School

Well, since my last Blog a lot has happened! School has started, and listing to French all day is completely exhausting! After school I am typically found taking a nap, and I am in bed before 10 almost every night!

For school we wake up at about 7, get ready and eat breakfast. We typically leave the house at 7:50. At school there are 3 main buildings that classes are in, A, B, and C. Before school we all gather in the middle of these three buildings. When the bell rings we all have to line up in front of the building our class is in. Every 2 classes there is a 10 minute break. I have learned that this break is very important! During classes the bathrooms are locked! So, If you plan on going to the bathroom you have to do it during the break! But, you have to be careful, towards the end of the break they lock the doors, and you don’t want to get locked in! Unlike the bathrooms at Wylie East, here there are mirrors in the bathrooms, but the toilets don’t have seats…. As odd as it sounds I miss Wylie Easts bathrooms! Haha

After our breaks we walk to class with our class and you stand until the teacher says to sit. Then class begins! If you are late you, the teacher will ask to see your agenda book, and they will sign it saying you were late. Each week your parents have to sign your agenda book as well.

Everyday I go to different classes. I am in the “6^th” group or a Senior as we would call it, and my class is E so im in 6E. 6E basically goes to all our core classes together like Science, History, French and then we split and all have different “electives” but here electives are which 3 languages you chose to study. Each day you go to different classes and finish at different times. If a teacher is not there then you simply don’t have class. If the class is at the end of the day you can leave and if it is before Lunch then you can also leave and go get lunch.

Here it is common for students to leave and go get lunch. There are several cafes all around the school. It is also common to go get a beer and fries for lunch and then come back to school. (Don’t worry I haven’t done that) For lunch IT is not like at home. People eat what we would call a loaf of bread, with meat and cheese inside. The first day I packed my lunch and kind of watched and did exactly what my host sister did, she made 3 sandwiches and packed that with a snack and a bottle of water…. That morning I was talking with the other exchange students and we were all in a bit of shock that everyone packed 3 sandwiches! But the bread here is so good; I don’t blame people for doing it!

After school I sometimes do homework, if I think I have any. Then we eat always together as a family, then we make our lunch for the next day, then it is off to bed!

On Wednesdays we get out of school at 1:45, But after school I have French lessons. Those aren’t always fun. Every few weeks the Rotary district will organize an event. Our first one was a trip to an old mine. That was really neat! On the way back however, the bus we were in had some issues. The A/C stopped working and all the A/C fluid that was stored in the overhead thing came gushing down the windows! Thankfully it stopped right before my seat! But we got to evacuate the bus on the side of the road and then squeeze into a bus half the size of the 1^st one to return home in!

 

On the weekends we get up about 9 and eat then do some house hold chores. Then usually run a few errands. Then play a game or something then before you know it its dinner time then bed time! Some nights we watch a movie before going to bed. The past few Sundays I have gone to the local market in Liege. It is really neat! They sell everything from super cheap clothes to make up to food to even live animals!

My French is improving and with that come several little miss understandings! One night my host mom was talking about my host sister finishing something. Well in French the verb to finish sounds like terminates. I had a bit of a heart attack thinking my host sister was terminated!! I have been asked my name and said “oui” not knowing what I was being asked figuring “oui” was a safe answer! I have told people my religion, instead of the region I am from. And several little things like that!

I don’t understand a lot at school, but there are a few classes I understand. All the kids I have meet at school have been super nice!! Most importantly, they are very patient when it comes to trying to understand my broken French.  I get really board in the classes at school, but enjoy getting to talk to everyone in the breaks and what not. I love it here in Belgium! The only thing I would change, if I could, is I would make it a little bit warmer.

 

The Mountains

Well the past week has been crazy!!! We finished up our vacation and came back to Belgium! Then after a CRAZY day back home I left again for a Welcoming Rotary Weekend!

I have only been in Belgium 2 and a-half-weeks, but it feels like I have been here MUCH longer!! I love it here! Our vacation was AMAZING!! We saw so many new things and had a blast! It was by far the best trip I have EVER been on!!

Paris was breath taking!!! But the second part of our trip was much more amazing!! We went to Lac D’ Anncey! It was BEAUTIFUL!!!! Driving to our hotel we had to wind through the mountains and that in itself was awesome! BUT THEN, we drive into this valley filled with cute multi-story houses pushed together along each side of the twisting cobblestone road! We make it out of the town, and were now surrounded by mountains and the bluest lack I have ever seen! People were laying out beside it, playing in it, Biking around it but more importantly it is safe to say we were all enjoying how breath taking it was!

 

We drove around the lack and winded through a few streets to our Hotel! It was beyond cute!!

 

We ate a very yummy dinner then headed out to visit the town! The town Anncey has two parts, I was told, an old part (Old Anncey), and a Newer part (New Anncey). We visited Old Anncey that evening. A river from the lake runs through this section of the town. The river is very shallow, but the streets were filled with tables and people either drawing or showing off some crazy talent.

 

 

We went back and got some sleep at the hotel, little did I know I would need all the sleep I could get for the insane day that awaited me! That next day we went hiking through the Mountains that surrounded the Lake. The only problem was… to start our hike we first had to take a chair lift to the starting point! SCARY STUFF!!! I survived the ride up! I held on for dear life and prayed the entire way up… but I survived! J Then we decided to hike to a little house where they made goat cheese! Sounds awesome… until your family takes the quicker trail! It was less of a trail, to be more accurately described, it the actual goat path! With goat droppings scattered all along the way, parts of the trail barley large enough for a human foot, we made our trek to the Goat cheese “farm”.

 

Along the way we actually ran into the goats! They have a dog that sort of watches them and follows them. The dogs job is to keep the wolves away… yes wolves!!! Apparently wolves have moved into the mountain area and are taking a lot of goats…. This was very comforting news… NOT!!

 

 

We made it to the goat cheese ”farm” It was very tiny and VERY smelly! I didn’t understand too much but did learn that to keep flies out of the cheese like cellar thing, they turn the lights off and clap and they flies go flying right out the door! I also learned I don’t like goat cheese!! After meeting the goat farmers and learning about cheese and also the very unsettling news about how many goats were eaten by wolves the past few years we set back off into the mountains for our hike back… I am not sure which was scarier knowing wolves may have been watching me hike or the descend on the chairlift! Once we made it back down we ate a quick bite! I had a VERY yummy sandwich that was like a grilled cheese and ham sandwich, but the ham was inside the sandwich and the cheese was on top! IT was so yummy!! Then we went on a bobsled type ride! That was really fun! You got to control the speed and the course was very twisty and turned a lot! It was really fun!

 

That evening we played some intense games of Ping-Pong! France told me Jean-Marc was once a player and apparently played Ping-Pong!  We then played foosball also an intense game!!! After the games, on our way back to the room, the hotel owner stopped me to congratulate me! He never thought an American could walk along the goat path! hahaha

The next morning we rode our bikes to the lake and had an amazing view of it! Then had a bow and arrow competition!  That was fun! I was good at first… but then my arm got sore and I started to do bad! L I ended up coming in second to Manon!!

After our competition we went to get lunch… our view for lunch was a castle along the shore of the lake! AMAZING! WE then toured the castle later in the day! First we went to explore the town!! At night it was cute and calm, during the day it was a busy town with crowded narrow streets!

 

 

The castle was the cutest thing I have ever seen!  

 

These are the holes the little knights would use to hide behind while protecting the castle!!

 

Our last day in Anncey we spent in the mountains… about an hour away! It was a spectacular view! We first went to a lake. The lake was so clear you could see fish swimming feet below the surface! Standing on the lake shore you could hear the moo’s and ringing bells of the cows that filled the hillside across the lake. It was the most marvelous sound I have ever heard!

 

 

We made our way up to a local restaurant for lunch… yet again another breath taking view for lunch!

 

Then we decided we would hike through the mountains to see the cows on the hillside! We hiked for quite a few hours only to find that they were on another mountain! So we didn’t get to see those cows! Along the trail I came to the realization that not everything is bigger in Texas! We stumbled upon an aunt hill that was well past my waist in height and completely swallowed the base of the tree it had claimed. The biggest aunt hill I have EVER seen!!!

 

 

We were a bit hungry after our hike so we stopped back by the restaurant for a snack! Our snack was interrupted by the local dairy farmer leading his calves home to be milked! He walked in front of the heard waving bread…. Even the cows here eat bread…. The cows walked along the road with a dog behind them keeping them all together. We followed them to and watched for a while as they fed them and began to milk them.

We then returned back to the hotel and packed the next morning said our goodbyes to the owners and headed for home! It was a full days’ worth of driving but we made it home!

I was home for a day then was off for Brussels! In that day I went to our local Rotary meeting and said hello! Then went home with the other exchange student who is staying with my third family! We ate dinner then went to Zumba with them!!

The next morning I was off to Brussels for the Rotary Welcome Weekend! I had a blast and met a lot of other exchange students! I also met my second Family! I returned from the welcoming weekend yesterday afternoon. We showed Frances parents all our vacation pictures then all went to bed!

Today we went to church….that was VERY different!! But also extremely neat! Then we went to lunch with Jean-marcs parents! They are the cutest couple ever! His dad is the cutest old man ever! I understand almost nothing he says but he just seems like a cute old man! Hahaha

Then this evening we washed the cars… but here we don’t waste anything! So in order to not waste water one person washed down the car with soap water mixture on a rag and someone else came behind them with another towel that was just wet. It was defiantly not how we wash cars back home!

I am having an absolute blast here!! School starts later this week and I will try to keep updating my blog at least once a week but I may be getting busy! But I will do my best to keep everyone updated!!