students in my district. We have a bunch of new kids from Mexico, USA, Canada, Sweden and a bunch of other countries. Most of the weekend was spent explaining the rules and how to get things organised so I spent most of the time translating all the French into English which was really fun. I also have quite a few new students who live in Nantes so we catch up every now and then. In Nantes there are 2 Mexicans, 1 Canadian, 1 American, 1 Swede and a German. Its been good fun showing them around and pretending to be wise and experienced.

After the Rotary weekend I had two weeks of school before out next Rotary weekend, which was a trip to Mt St Michel, plus my parents were coming to visit. My parents arrived on the Friday afternoon before the trip so I took them on a little tour of my city. It was cool to show them around where I had been living for the past 9 months. It was interesting to see that they found it so beautiful because I dont see it like that anymore. Its where I live and its just become a part of everday. Having their fresh opinion made me love Nantes even more.
That night we had a dinner with my 3 host families and my parents which was kind of strange to have my real parents and the people who had pretending to be my parents in the same room although at the same time it was really cool.

The next morning we got up pretty early to go to Angers (A town nearby) to catch a bus, with the rest of my district, to Mt St Michel. When we arrived we had 30 mins to have a quick look around Mt St Michel then we got shown our cabins where we were staying for the weekend. There were about 4 districts there so I got some time to catch up with some friends who I hadnt seen since Eurotrip so that was really really cool. We all had lunch and then we went for a walk across to a big rock(We dont know why). You can only walk over at low tide and it was a bit muddy so it made for an interesting walk.

The next day we had a proper tour of Mt St Michel. We were supposed to have a look inside the church at the top but I didnt go. I figured that I have spent enough hours this year looking around churches. Once you've seen one, you've seen them all. It was quite interesting just looking around, although it is so touristy that it was annoying.
After the tour we had a final lunch and then had to say goodbye to everyone before we left. It was quite sad because it was our last Rotary weekend for the year so it was the last time I saw lots of my friends.

The Monday after the weekend I got up early with Mum and Dad and we took the train to go to Tours. We rented a car and spent the next 2 days looking around the Loire Valley region and going through all the important chateaus which was amazing and it was so cool to see my parents again and spend some time with them.

After seeing my parents I have just been going to school and spending time with the exchange students in Nantes, although I have been spending most of my time at home with my host family.
I haven't got much planned for the rest of the year. I have just started the holidays today so I have 2 weeks where I will just be hanging around Nantes and maybe organising some fun stuff with the other exchange students. e.g. Go-karting, laser strike etc.
Next holidays I am FINALLY going to get to visit Paris with my host family. Im sure it will be awesome and im really looking forward to it.

Other than that. Only a little more than 2 months until I come home. My French friends have started asking me the famous question that gets on the nerves of every exchange student. "Are you excited to be going home?". Truth is, no. It will be really cool to come home after a year and get back into the swing of normal life but i'm REALLY not looking forward to leaving.

Good luck to everyone for the exams.
See you all Soon.

2008-10-26T14:27:00.000-07:00

Mont St Michel

Mont St Michel

Mont St Michel

My friends Bek and Jas in the quicksand

The walk to the rock

Mont St Michel

The gardens of the Chateau Villandry

The Chateau Villandry

Chateau Villandry

The Chateau Azay-le-Rideau

The hotel we stayed in

The pathway to Chenonceau

Chenonceau

Chambord

Cheverny, The chateau from the Tintin comics.

Cheverny

And so, another summer comes to a close

2008-08-26T08:14:00.000-07:00

Hey Everyone.

Sorry I have been SO SO lazy with my blog lately, but it's the summer holidays (Well, that's my excuse anyway).
I have about 2 weeks to go until it's back to French school. It's not going to be easy after my 3 months of Summer holidays which started back in the beginning of June when it still felt like I had an eternity before I even had to think of coming home. Its hard to think that in less than 5 months (21 weeks) I will be back in NZ.

I have been having an AWESOME holiday. Since my last update I have been to the South of France, to Aix-en-Provence, Avignon and Marseille. I have also been to Sweden and Denmark which was a really cool trip. I don't have a lot of photos from my trip as it was more of a personal holiday for me to have a poke around Europe and catch up with some friends of mine who I haven't seen for 6 months or more. Having said that I do have photos so I will put up those which I do have.

During my trip I spent 2 weeks in Marseille and saw just about everything there is to see there. It is a nice town but its quite dirty as there isnt a lot of rain to keep it clean. It was a very interesting visit and I stayed with some friends of mine and it was really cool to see them.

During the two weeks in Marseille I popped up to Avignon for a day to see the SKC kids on the France Trip. It was really really cool to see them. Until then it was as though I had two lives. One in NZ and a completely separate one in France. Catching up with friends from home was a really bizzare experience as it was bringing something from one life to another but it was so cool to see them.

After my visit to Marseille I went to Paris and took my flight to Copenhagen (After being searched and having my luggage checked by the Police on the TGV). After arriving in Copenhagen I had to take a 3 hour train to Malmo in Sweden. All up it was 9 hours of travelling + 6 hours at Paris airport.

I had such an awesome time in Sweden. I stayed with a friend of mine who is doing her exchange in Sweden. She lives very close to Denmark so we went and explored Copenhagen for a day. Copenhagen is such an awesome city. Very different to all the other cities I have seen in Europe and one that I think I would definately want to return to later on.

After spending 4 days in Sweden I moved over to Denmark. I spent 2 weeks in Denmark and saw many of the towns there. Denmark looks a lot like NZ, in comparison to France which looks nothing like NZ.

The best part of my trip was staying with all my friends, getting to spend time with them and just having fun while getting to see some really cool countries.

Now I am in Aix-en-Provence, staying with a friend of mine until the end of August when I will be returning to Nantes to restart school. I am really looking foward to getting back as I will get to see all the new exchange students who have just arrived from the USA, Canada and Mexico.

So, with only 21 weeks to make the most of I will be keeping myself busy (I hope) and having as much fun as possible before coming home in early January.

Holiday Wind Down (4.5 months to go)

2008-08-18T21:48:00.000-07:00

Just a picture of the street to show the difference between Nantes and the South of France

The main fountain in Aix-en-Provence

Aix-en-Provence by night

The house where I was staying

A really old hospital in Marseille

The old Major in Marseille

The old Major, from the front

I forget the name of this place but it was built by Napoleon for his wife. She only stayed in it 1 night because she didn't like it.

The church of Saint Laurent which dates back to 850AD

The Abbey Saint Victor which dates back to 315AD

Frioul

The Palais Longchapmps

The Old Port of Marseille

A sign in Sweden. It means "Final Sale" in Swedish, but it means something else in English.

My friend Alana (right) and her host sister Sophie having Ice-cream

Me and Sophie having Ice-cream

Copenhagen

Copenhagen

The rooftops of Copenhagen, In the distance you can see the bridge that goes to Sweden.

The rooftops of Copenhagen

The Canal in Copenhagen

The Royal Palace in Copenhagen

Christiania is a separate community that used to be removed from the E.U. You cant take photos inside because most the stuff that goes on in illegal.

A concert we went to of a local Danish pop band

Sky Mountain in Denmark. Its actually only 3m higher than the Nevis bungy in Queenstown.

The view from the highest point in Denmark

The Little Yellow house on the corner on the left hand side is the house where H.C. Andersen grew up. He is the man who wrote over 130 fairy tales including The Ugly Duckling and the Princess and the pea.

The view from a bridge in Frederecia, Denmark

A typical Danish street in a little village.

Eurotrip Photos

2008-06-29T19:51:00.001-07:00

Hey Everyone,

I have finally decided to put up some photos (some = 60) from my Eurotrip.
I don't think I'm going to do a day by day write up for this one because it will just take me song long and the truth is that most of the stuff I have written in my journal are all the in-jokes and things that only my friends here and I will understand or find funny. I hope the photos give you a good impression of just how awesome the trip was.
The countries we went to were:
France
Germany (Munich)
Austria (Innsbruck)
Italy (Verona + Venice)
Monaco
Then back to France

It really was the best 12 days of my life.

I'm leaving on a trip on the 7th of July and I don't get back until the 15th August so I wont be doing any updates until then. During my trip (Which I planned myself) I will be going to:

Aix-en-Provence (France)
Marseilles (France)
Avingon (France), where I hope to meet up with the SKC kids going on the France trip.
Kristianstad (Sweden)
Holstebro (Denmark)
Silkeborg (Denmark)
Frederecia (Denmark)
Then for the last week I am still deciding whether to spend it in Paris or Bordeaux in France.

I hope you enjoy the pics from my Eurotrip.

Eurotrip Photos

2008-06-29T18:05:00.000-07:00

busload of Southern-Hemispherians in front of the Eiffel Tower

Me & Victoria in front of the Eiffel Tower (Plus John who accidentally walked into our photo)

The Eiffel Tower

Notre Dame

The Louvre

Me & Itzel. She lives in Reims where we stayed overnight so I got to meet up with her to say goodbye before she left to return to Mexico.

Strasbourg

The Cathedral in Strasbourg. Probably one of the most impressive I've seen in France.

My Lunch. An Ice-cream sandwich. Yum.

Strasbourg boat tour.

Cool Graffiti in Munich

The Cathedral in Munich

Look what I found!!!!!

The Fountain at Linderhof Palace

Bek and Jasmine at Linderhof Palace

How it feels after standing in the rain for 45mins

The Fountain at Linderhof Palace

Sword fight at the Linderhof gift store.

This photo is probably a bit borderline but I love it none the less. These things were just on the side of the road in Innsbruck, Austria. We don't know what they were for but they make good photos, if you have the right/wrong mindset.

Me in Innsbruck

How do you pronounce this?

A famous building in Innsbruck. (Our tour guide had a bad accent and was hard to understand)

Another famous building

There were some girls in traditional dress getting photos taken for the UEFA cup so naturally, all 50 of us decided to jump in the photo as well.

The church in Innsbruck

Me and Sharron sharing a plastic raincoat

Some of the group in front of the coliseum in Verona.

Lloyd trying to speak Italian

Mmmmmm, Italian ice-cream.

The corridor in the Courtyard of Romeo and Juliet. Everyone writes love messages on the walls.

Me and Laura with the statue of Juliet. It's good luck to put your hand on her breast.

Some of the buildings in Verona

The main Piazza in Verona

Sharron and 5kg's of Nutella

The canals of Venice

A courtyard in Venice

The Grand Canal in Venice

Gondola ride

The Grand Canal

Buildings on the Grand Canal

Gondola's

Alex was catching pigeons mid-flight. He looks a bit crazy though.

Monaco, a country of 2km sq.

Monaco

The Palace at Monaco

Monaco

Me, Stefanie and Bash in Monaco

Drinking Monaco's in Monaco

A town by the Lac de Garde

Just playing around with our cameras on the beach at night.

The coast by Cassis in the South of France

The Notre Dame de la Garde in Marseille

This is going to sound sad but this is possibly the best meal I have had all year. So much for French cuisine.

The view from our hostel in Switzerland

The UN

Eurotrip = Les meilleurs douze jours de ma vie

2008-06-16T18:23:00.000-07:00

Hey Everyone.
I know you will all want to see the photos from my awesome Eurotrip but they take a long time to up load and i just simply dont have the time right now (its 3:30am right now and im tired) I just thought i would do a quick update to let you all know how it went.

Eurotrip is always said to be the best part of an exchange students year. To be honest i was a bit skeptic going into it (Being stuck on a bus for 12 days with a bunch of Aussies is hardly my idea of fun). But it turned out to not only be the best 12 days of my year, but they were the best 12 days of my entire life, hands down.

I had the most amazing trip and it was spent with the most amazing people. I really didnt want it to end.

I went to Paris, Reims, Strasbourg, Munich, Innsbruck, Verona, Venice, Monaco, Frejus, Marseille, Cassis, Lyon, Dijon and back to Paris. I was very sad at the end, just like everyone else and there were many tears shed by everyone we it came time to say goodbye. It is a very hard event to describe or share with others because there are so many things to tell but they are things that you really had to be there for as im sure you all understand.
The main thing is that it was a fantastic trip and im so glad to have had the opportunity to do it.
Keep your eyes peeled for photos and a new update about Eurotrip within the next few weeks.
Love you all
Greg

Now the hard part. Saying goodbye.

2008-05-28T15:34:00.000-07:00

Hey Everyone.

I have just recently passed my 4 month mark in France. 1/3 of the way there. I am happy but also sad. My exchange goes from January to January but the other students who come from Mexico, USA, Canada, Germany and Sweden do their exchange from July to July so they are all leaving soon.

Last weekend we had our last weekend together as a District. We didn't have anything planned for us to do so it was a lot of fun to just spend time together for one last time. During my first 4 months I have made so many new friends, most of them in my District, and it is really sad when I have to watch them leave.

I am doing some brief day trips over the next few weeks just to say goodbye to everyone I have met for the last time. Its not easy but its a very important thing to do. It is weird to describe the bond that we as exchange students share but it is something very special and almost beyond any normal friendship.

I don't know what it is that makes us all get on so well. I love everyone of my friends that I have made so far so much and that I am really going to miss them.

I have put up some photos of my friends from my district just so you can see my friends here. I haven't put up many photos of my friends so far but i had a chance to get a whole bunch over the weekend.

It might be difficult to get my blog updates done over the upcoming months as I am going to be quite busy so I will tell you what I am doing.

I have my Eurotrip starting on the 3rd June which lasts for 11days which are spent on a bus, gallivanting around Europe with about 3 NZers and 40 Australians. INTERESTING!!!
Then I go on a trip to the South of France (Where i will see some of the SKC kids going on the France trip), Sweden and Denmark.
Then I will hopefully have 2 Canadian friends of mine coming to visit. One is doing her exchange here and it will be the last time I see her. The other is coming from Canada, I haven't seen her for 5 years so I'm very excited for that.

So that is what I'm doing over the next 2 months.
Hope all you SKC kids have a great time at the Ball.

2008-05-28T14:52:00.000-07:00

Me and Paulina. The two NZers in District 1510

Me and Clare. Representing our countries. Believe it or not I'm friends with an Australian. She cant help being from Aussie though, its not her fault so we forgive her.

The inbounders of District 1510. The people who I'm going to miss the most

Matt and me. Matt is one of my best friends here.

Emily(USA)

Me and Hannah(USA).

Another photo of Hannah which probably gives a better view of her personality and why she is so much fun to hang out with.

Stephen(USA), me and Jesse(USA). We live in Nantes together along with Emily and Matt.

Me and Jesse. I'm actually on one knee for this photo. She isn't short, she's fun sized.

Clare (Australia), Emily(USA), and Paulina(NZ!!)

My very good friend Stephanie from Mexico. I am really proud of taking this photo.

Me and Stephanie with our Greenstone pieces. I gave her one as a farewell gift.

Stephanie trying Vegemite, I don't think she likes it.

My good friend Matt.

My Class

2008-05-18T08:08:00.000-07:00

These are some photos of my Class at school. I put both of them on because I didn't have 1 photo where you could see everyone.

My Swiss Adventure

2008-05-09T12:32:00.000-07:00

Day 1

Got up to get my train at 6am. I took the train to Lyon via Paris, which took about 5 hours and was very boring and rather uneventful. It was cool to think that it was the first time that I took the train to another country. I went from Lyon to Geneva, then from Geneva to Bern. I was picked up by my Mum's cousin Larryn and his daughter Oriana (My 2nd cousin once removed). They drove me to their house at Utzigen where they had a Mesmerizing view over the Alps, My bedroom had the best view in the house. I went up to the top of a hill after dinner and I could look in one direction and see France and look in another and see Italy. It was amazing.

Day 2
I went to Thun (pronounced Toon) which is situated on Lake Thun which is a beautiful lake with green water (From the Glacier). We only stayed for an hour or so but it was enough to give me a good idea of the town. We went for a walk along the lake with an ice-cream (Its summer here, YAY!!) and then took the boat back to the car park and went back to Utzigen.

Day3 (Today was 3 months since I left NZ, 1/4 of the way)
The weather wasn't very good on this day. Oriana took me on the train to see Bern. Its a very, very small city but it was very beautiful and I had a lot of fun looking around. We went to see the Bernese Bears, A well known tourist attraction. It was the first time I have ever seen a bear so close. It was amazing seeing them just sitting there trying to catch the food that people were throwing to them.

Day 4
Went to Neuchatel with Oriana. Its a very, very small town with not much to do. We got some lunch and ate next to the lake. I didn't take any good photos for my blog because there was nothing to take a photo of. It was a nice town but not much there. It was nice to just sit next to the lake and chill out for a day.

Day 5
Didn't do anything today. I went back to Bern for the night to go see a movie with Oriana and her friend Anina. The film was in English with French and German subtitles. It was strange traveling within Switzerland and hearing Swiss German in one part, then traveling 20 mins and being able to speak French with people.

Day 6
Stayed at Utzigen today

Day 7
Went back into Bern with Oriana to do some shopping. Bought a t-shirt. I was too scared to buy anything else, Switzerland is an expensive country.

Day 8
I woke up and got on a train to Fribourg to go stay with my friend Lea-Nina who was an exchange student in New Zealand last year. It was so great to see her again. She took me into town and we had an ice-cream. Lea had to go to a Scouts meeting (Scouts is actually cool in Switzerland) so I went with two other exchange students to play squash. After we finished playing we went to get a Kebab for dinner and then I went to a cafe to meet Lea-Nina and her friends. I had a really good night meeting everyone.

Day 9
Went into town so Lea-Nina could go to another scouts meeting. I walked around town and took the photos of Fridbourg (It was a Sunday, thats why there is no one there). We went back to Lea-Nina's house and then went to Montreux which is a town on the opposite side of Lake Geneva to Geneva city. It was an extremely beautiful city with views out over the lake with the Alps in the background. We sat down and had some Movenpick ice-cream. They had a dish called "New Zealand", it was vanilla ice-cream with Kiwifruit, WHERE IS THE HOKEY POKEY ICE-CREAM?!?!?!?!?! so i didn't order it.
We walked along the side of the lake and just had a good time. We then drove back to Fridbourg. We had Fondue for dinner. It was pretty good.

Day 10
I woke up early to say goodbye to Lea-Nina before she went to school. It was quite sad to be leaving. I spent the rest of the day on trains (Not fun). I had the 3 noisiest kids in existance sitting infront of me from Lyon to Paris. It was so annoying. I got back to Nantes at 10:30pm.

I had a fantastic time in Switzerland and I hope to see more of Europe during my summer break (South France[where i plan on seeing SKC kids on the Franc trip], Denmark and Sweden)

2008-05-09T10:32:00.000-07:00

This is the view from my Bedroom, and yes those are the Alps.

Me and Oriana in the Gallery of their beautiful house.

Yvonne, Oriana and Me

Oriana and Me at the "Local" Chateau.

SNOW!!!!!!!!

A cafe infront of the Alps in the beautiful town of Thun (Toon)

A 500 year old bridge in Thun

Larryn and Oriana infront of the hotel in Thun

Me and Oriana

The hotel in Thun

This photo is just to show the colour of the water. Its amazing when you think its a lake.

Me, Larryn and Oriana infront of the Alps.

The Chateau in Thun.

The main street of Bern

In Bern they have shops above and below ground.

The town clock. It has animals which come out when the hour turns over. All the cogs in the clock are made of wood. The man who made it had a bet that he could make it out of wood and they locked him in there until he had finished.

Looking over the outskirts of Bern

They have a Bear enclosure just on the outskirts of the town centre where you can go and feed the bears.

Now THAT is a Swiss Army Knife. Bit expensive though. $1169 NZ.

Looking out over Bern.

The main street of Fribourg

The old town center of Fribourg

Looking out over "old Fribourg"

The Park in Fribourg.

Me and Lea-Nina at Montreux.

Montreux.

Lea-Nina and her mum.

My Life In France (So Far)

2008-04-29T15:07:00.000-07:00

Host Family & Home Life

I just changed host families this last weekend. I’m really enjoying my new family. I have a host Mum and Dad, 2 host brothers (16 and 10) and a host sister (4), and a host dog. I don’t have set chores around the house but I just help with everyday things e.g. clean my room, set the table, do the dishes. We have dinner together and talk while watching the news.
My French is much better now. I can join in on the conversation during dinner and when I listen, I don’t have to translate back into English.

Water Polo

I have joined a Water Polo team since arriving in France. We have training 2 times a week for a total of 4.5 hours. The team plays a game about 1 or 2 times a month. I don’t get to play yet but I am hoping that I can later in the year. I have to get permission from the French Water Polo Federation first. I am just about the youngest in the team. The rest of the players are about 23 years old or more.

School

School in France is very different to SKC. I go to “Lycee Jules Verne”. It’s a public school. I have trouble getting used to the ever changing timetable. We start and finish at a different time each day. Some days I will only have 2 hours of class and other days I will have 8 hours of class, and that’s not counting lunch time.
Lunchtime at school is extremely different. In NZ we just chill out, maybe play some sport and just have some fun. Here we have to wait 25 minutes before we can go into the canteen, then everyone eats the lunch and leaves. Most of the kids I’m friends with go home for lunch anyway so I have to sit with total randoms some times.
After lunch I go into the city which is 2 minutes walk from school.
The classes here are very different. At SKC we do every topic within a subject each year. E.g. For maths we do Number, Stats, Algebra, Geometry etc, each year. This year my class is just doing Stats and Geometry for the entire year. They do very advanced maths and I don’t understand anything in the class.
The class room itself is very boring here. There is a black board, chairs and desks. That’s it! No posters on the walls (Which are plain white) so I have nothing to look at when I get bored in class.
School here is just for learning. You come to school, go to class and go home. No assemblies, no houses, no co-curricular activities. It’s so boring but I think I’m getting used to it and it really makes me appreciate SKC so much more than I already did.

Spare Time

I have quite a lot of spare time here as I don’t get any homework, yet. Nromally I go into town and meet up with some of the other exchange students who are in Nantes, I think there are about 7 in the greater Nantes area.
We always meet outside FNAC (Like Sounds, Dicks Smith, Electronics Boutique, and Whitcoulls all mashed into one store) at the “Place du Commerce” because it is the most central place in Nantes and easy to find.
Normally we just walk around town and have fun. Sometimes we wills stay out for dinner and go to a bar afterwards. We always have a lot of fun together.
Sometimes I have spare time during school so I go into town and have a look around. I usually buy something to eat from the boulangerie. The bread here is amazing. They also have a special kind of bread called Brioche which is like a mix between bread and cake, it’s delicious.

2008-04-29T13:49:00.000-07:00

Nantes is famous for the Machine Island. There is an Elephant and a giant girl too.

The Chateau in Nantes. Was the Chateau of Dutchess Anne of Bretagne.

The inside of the Chateau. This is the main building.

The Cathedral of Nantes. Just about every Cathedral you can find in Europe is under repairs for the busy Summer.

The inside of the Cathedral.

These are the other students in Nantes. Matt, Stephen and Emily (Left to Right).

A Japanese themed park. We hang out here sometimes.

This is inside the Tram.

This is Place Royale, that is already on this blog.

This is 'Commerce', the main stop for all the busses and Trams in Nantes. The Tramway in Nantes is the most widely used in France.

This is the 'Passage Pomeraye'. Famous in Nantes and has been a historical monument sice 1976.

This is Galaries Lafayette. Its like the clothing section of Farmers but it sells Ralph Lauren and all the expensive brands.

This is the great Gelato shop. Expensive but delicious. They have 28 different flavours of Hot Chocolate. Im up to 5. Trying to try all of them before the end of the year.

This is 'Piscine Gloriet' where I train for waterpolo.

This is the equivilant of a Dairy in France. This one is right next to my school.

The classrooms in France are so boring. Nothing on the walls

This is the class room aswel

Sometimes some of the other students come to Nantes. This is Me and Matt with Stephanie from Mexico.

2008-04-04T10:42:00.000-07:00

Sorry it took me so long to finally finish this update. I haven’t been at my host families house much over the past few weeks.

This is my update for the 2 week holiday break which was about 4 weeks ago now, so its really late and I’m really sorry.

Quiberon

When I got home from my Spain trip I was sitting doing my blog update when my host mum told be to pack my bag because we were going to the family holiday house at ‘Quiberon’. We arrived at 10pm so I had dinner and went to bed. The next day I went for a 2 hour tour of the area with my host brother, Edouard. We went for a bike ride along the coastline and looked at all the different beaches. Its different to NZ, but vaguely similar.Edouard also showed me around ‘his playground’ which is an old privately owned area which used to be used as an army training facility during WWII. Edouard and his friends spend a lot of time there during the summer. Apparently if you look in the bushes and dig a bit you can find old guns and ammunition from WWII. When I got back to the house after the tour I packed my bags and we went back to Nantes. It was a short trip but a lot of fun.

Saffre

For 4 days of the first week of the holidays I went to a region not far from Nantes called ‘Saffre’. I stayed with a Rotarian couple, they didn’t have any kids but I still had fun. The first day I arrived they (Joseph & Marie-France) took me to see the Maquis de Saffre, an old WWII memorial for some members of the French Resistance who died when there Farm House was ambushed by the Germans. We got to see the old, half destroyed Farm House which they used as a Head Quarters (HQ=PC in French).

On the Second day Joseph took me to Saint-Naziare, a Harbor city where the Queen Mary II was built (My host dads business supplied all the windows for the QMII). At Saint Nazaire I got to see the old Submarine base which is just about the only building in the city that survived WWII. The rest of the city was destroyed by American bombs. It was a good day, despite the weather.
On the way home I found out that if you order a ‘Schwepes’ in France it means Tonic Water, not Lemonade or any of the other fruit flavors they make. I’m not going to make that mistake again.

On the last day we went to see an old Chateau. It was called the Chateau de la Groulais. We couldn’t go inside but it was really cool to see a chateau. Later that day Joseph got me to show him how to put photos from his camera onto his computer. Now telling explaining how technology works to anyone over 50 is difficult, Its even harder in French, but I think I got the message across.

I didn’t do anything for the second week of the holidays. But the last weekend I went to Tours to see my friend Victoria, an exchange student from Australia (She can’t help where she’s from). The first night I arrived we went to see a movie. We saw “Charlie Wilsons War”, I was worried about wasting my money to see a movie I couldn’t understand, but it was in English, YAY!!!!
The second day we woke up at 10 and then went into town to meet up with 2 of the other students in Tours, Julia (USA) and Rowan (AUS). We went to a park and got told off for sitting on the grass. I miss that. You cant go on the grass in any of the parks here. We decided to go to a café instead, we sat there for ages. We went to the supermarket to get some food after that (Eating out is kind of expensive). I saw coke with coffee flavor so I bought that, It was really nice. We went to an Italian restaurant for dinner, it was quite good. We hung out in town for a while, until about 11pm. Julia came back to Victorias for the night aswel.
The next morning Victoria and I made a Pavlova for lunch. We had to say that it came from New Zealand and Australia (Even though we all know where it REALLY came from). I put some crunchie bars on the top so it was a more NZ pavlova than an Aussie Pavlova.

So that was my holidays. I have more holidays coming up in 2 weeks or so and Im going to Switzerland for 6 days. Im really excited.
We just had our Easter weekend (Called Paques in France). We went to the beach house and had a lunch with all the family.
This weekend im going to a Rotary conference with a whole bunch of other exchange students from all over France, Im really excited.
Just something funny. The other day I accidentally told my old as French teacher that she had a nice bum. If you say “beaucoup” (As in “Merci Beaucoup”) the wrong way it is Nice Bum. Now I just say “merci”.

2008-03-18T11:11:00.001-07:00

The Memorial at the "Maquis de Saffre"

The old destroyed Farm House that the French used as a PC (Head Quaters)

The Submarine base at Saint-Nazaire. Its the only building that survived WWII.

Not a very good photo. Its actually a submarine. I didnt get to see it up close though.

The Canal that goes from Nantes - Brest (I think)

2008-03-18T11:01:00.001-07:00

The "Chateau de Groulais" from the 1300's

The same Chateau, but in the sunlight (A rare occasion)

The courtyard infront of the chateau

A lock system for changing the water levels along the canal* that goes from Nantes (My town) to Brest.

*(Canal constructed by Napoleon)

My host families beach house at Quiberon.

2008-03-18T10:52:00.003-07:00

The beach at Portivy at Quiberon where my host family has their beach house.

Someone surfing. The waves are actually pretty good.

The beach or "La plage"

The beach, yet again. Everyone says "Oh, the beach here is just like New Zealand." I just nod a say yes because I know if I say "No" then I will have to explain the differences.

And the Beach again

2008-03-18T10:40:00.001-07:00

The old Military Training ground at Quiberon

An old sign post filled with bullet holes

An overview of the Training Ground

An old building that was used for testing bombs

The Beach at Quiberon. One of the Asterix movies was filmed along this coast line

The Spain Trip

2008-02-25T08:17:00.000-08:00

Hey Everyone,
I returned from my Spain Trip on the 18th February and I had the time of my life. I was on a bus for a week with 40 other exchange students as we travelled from Paris to Barcelona and back. It's amazing how you can get on a bus with 40 other people and have an almost immediate friendship. Spending time with the other exchange students is so much fun because we are all experiencing the same thing and they are the only group who understand what the exchange can be like.

Day 1 - Nantes, Paris & Futuroscope

I woke up at 6am to catch the TGV to Paris to begin the trip. The TGV only took 2.5 hours to get to Paris and i slept most of the way. We arrived in Paris and were picked up by the bus. We went for a brief tour on the bus before going to the Eiffel Tower. My first impressions of Paris were not that great but I think it's a city that must be explored to be appreciated.
We visited the Eiffel Tower which was very cool. It feels a lot higher than the Sky Tower just because its all outside. It was freezing at the top. The view from the top is good but not fantastic. You cant see very far, not like in New Zealand.
We got back on the bus and drove for hours before arriving at the Futuroscope hotel.

Day 2 - Futuroscope

Futuroscope was quite boring. None of the rides are very good and the only one that is good causes so much pain that you can only do it once. The park was just about deserted so it was fun to have the park to ourselves. Matt and I fell asleep on one of the rides, It was a great sleep.

Day 3 - Carcasonne

We all got on the bus to start our 500 km bus trip to Carcasonne. When we arrived we had 4 hours to look around the castle which has a town inside it. There were bars and a cafe and even a haunted house. It was fun to just walk around and explore by ourselves.

Day 4 - French-Spanish Frontier, Gerone & Lloret de Mar

We stopped for Lunch at the French-Spanish border. We continued on to Gerone in Spain. We had a guided tour of a Cathedral there which was amazing. We had a look around Gerone and then continued on to Lloret de Mar.

Day 5 - Barcelona

We started the day by visiting "Parc Guell" which was designed by Antonio Gaudi. Its a very beautiful park and it was very nice to just walk around and listen to all the Jazz Musicians busking in the park.
After the Park we went to visit the "Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada" which has been under construction since 1882, its completion is planned for 2026. Just about every Cathedral you can find in Europe is either under construction or being repaired. We had lunch and then we had some free time so we went for a walk down the main street. There were lots of stalls selling all sorts of different things. We came across stalls selling pets like Hedgehogs and Ducklings. It was quite strange.
That night we went to the beach for a while with some of the other students then we went back to the hotel and played cards.

Day 6 - Barcelona

We visited the Football Stadium which is one of the biggest in Europe. We went on a tour and got to see the Changing rooms and the media room. We also visited the Picasso museum. It wasnt very interesting because it wasnt any of his very famous work. It was still interesting to walk around and look at how his style change though.

Day 7 - Return to Paris

We got on the bus to return to Paris. It was a long journey and we stopped on the way to visit the Dali museum. It was a very interesting museum with a lot of abstract paintings and artwork. We stopped at a canteen for dinner which was really gross. The meat was more pink than the Tomatoes so nobody ate much. We all got back on the bus and continued our bus ride back to Paris.

Day 8 - Paris & Nantes

We arrived in Paris early so we could all get our trains back to our own cities. It was very difficult saying goodbye to everyone. I had the most amazing week. I find it hard to remember and describe everything that happened because we did so much. I caught my train back to Nantes and slept for the rest of the day and night.

2008-02-25T08:04:00.001-08:00

Notre Dame. We didnt get to stop and see it which was a bit disappointing.

Me infront of the Eiffel Tower.

The Arc de Triomphe and the Champs-Elysees.

The view out over Paris from the top of the Eiffel Tower.

The Eiffel Tower. Its a lot bigger than it looks.

2008-02-25T07:55:00.001-08:00

This is the famous Champs-Elysees, Well it's the sign post anyway.

Me infront of the Arc de Triomphe.

Kyle, Catie, Frabrisio, Emily, Hannah, Victoria and Matt at Futuroscope.

This is just a cool looking building at Futuroscope.

This is the area where they show the Water and Light Spectacle at night. It was really good.

2008-02-25T07:44:00.001-08:00

This is a view over Futuroscope. As you can see its not very busy.

After Futuroscope we went and stayed at the city of Carcasonne for 2 days. This is the castle in the middle of the city.

This is the view from the Castle out over the city.

This is Mia from Hawaii. I took this photo at Carcasonne. Its not very interesting but its a nice photo.

This is some of the group at a restaraunt on the French-Spanish Border.

2008-02-23T04:21:00.000-08:00

This is the most famous tower in Barcelona, the Torre Agbar

We visited Parc Guell which was designed by Gaudi (Spanish Architect), it was very beautiful

Some of the group at the park.

There are heaps of Jazz musicians all around Barcelona, Its really nice to just walk around and listen to the music.

This is the "Serpentine Bench" in the Park, each seat has Mosaic Designs on it.

2008-02-23T03:55:00.001-08:00

Itzel, Me, Matt and Kyle at the park.

This is the "Picnic area" at the Park

This is the "Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada". Just about every Cathedral you can find will be under construction or repairs.

We were walking down the street and saw a whole bunch of stalls selling pets, like these hedgehogs

or these baby ducks for €4 each.

2008-02-23T03:34:00.001-08:00

The Arc de Triomphe of Barcelona

Megan, Isabeau, Anni, Emily, Kyle, Matt, Shanda and Marelynn at the Beach.

The Football Stadium at Barcelona

Amy, Me and Kristi at the Football Stadium

This is the Football stadium in Barcelona, Its one of the biggest in Europe.

2008-02-23T02:51:00.002-08:00

This is the National Art Museum which has great views over Barcelona.

Isabeau, me and Amy looking out over Barcelona from the Art Museum.

Its hard to see but this is actually the face of Abraham Lincoln when you look from a distance

Stephanie and Itzel

Sunrise in Paris on the last Monday of the trip

2008-02-01T10:00:00.000-08:00

Hey Everyone.

There are heaps of new photos on here so you can get a visual idea of what Nantes is like.

Arrival & First Impressions
On My arrival (arriving was difficult cause i missed a flight) i met my Host Dad who picked me up at the airport. I went home, had something to eat and went to bet at 10 pm. I woke up at 6PM the next day. Woops.
My first impressions of the city were not very good for the first few days as I spent most of my time in the suburbs of Nantes which aren't really that beautiful. It wasn't until i started school that i really got to see the "Centre Ville" (Town Centre) which is really nice and quite French looking. Its really easy to get around with the buses and trams. Everything is quite expensive. It seems so cheap at first but then i have to remember to double the price to get it back into $NZ.

My Family
My Family are really nice but are quite busy. I often come home from school and have to entertain myself for a while. They said that usually they would take me out in the weekends if i have nothing to do but unfortunately, last weekend they were very sick so i didnt do much. My family are a bit camera shy but i will have some photos of them soon. I also have a host brother called Edouard who went on an Exchange to Australia last year. So he helps me with my french.

Going to school
Going to school is really easy. I just take the public bus which comes about every 6 minutes and drops me off right outside my school. School is quite different to in NZ. I have to take heaps of subjects: Biology, Astronomy, Chemistry, Physics, History, Geography, English, French, Maths and i used to take Spanish but not anymore.

The days change quite a bit. I got from 8 until 5:30 on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday. Wednesday and Saturday are only half days at school. And Friday is from 8 until 3:30. I have some classes which are called "modules", i only have modules every second week and i have 1 or 2 modules a day. Also, if a teacher is away i dont have class, which is quite often. Usually i just walk to the town centre and have a look around. Its really laid back.

We do almost no work in class. Everyone gets a lot of homework but i dont have to do it because i dont understand anything. School is really cool. All my friends look out for me and help me out when im lost or dont know what to do.

I am in the class that does advanced english, so everyone is really good at speaking english. It was good for the first week because it meant that i could make friends easily, but now that i have established a group of friends the english is just getting in the way of me learning french.

Getting around & Out and About
Getting around is really easy. I just take the bus everywhere. Its quite cheap and the busses are very frequent. The bus Timetables are very specific. For example, Bus 22 (Which I catch) Arrives at my stop at 7:34 on a weekday morning. Being out and about is really nice in Nantes, despite the freezing cold. Its really nice to just leave the house for a couple of hours and just go for a walk in the town, maybe buy an 'Orangina' and a Pain au Chocolat. I often go out with my friends after school. Its really nice.

Anyway. I hope this update is sufficiant. If you have any questions dont hesitate to e-mail me. Rest assured that I am having a great time so far and i know it will only continue to get better as i have my 'Spain Trip' coming up in a week and a half.

2008-02-01T09:53:00.001-08:00

Up Two flights of stairs to my room, which is in the Attic, I will take some photos of it when i have sorted out all my stuff and it is tidy.

My usual French Breakfast. A Bowl of Hot Chocolate. Mmmmmmmmm

2008-02-01T09:46:00.001-08:00

My street (Rue Claude Monet) on a beautiful winters morning

My House

The Entrace way of my house

The Kitchen/Breakfast eating area

The Dining room and Lounge

2008-02-01T09:33:00.001-08:00

This is a Cathedral near my school. Its not even the biggest or oldest in Nantes

This is the front entrance to my school. Lycèe Jules Verne
(Jules Verne wrote "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea" and "Around the world in 80 Days")

This is a model of my school. Its not as big as SKC, but its still nice.

This is the main courtyard of my school

2008-02-01T09:22:00.001-08:00

I hadn't even been here a week and there was already a strike. This was the very back. The line took 13 minutes to walk past us. I timed it.

A frozen windscreen of a car. Its so cold here.

This is the old department of Justice, Just outside my school. Soon its becoming a 5 star hotel.

This is the only Skyscraper in Nantes. Its not even that big.

Unfortunately you cant see the Fountain very well, In the background is a Cathedral. This is about 1 minutes walk from my school and almost in the Centre of Nantes

2008-02-01T09:11:00.001-08:00

Fresh Fruit at the Saturday Markets

Eating a Baguette by a Fountain, How.....French.

Park Procè, near my house

Also Park Procè

This is a private park out the back of my house

2008-02-01T08:51:00.000-08:00

The Fresh Vegetables at the Saturday Markets

This shop sells just Cheese. They eat heaps of it here.

The Little Bakery.

There is a lot of seafood in Nantes, I am yet to try it but it looks good

I couldnt come to France and not take a picture of Snails

2008-01-16T23:18:00.000-08:00

Julia & Jess in Hollywood

Us & Spongebob

Us with Dora the Explorer (She hugged me and rubbed my ears. Eurgh!)

The new Hollywood Hotel free fall ride.

Feek, me and Alex

2008-01-16T23:07:00.000-08:00

The Students at Universal

Houses of Wysteria Lane

Whoville (The Grinch who stole Christmas)

747 Plane crash from War of the Worlds

2008-01-16T22:24:00.000-08:00

Hey guys,
Just finishing up my 3 day stop-over in LA. We are staying at a crummy little hotel thats really close to the airport. Its not that flash but its a lot of fun. There are 40 students here and we all get on really well. It's really great to finally be surrounded by people who are in the same situation as me, we all have an understanding of what each person is going through.

On the first day we arrived at 1:30pm and we went straight to the hotel. After we got there I went and hung out with some of the others in their rooms. I didnt sleep all night. The next morning I went to the Supermarket over the road and bought a Red Bull which was about 2.5 times the size of the ones we have in NZ.

After the Red Bull, which gave me the shakes because of the caffeine, we all piled onto the bus and went to Universal Studios for the day. I went on all the rides with two of my friends, Jess and Julia. We had way too long at Universal so we went on the new "The Mummy" ride about 2- times. Each time we would pull a stupid face for the camera. It sounds really immature but i guess you just had to be there. On the way back to the hotel we drove down Sunset Blvd and through Bell Air and Beverly Hills. That was quite cool. That night we had dinner with the local Interact club, which is a Rotary club for kids at high school. They were all really cool.

And then today we all piled on the bus again and went to Disneyland. We got to go to both Disneyland and California Adventure Park. I went around with Jess and Julia again. We were running the whole day and we ended up doing all the rides in both parks. It was exhausting. We didnt even stop for lunch or a drink and I think I got a touch of Sunstroke. We got food afterwards. I bought some apple slices which came with caramel sauce.....only in America. This part is a bit strange....I was just sitting down eating my apples and I saw the randoms pointing a looking over at me so i tried to ignore them. Then i heard "Greg". I looked up and it was Feek. That was so random and made me feel a little homesick.

When we got back to the hotel we got into our blazers and formal gear and went to a Rotary meeting of the Westchester club who paid for our trips to the theme parks. We all had to stand up and introduce ourselves and then all the girls did a Waiata and sang a couple of song and us boys did the Haka which everyone loved.

We are just all hanging out tonight. We are going to stay up all night because it's our last night as a group. I just thought i would keep you updated and put on some photos while I had a spare moment.

CYA!!!!!!!

2007-12-27T23:49:00.000-08:00

I've found that people keep asking me where im going. Here is a map with Nantes on it for those who have trouble finiding it on a map.

Party

2007-12-09T23:10:00.000-08:00

Hey. Thanks to everyone for coming to my party. It was really good to see you all again before i leave. I hope you all had a good time as i know i did. I hope you all have a really good time next year while i am away and i will see you all in 2009 as long as my NCEA marks are good enough. Otherwise i have to go to Pak College. Fingers Crossed. Thanks you again for coming and see you later.