Christmas Away from Home

It is finished. The event that every exchange student kind of hmm’s about before his exchange, saying “hmm, I wonder what Christmas is going to be like away from my family, in a new country, with strangers?” Mine, in fact, turned out to be great.

Great may not be the correct word to use though, but this whole experience has been so semi surreal, aka it hasn’t felt exactly like Christmas, and since nothing bad happened, I ate to my hearts content and didn’t start balling when I talked to my parents, I will say it was great. I say it didn’t feel like Christmas because it really didn’t. Probably because what I view as Christmas, the tradition and celebration that my family and I celebrate and remember each year, is really the only Christmas I know. Sure I know that around December each year lots of people put up Christmas lights and buy lots of presents, which didn’t change when I came here. But the real festivities that let me know it’s Christmas, with my family and my mom’s food and my friends, didn’t come with me this year. The reason for Christmas, Christ’s birth, was still celebrated, but it didn’t feel like it was supposed to, as it didn’t feel like what I was used to. Welp, here’s to growing up.

Now, after my meager attempt at philosophical wanderings, onto the concrete, what I actually did for Christmas, or more specifically, the weekend surrounding Christmas.

Saturday night I went over to Paul’s house (this is the final time I’m explaining who he is, the Kiwi, from the church, who went on a rotary exchange 9 years ago) because his brother just came in, who is my age. We drank some good Trappist beer and talked for a while, and then in true French fashion, Paul, his brother John-O, Garth (Australian) and Danielle (Paul’s girlfriend) left to eat at around 9:30. We went to a pretty typical French restaurant where I had duck, mmm I love duck. We had a great time talking over the funny live French acoustic musician and inhaling loads of smoke. That in fact isn’t sarcastic, we did have a great time. I will probably be hanging out with Paul’s brother more over break, as he is my age and Paul will be working. He is really cool so it should work out pretty nicely.

Christmas eve I met up with Victor and his brother and sister while they were finishing up some last minute shopping. They are really nice, and we went to a café for a long time talking over vin chaud (also known as gluhwine or mulledwine) and spiced beer for Christmas. I made it home just in time to throw on my suit and speedily walk to the Church where we were attending mass. I walk by it all the time when I go to the closest metro, and I had never peeked inside, but the inside is beautifully designed with whitewashed walls and tall arches, so it was a good place to have Christmas eve mass. It was the “kids service” so the kids sang a lot of songs. I tried really hard to pay attention but it’s hard when there’s a large mass of stone blocking your view of the priest and there are tons of people around. I enjoyed it, but I prefer a little calmer service like at Discovery. I then proceeded to the apartment where I ate one of the biggest meals of my life. First though we drank champagne (Cristal to be exact, aka 150 Euro bottle) and opened presents. Crazy Europeans decided they would do that on Christmas eve, but I think it makes it lose some of the charm, not really having to wait and kind of just opening them all at once and eating. But the food was amazing. We had coquilles saint-jacques (seafood in shells, I don’t really know how to explain it), followed by chapon (basically a big, good, chicken) with stuffing, potatoes with I think walnuts or something of the sort, then a enormous amount of cheese of all types, topped off by an excessively rich raspberry cake that I had helped my host mom make earlier in the day. Coupled with all the wine I drank, saying I slept well would be an understatement.

For Christmas lunch we went over to my host grandparent’s apartment (who I forgot to mention ate with us on Christmas eve) to have probably the most filling meal of my life. My host mom is from the Alsace-Lorraine region of France (so basically Germany), and therefore she made the traditional alsacian dish of sauerkraut topped with sausages, salami, and smoked meat. All of this is put on a gigantic platter then brought out and put on a heating pad, so it stays nice and warm for seconds and thirds. Definitely one of my favorite dishes, ever. Along with the meal we drank amazing wine, starting with wine from Alsace (which is sweeter white wine) then moving along to a 1988 bottle from Bordeaux and a 1975 bottle from Bourgogne (the wine, as my host grandpa explained to me, was Napoleon’s favorite, and he never went anywhere without a bottle). Against all odds, the meal only got better, because the cheese we ate was Muenster (my hands down, favorite cheese, and no not “muenster” like you get at Safeway, but real honest to goodness Muenster) and the dessert was bûche de noël (a ice cream type log cake) and little éclairs, all washed down with lovely expresso. I honestly didn’t consider moving after we ate. Alas my resolve was not strong enough, as later in the evening I went to see James Bond with my host family. Afterwards we went to this fancy pants restaurant type place and grabbed a drink, where I had Bailey’s, yummy. And that was the end of Christmas.

Today I got up around 8 to get ready to go to Disneyland Paris/go look for my package. Turns out my package never found it’s way to the post office like the nice lady on the telephone said it would, so I still do not have my Christmas presents from my parents L. Although my day made up for the disappointment in the morning, as Disneyland Paris was extremely fun but extremely cold. It was for the birthday of my friend Guillaume’s girlfriend Marine (who is also my friend), another couple I didn’t really know, and Victor. As Victor woke up late then forgot his wallet, I was left as the 5th wheel for the first while which was not that fun. When Victor came things started looking up, and the day turned out to be a success, with lots of rides ridden and lots of laughs had. I’m really glad I went, as the smile on my face in the pictures attest to.


Merry Christmas to you all!!

Brent

I read an amazing editorial about Christmas last night in the Wall Street Journal, which you can find here http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=65000827 , read it. That’s a command.

4 Months Woot Woot

Well I made it 4 months, despite the best efforts of my school, and couldn’t be happier. I’m just so content right now to be here, especially since Christmas vacation started today.

This last week was great. On Wednesday I went out to coffee with Nikki (who did an exchange to France a few years ago and just graduated from the American University in Paris) which was just as fun as the last time we had coffee. Some more criticizing the French took place, more recollections from high school (as she went to FCHS), and just an all around great discussion. Thanks Nikki!

There was a concert at my school Thursday, and Victor was singing a Jack Johnson song accompanied by another friend Julian on the guitar, so at lunch we went to Julian’s apartment to eat and for them to practice. I found my new favorite thing to buy at a French supermarket, which I will use often if I ever live in Paris without a nice host mom to cook me dinner, which are 2 croque monsieurs (grilled ham and cheese sandwiches) that are ready to fry on a poêle (pan), for less than 2 euros! They were surprisingly good and filling, although the ham inside was a bit cold, but that says more about my lack of cooking abilities than anything else. Regardless, they were amazing. That night they played at the concert, which was really fun, as there were all types of music that were played, from their acoustic guitar stuff to jazz piano to “afrostralian” music with a djembe and dijoridoos (sp?). Afterwards about 5 of us went to a café, which was fun, although my coat then reeked of smoke, as French café filled with people=smoke chamber. But after we had a semi-Christmas dinner with my host mom’s aunt and uncle where we ate things that I don’t know the name of but were good. Being French, the dinner lasted for 2 hours, so I was a little bloated/tired by the end.

Last night as well was superb. Victor and I just chilled at one of his friend’s house Eva, who went to school with him before he switched schools. I ate way too much spaghetti as her brother served me a ridiculous amount because the noodles were all stuck together, but it was fun to just hang out at someone’s house without feeling awkward, and I learned lots of fun French slang, not all of which is appropriate.

Overall, I’m doing great, although through the coordinated efforts of the French postal service and myself, the package my parents sent bearing my 3 normal Christmas gifts of Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh, was not delivered/picked up, so I will be receiving my presents hopefully Tuesday as a Boxing Day present.

Tomorrow’s Christmas Eve and it doesn’t feel like it at all. Maybe because we don’t have a tree up or anything representing Christmas at all, or maybe it’s because there’s no snow, or maybe just because my Grandma’s not at my house constantly baking mouthwatering goodness (well she is doing that, just not at my current residence).

But spend time with your families, eat to your hearts content, drink lots of sparkling apple cider, and be thankful for what God has given you, and what he gave us in the form of His Son. Enjoy this time; love and appreciate those around you, as you’ll never know how much they mean until they (or you) are gone.

Joyeux Noël,

Brent

 

Hey errrrbody.

If you want to see some pictures from 2 weekends ago/some artsy pictures i've taken/jacked with go here

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2000259&l=40446&id=1076310089

and here

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2000293&l=39c10&id=1076310089

enjoy! 

Best Week Ever

Okay, maybe that’s an overstatement, but I did have a pretty great week.

I got put in some new classes with the Premieres (Junior year) which I like a lot. I have two more hours of history/geography on Mondays with the teacher I really like, but last Monday we only ended up having one hour. This was because my teacher went to a union meeting about a strike that took place today during the second hour of class, which was ironic because we spent the first hour debating the pros/cons of striking. Oooh the French…

The weekdays went by without much drama or incident, which was relieving. Friday was a great end to the week, as me, Victor and Gabriel went to a pub, had a pint, and saw Casino Royale. In the last couple weeks I’ve really been feeling my spoken French improve a lot, as it becomes easier to speak with ease without concentrating on each word I want to say. I then went to a party for an hour or so at this guy’s apartment from my church, wasn’t too exciting and I was tired so I left.

A sound I’ve learned to detest woke me up Saturday morning to remind me that I had to play handball for two hours. My abs and legs still hurt. That night there was a White Elephant gift exchange with the church (well not exactly white elephant, as the gifts were between 10-15 Euros). As I’m accustomed to White Elephant=Useless gifts, I made the solid purchase of a Czech-French dictionary as my present, and started to feel bad for whoever was going to get my present as presents were unwrapped such as coffee cups, automatic wine openers, etc. But all turned out well in the end, as I was not stabbed or wounded for bringing said gift, and I came home with Martini, so I think I came out ahead in the end.

I finally stopped putting off visiting the Eiffel tower on Sunday. I took a nice walk and some fun artsy pictures. Also, there was this big market right below the tower that was selling produce from regions all over France, so I took advantage (profiter as the French say) of many free samples of wine, beer, and cheese. I parted with 2 bottles of wine headed for an extremely enjoyable home group, where we all pitched in and cooked scrumptious Jamie Oliver Risotto (I was on chopping mozzarella/celery duty, along with figuring out how to properly cut chicken and feeling like an inadequate human being) and had a predictably amazing conversation.

Today many (but unfortunately not all) French teachers were on strike, so I only had school from 10-12. After my 2 hours of math that felt more like 3, some friends and I ate and then went to a movie.

Life is good. Christmas vacation starts Saturday. Therefore 2 weeks of goodness (although I’m not going with Rick on the “supervacation” because his Rotary won’t let him). My math teacher was talking today about how we’re basically halfway through the school year, which makes me happy and sad because A) school gets annoying but B) I am just starting to really enjoy myself here. But nevertheless, 2 weeks of vacation, then a month and a half of school, then my first bus trip in France/Spain for a week. Lovely. Lovely. Lovely. I’m so glad I did this and so glad I didn’t get sent home. I’ve already experienced so much that many people never get to do, and still have many more adventures to come.

I love you all. Thanks so much for your support and prayers.

Bisous,

Brent

 

I <3 Paris

No matter how crazy/frustrating/tiring/annoying/long my weeks can be; the weekend seems to always save me. This one did just that.

Not that my week was necessarily awful, but the weekend was especially good so I will quickly recap for those of you who care.

My host mom took me to Montmartre Friday afternoon (=missing my math class) to grab lunch and then go to mass at Sacré Coeur. I had an extremely good quiche with goat cheese, after which we headed up the steps to the Basilica to go to Mass. It was the celebration of the Immaculate Conception, which I learned is more about Mary being born sinless than Jesus being conceived with the Holy Spirit, which I never really knew. I actually realized I could learn a lot of French by going to Mass, but that may be a sacrilegious reason for going. In any case, it was a great experience, but I still prefer churches where contact with other humans is important.

That night I went to an Australian guy from the church’s apartment to jam, as he’s a musician and has a cool little set-up in his apartment with guitar and drums. Then I went to the church’s actual service (which is once a month, as opposed to the home groups every week), which was fun and Christmas-y. After we went to an American style restaurant called Indiana where I will be taking my dad when he comes to visit because, although not up to Texas Roadhouse standards, it’s actually pretty good.

Saturday morning I started Handball for P.E., which everyone else in my class has been playing for the last 2 years at least and in which my only experience consists of a couple games in Mr. Wood’s P.E. class, so what I’m saying is I’m not exactly stellar and running hurts my feet.

My feet continued to be pained throughout the day as some of the other exchange students and I got together in Paris and walked basically forever. They are so fun, I love hanging out with them. We got some Starbucks (as is necessitated by the fact that it’s the Christmas season and the Holiday cups are out) and basically walked around. Walking around Paris becomes a lot less humdrum when there are likable people to talk to. That was really fun, and we’re going to try to do more stuff together and see each other more, as for the first 3 months after our welcome weekend we did absolutely nothing together.

Garth (Australian guy) was having a dinner get together esque thing at his house Saturday night, where I consumed amazing soup and cocktails, and met some really nice people. I was super tired coming home and fell asleep on the Métro, missing my stop, but luckily only by one, so I could walk easily back to my house.

This morning I went over to Leo (Brazilian exchange student)’s host family’s apartment to have lunch that he made. His host parents and host brothers are really nice. I got annihilated in a chess game against his little host brother and had my second cocktail in 24 hours made by a Brazilian. A friend of their family who hangs out with Leo every once in a while invited us to go to a Rugby match so we went and it was really fun. It was a pretty big game, with one of the best French clubs versus the best English club. The French team’s colors are pink and blue which I find somewhat humorous, but as no one could really tell a rugby player that he is effeminate for wearing pink, I guess it works out. Rugby is a really exciting sport to watch and the atmosphere in the stadium is awesome. I really enjoyed it.

Then, like all Sunday nights, I went to the home group. Jen and Justin (people whose house we have it at) recently had a baby so a lot of the time was spent ooing and awwwwing over the little creature. Again, like normal, loved the fellowship with friends.

I’m tired and done writing.

I promise next time I’ll try to spice it up a bit. This was probably extremely boring to read.

2 weeks till Christmas. Score.

Cheers,

Brent 

A Weekend Full of Splendor and Grace

Quick recap.

Fri. Champs-Elysées with Tina from American University in Paris. We went to a café with random people she didn’t even know, drank some wine, had good inter-exchange student conversation. Then came more exchange student fun. Brittney (who I hung out on the plane ride with) and Chelsea (who lives in Brittney’s city) were in Paris, so we walked along the Champs-Elysées, talked, saw the Eiffel Tower, and talked some more. I love nothing more than talking to other exchange students, and I had plenty of that this weekend.

Sat. Went to the District Conference for Rotary and saw all the other exchange students I met the first weekend I was here (and hadn’t seen since) which was awesome. Again, talking to exchange students=amazing. We just kind of hung out all day and had to make a little presentation about our view of life in France etc. to the Rotary people. Then after me, Leo (the Brazilian in Paris) and two other girls (Monica and Rebecca, in case anyone is wondering) went to the Champs-Elysées (aka my third time since last Friday), spent lots of time waiting in line at a supermarket for them to buy hair products, then stood in line some more to get some mediocre food at the French impersonation of McDonald’s “Quick” and had a great conversation. After they left I went to a party with some kids from my school at this apartment with a beautiful view of Paris on Montmartre. There was some dancing to be had, and it was pretty fun minus the fact that Victor couldn’t come so I felt semi-awkward. I was really tired so I took off at 11:30. When almost home, 2 girls ran up right behind me and started talking to me, and then asked me if I wanted break French cultural stereotypes (or something to that effect) and come to a party with kids from their school. Knowing that this was extremely random and would probably not happen again, and in light of the fact that I only live once, I decided to go. They told me to tell everyone I was one of the girl’s “correspondent” which worked for a while until I was talking to someone and they asked me where I went to school, and I said Claire (my “correspondent”)’s school, to which she responded “so my school?” Probably half the people at the party thought I was her correspondent, and half knew that they just randomly met me on the street. Everyone was really nice (and uber rich) and I got some of their phone numbers so maybe I’ll actually see them again. But, it was probably the most random thing to have happened to me thus far, and I enjoyed it immensely.

Sun. Brittney and Chelsea were still in town, so I went and met them at the big department stores Printemps and Galeries Lafayette. Chelsea was shopping with another girl, and Brittney’s not really the shopping type so her and I had an amazing time talking and creating a little fun for ourselves in Galeries Lafayette by taking random pictures with mannequins, trying to price obscenely overpriced objects, stealing Christmas stickers from behind the unmanned gift wrap counter, and overall just having a grand ol’ time. So Brittney, if you’re reading this, which you probably will, thanks, I had an amazing time. After they left I went over to Paul (the Kiwi)’s house where we were having home group, as the couple whose house we usually have it at was in the middle of having a baby. After our discussion we went and had sushi, which I guess is the first time I’ve had real sushi apart from eating random California rolls as appetizers at graduation parties. Needless to say, I need to start eating sushi more often.

So basically my weekend was amazing, which made it all the harder to get up for school this morning. But alas, that’s life, and as Tina was telling me, school is going to suck either way so I just need to deal with it, and that school isn’t going to be the thing I look back and remember when this year is over, it’s going to be the weekend’s like this one that I’ll keep forever.

Brent 

I Stay in Frankreich

So just a quick little update on my situation.

First of all thank you so much for anyone who prayed for me, thought about me, offered me encouragement, or helped me bash on the French during this past week and a half. I am so thankful to have people that care about me. I hope you all know how much you mean to me. Now, on to business.

So all went well at the little “conseil de classe” thing with all the teachers. Actually a lot of my teachers actually defended me (including my Philo teacher who was like “why are we grading him, he’s here to learn French”) and one of the class delegates who was in the meeting told me that the professors really didn’t have a problem with me and that the bad talk stuff going on probably just stemmed from rumors and misunderstandings. I guess they actually never even brought up throwing me out during the meeting so that’s good. I figure that means I have at least another trimester guaranteed in France! So I’m just going to keep working at school like I have been and hope that my teachers continue to see that even though my grades in Chemistry probably won’t improve substantially. So all goes well here in the land of Frenchys, except for the fact that I just failed my math test that I actually studied for, so that may not be the best start to the 2nd trimester, but alas, c’est la vie.

3 weeks until Christmas break. Yessssssss. And then the day after Christmas (granted I don’t have a major falling out with my host parents or rotary before then) I will be going on the greatest vacation of my life for two weeks with Rick and his dad. So something exciting to look forward to for little old me.

I love you all. Thanks again for your support!

Brent