Author: Jill Swanson

How can it be that the exchange I’ve have been dreaming about for years is already half over? I’m not going to lie, some aspects of this experience have been grueling and seemed to stretch on forever, but that’s okay because they have been balanced with memories that bring a smile to my face, no matter how big or small. So, in celebration of surviving this long, a fact that fills me with confidence that I can continue to thrive and grow in happiness and well-being, I would like to share some of the highlights that happened since I arrived a mere 10 weeks ago. (In no particular order…)

1. Meeting fellow exchange students and eating King’s Cake. The day after I arrived, my host family and I went to a party to celebrate King’s Day with my exchange company, WEP. (Some of you might remember how confusing of an experience this was for me; to get the whole story on that, reference my Semaine 1 blog post.) This was the first time I was introduced to an exchange community as a legitimate exchange student. It’s different being a host family member and going to a gathering like this. When you’re an exchange student, these are your people, regardless of their homecountry or nationality. Something I have really appreciated since I’ve arrived here is how much “exchangees” look out for each other. Even if you’re not seeing them in person or in constant messaging contact, you still care about how they’re doing and want to see them succeed, just like they want to see you succeed. Being welcomed into such a magnificent community is one of the best things I’ve experienced on this exchange, if not in my life.   The Kings’ Cakes!   Exchange student meet up a few weeks later! 
2. Seeing the Atlantic Ocean from the other side. I have crossed the Atlantic Ocean before and I have seen it from above in an airplane but I’ve never gone to the beach. Let me tell you, it’s just like the Atlantic from North America. But I did get to have some pretty neat experiences visiting Lacanau beach and the Great Dune of Pilat (that truly was a fantastic sight to behold).  
3. Zumba. I don’t know if this fad is still raging in the US like it was a few years ago and I’m not even sure if it’s raging here in France but I have been lucky enough to join a class with my host mom and host sister and I absolutely love it. There is something just absolutely liberating about dancing wildly and sweating your heart out for an hour. Something else I gained out of my Zumba experience is realizing how much I love women. Like, when I look back on the room full of women all dancing in unison, I can’t help but smile. If you haven’t already given Zumba a try, I would highly recommend it. 
4. Skiing in the Pyrenees. This past Feburary was my first time ever skiing out of the country and it was an interesting experience. I have to say, I feel like skiing is generally the same just with varying levels of difficulty and quality depending on mountain range and the weather. Overall, I had a very pleasant time and will certainly remember it for many years to come.  
5. Paris. Everything about this city is wonderful. If ever presented the chance to visit, take it without hesitation.    
6. Roaming Bordeaux. Although I don’t live directly in the city of Bordeaux, I live close enough that it’s only a bus ride away and I can visit frequently. I gone with my host family, my host sister, and some of my new exchange student friends and each time I find something new to enjoy. Bordeaux has definitely become a city special in my heart and I shall cherish it forever.    

This is just a brief, brief overview of some of the things I have been fortunate enough to experience since arriving and I have been so grateful for every moment, good or bad. Here’s to another 10 successful weeks!

As the weeks tick by, I can hardly believe how much time I’ve spent here and how many things have happened. It seems like just yesterday I arrived, bewildered, in the airport in Merignac after many long hours of travel. Although I hardly spent any time in school in February, my French somehow was still able to improve. According to my host family and friends here, I’ve made serious headway since the beinning of January. Though, it doesn’t feel that way to me. I still feel like I’m drowning in French conversation most of the time and I have to strain my ears to understand phrases, even when they are said slowly. There are the rare-but increasingly more frequent-instances when something is said, whether just a phrase or an entire sentence, that I understand immediately with very little thought or subconscious translation is required. I live for those moments.

I spent this past week skiing in the Pyerenees at the resort La Mongie. If there is one thing that has seamlessly translated from my normal life to ma vie fraçaise, it is my ability to ski and be willing to make a fool of myself in the process.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m quite good at skiing, there are just many occasions when I look like an absolute imbecile while doing so. Luckily, France got to see that side of me too. Joy.

I’ve equated that the Pyerenees are better than skiing on the East Coast but slightly less than the Rockies. I can only imagine that the Alps, another popular skiing destination in France, is even better than the Rockies but is more expensive. One thing that was nifty about the skiing system was there were no coat tags to be left on your ski jacket for all of eternity, but rather a sensor card that could be kept in your pocket and a sensor machine that would read it as you went through it. Much more eco-friendly because after one week of skiing, I only had one card (you could reload your card daily) instead of a billion tags to show for it. Another huge bonus was the apartment that my family owns is right on the mountain so all we had to do was take the elevator down and step out to the slopes. Not gonna lie, it’ll be a shocking reality when I have to drive to the mountain and deal with the whole changing-in-the-car ordeal.

One significant realization I had this week was due to a lift-line conversation I had with my host sister, Melina. To give you a bit of background, we had decided to picnic on the mountain that day, therefore requiring that we bring our lunches with us. I didn’t want to take a backpack so I stuffed all of my goodies into a cross-body purse that I could wear under my coat. When we were in one of the lift lines, I made a joke that it looked like I was pregnant (because of hoe the bag was positioned) with a food baby. But, I didn’t now the word for pregnant in French (it’s enceinte). Enceinte happens to be an extremely difficult word for the English tongue to pronounce and requires a lot of trying before even moderate success. So, Melina and I were going back and forth saying “enceinte, enceinte, enceinte, enceinte, je suis enceinte, je suis enceinte, ENCEINTE, ENCEINTE” and I still wasn’t able to say it correctly. By this point, we were starting to get some weird looks from other skiers about our conversation and it wasn’t until I translated the conversation to sound like “pregnant, pregnant, pregnant, pregnant, I am pregnant, I am pregnant, PREGNANT, PREGNANT”that I understood what they must be hearing. Because when I think of it that way, it is enormously funny and absolutely ridiculous. No wonder we were getting so many sideways stares! It was just a humorous realization understanding a conversation like that makes perfect sense in context, but out of context, it makes us sound crazy. SO, the next time you hear a bizarre conversation between a few people, don’t be so quick to judge because you have no idea what they could really be talking about.

The weather was so bipolar, one day it was sunny and boarder line hot and another it was blustery and snowing.

The gorgeous view from the top of one of the slopes.

This week was pretty lowkey for me and I didn’t really have many mind-blowing revelations to share, so I’ve decided to dedicate this week to sharing some of the differences between France and America that you might not necessarily know until you live in the culture a bit. (This one’s for you, Mom.)

• Baking soda can only be purchased at a pharmacy, as it is kept in the back with prescription drugs and your motives before use will be questioned.
• Milk is sold in box cartons in a non-refrigerated aisle of the grocery store and doesn’t need to be refrigerated until opened.
• Chewing gum is very expensive (in comparison to prices in the US).
• Men will happily wear shorts well above their knees.
• Latest edition iPhones are heavily sought after but are so expensive therefore are rarely obtained by the general middle-class population.
• Rugby is the new (American) football.
• Cuffed pants and suede sneakers are all the rage, for men and women.
• Garbage disposals are not a thing.
• Most of the time, clothes are left to air dry after being washed. Some people don’t even have a dryer at all.
• Fresh baguettes are purchased nearly every day.
• Most of the time, public transport is used instead of driving a private car (much more Eco-friendly).
• The BAC is the bane of all students’ existence (it’s a required exam students must pass for numerous different subjects between their junior and senior year).
• By many French adolescents, American music is preferred to French music.
• Basically everything is consumed with a fork and knife-no finger food (except for bread).
• Athletic wear is a no-no unless you’re actually working out.
• Stores shut down in the middle of the day for about 2 hours for a lunch break.
• There is hardly anything sold in huge quantities like in the US, everything is just generally smaller.
• SUVs and mini-vans are not a thing.
• If you buy a cup of coffee, even if it’s in a to-go cup, you will likely sit down to drink it at a leisurely pace.

This is truly just the tip of the iceberg on differences I’ve noticed. Don’t get me wrong, both the French and American cultures are majorly appealing but are noticeably different in many ways.

P.S. Here are some awesome pictures of some sights I’ve seen since I arrived here in France!

 Lacanau Beach

 Downtown Bordeaux, local cathedral.

 View of Paris from the top of the Sacré Cœur

Eiffel Tower at night

I’ve concluded that being an exchange student is kind of like being a baby or small child. Your vocabulary is very limited, which doesn’t mean you don’t have thoughts, it just means you can’t share them and that’s frustrating. You cry for unknown reasons at random times. Everyone speaks to you slowly and with basic sentence structure so you can partially understand what is going on. Now don’t get me wrong, it is refreshing to return to that stage of life having already experienced it, but now getting to experience it in an entirely new way. I really don’t think we give babies enough credit for keeping themselves together most of the time. I totally understand why tantrums ensue when you clearly are hungry but no one is providing you with food. Like I said: frustrating.

On another note, I feel like my comprehension of the French language is getting stronger everyday. Now I can understand at strong 58% of what is going on. (I know that doesn’t sound like a lot but it’s a significant step-up from where I was 3 weeks ago.) For all of you out there trying to learn another language, I have some advice to give you. Don’t ever discount anything you learn in class or whatever because you think it’s stupid or you’ll never use it. I can tell you right now, if you are in a culture that speaks that language long enough, an opprotunnity to use that word will present itself. For example, when my French class was in a unit about food we learned the names of various foods, including haricots verts (green beans). At the time of learning it, I thought to myself “Okay this is probably one of the least useful terms I could have in my vocabulary, but whatever.” Lo and behold, the first week I arrived here, these haricots verts were mentioned approximately 5 times. I don’t know if that’s an excessive number of times for for green beans to be mentioned in a week but I feel like that story really proves a point. Everything you learn is important. In languages or otherwise, knowledge truly is power. The more you know, the better the world becomes for you and everyone else. Stay informed, don’t do drugs, remember everything, and ask lots of questions.

As of late, I have gotten a few questions about what foods I eat here. Contrary to popular belief, macarons and croissants aren’t consumed every day. In all honesty, I have eaten a disgusting amount of bread since I arrived here but that won’t stop me because fresh French baguette is just so goshdarn good. At school, the lunch meal is far more gourmet than anything the US public school system has ever provided for students. Truly, even on the day of a strike (an occurrence that France is notoriously known for) when the cafeteria staff was on strike and the meal was of lesser quality, it was still better than what you usually get at American schools. Everyday there is always a hot meal of some kind (usually including meat and some kind of vegetable), a few options of salads, traditional salad, soup, dessert (often yogurt), cheese, fruit, and bread. You can pick and choose what you want to take that day but the meals are meant to be filling and they definitely are. At home, there is fresh baguette everyday (hallelujah) and a panoply of other little biscuits, crunchy toasted breads, and little cakes. I’m going to be so fat when I return. But we usually eat vegetables with every meal, excluding le petit dejeuner (breakfast), and fruit either for dessert or for a snack.

One thing that has really meant a lot to me over these first few weeks is when people speak some English with me. I understand that I am here to learn French and I expect people to speak solely French with me but it can be extremely hard to understand what is going on. Sometimes all it takes is one word or phrase for me to gather context. So to everyone who has spoken any English with me since I arrived (my classmates, friends, teachers, and of course my family here), MERCI, MERCI, MERCI! And to everyone else who kinda speaks another language, if you are ever in a situation where someone who speaks more of that language than the current cultural language and you just happen to know a word that would provide this crucial context for them, be a doll and say the word. That little word is a random act of kindness in it of itself.

There have been lots of ups and downs so far, but an experience like this is meant to be a roller coaster and I’m just along for the ride. If you’re someone who has been or is afraid to enter another culture, even if just temporarily, it is perfectly fine to be scared. But you can’t let that stop you from going. You have to embrace the fear and the joy and the wonder all at the same time because that is what travel is all about. Living something that is different from your normal. You can’t live in the same box your entire life, you’ve got to try some new things out.

P.S. French pastries are all the hype.

Two weeks have now sped by in my new life here in France and it’s starting to become a bit more normal. I feel that I have truly underestimated the power of feeling comfortable around others before I embarked on this journey. In this second week I felt myself being more relaxed in the Bourboulou household and feeling like I could actually make a connection with the members of the family. This newfound comfort has resulted in me acting more like, well, me. Therefore, this week was filled with much more laughter, bizarre jingles that I conjured from the depths of my mind, and jokes that probably made no sense but were amusing nevertheless.

Although this week was a more developed week in the rainbows and sunshine aspect, it also meant the reality of the situation is beginning to set in as well. We all know what it feels like to have it have genuinely bad day from beginning to end. As in you just wake up on the wrong side of the bed and never seem to be able to turn that around. Well, I had one of those days this week and it straight up sucked. Some things you don’t really think about before you leave for your exchange is how isolated you will feel at times. For me, it still feels like most of my life is back in the United States. Everyone that truly knows me lives there, everyone that I truly know lives there. When you have a bad day at home, you’re surrounded by people that you’ve known forever and know exactly how to cheer you up. When you uproot your life and throw it across the ocean, you don’t have that same connection, especially not after being there for only two weeks. That day was pretty hard for me and left quite an impression. After talking to my good friend, Teresa, who is on a year long exchange in Italy with AFS, I learned that this was just the tippity-tippity-top of the iceberg and the real slough of bad days is yet to come. But, I do feel like having that bad day and surviving through it this early in the exchange was a good thing for me because now I kind of know what is yet to come and can mentally prepare myself for that.

Like I said, this was only one day of the week. The rest of it was pretty spectacular. Everyone at my school, students and teachers alike, are so incredibly kind to me and seem to genuinely care about my wellbeing. That type of appreciation is so underrated and sometimes does more for a person than what is just shown at the surface. My family here has also welcomed me with open arms and taken me in as one of their own. I am so very lucky to get to live in an environment with such caring people who have willingly accepted a foreigner as part of their family.

Something that I have noticed while being here is attitude is everything. Attitude is what makes people like you. Attitude is what makes you happy when in a less than pleasant situation. Attitude is what keeps you motivated and inspired and willing to do your best. I know you’ve probably heard it all before and maybe this just sounds super profound to me because I spend so much time in my own head over here, but I strongly advise you to take a closer look at your attitude when you’re in a bad mood or you begin blaming others for uncontrollable things. All it takes is one realization to change your day entirely.

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If you keep staying interested in my experience abroad, continue to follow my blog and look for photos being posted on my Instagram (@acutler8) or on my Facebook page (Anna Cutler). I’m still just at the beginning of my experience here and so many things are yet to come. Just the thought of that has me wildly excited and scared out of my mind.

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P.S. If you’re really into fancy, French fromage (cheese), I would highly recommend Brie. Honestly, that cheese has changed my life for the better and I can’t see to get enough.

I can’t quite believe that I’ve only spent one week here in Saint Médard en Jalles, France. It feels like I’ve been here for so long already. My world has been completely flipped upside down and nearly everything has changed, even if just slightly. Honestly, most of the time I have no idea what the heck is going on. For example, the second day after I arrived here in France, I was told we were going to some party with other students. So I’m just thinking to myself “Okay, great. I’ll get to meet some more French students, hang out, whatever.” It wasn’t until we literally arrived at the place and I saw the sign that said WEP (my exchange company here in France) that I realized this was a party for me, with other exchange students. You can imagine my surprise. That experience is an accurate depiction of my life here so far.

School in it of itself is a whole other battle. When you speak or listen to your native language, you don’t realize how quickly you speak or how easy it is for you to listen. Let me assure you, it is no walk in the park for those trying to learn. In my classes, I understand maybe 27% of what is going on, sometimes more, sometimes less. Who knew the things I would best understand over here would be the Cold War, derivatives, and sexual reproduction? School for me essentially means going to class, writing down whatever notes the teacher writes on the board (as best as I can understand it considering it is written in cursive as well as French), and just listening to the lecture to see if I can understand anything that is happening.

**Little side note here: when I am listening intensely to these lectures, I experience a strange sensation in my brain where nothing is happening. Truly, it’s as if my brain is buffering, waiting to understand a small fragment of a phrase or a word sometime soon. No other thoughts are in my brain, nothing else is happening. I’m just waiting. I’ve decided to call it a brain buffer period (or BBP).**

There are some very obvious things that have changed for me that many of you are curious about, so I though I would spend a bit of time explaining and sharing some of those differences.

Home/Lifestyle

My house here is in a typical French style with a clay tile roof and visible wooden beams supporting the ceiling. Notably, the toilet and shower are in separate rooms and every bathroom sink I have encountered thus far has had one option: cold water. In my house specifically, my bedroom doesn’t have a window on the wall but rather a skylight to provide natural light for the room.

The meals here are an event. In school, we are allotted at least one hour everyday for lunch, usually more depending on the classes you take. Sometimes, I have as many as three hours in between classes to just hang out and eat. At home, it’s typical for meals to last somewhere between 1.5-2 hours. Usually it begins with the main part of the meal, followed by salad, followed by a selection of cheeses, followed by dessert (normally fruit or yogurt), followed by coffee, tea, or an infusion. Not to mention, having delicious bread, usually baguette, at every meal.

In terms of clothing, the French have a quite different taste than Americans. The boys here will usually wear Puma or Adidas fashion sneakers, accompanied by cuffed pants, a knitted sweater, and a fashionable coat with a scarf for when we go outside. The girls will usually wear suede New Balance sneakers or ankle boots along with skinny-fit pants (sometimes cuffed) a scarf, and a jacket of some sort, usually leather. You will never see anyone wearing athletic clothes or sweatpants to school or in public. Ever. But you will likely  see someone wear the exact same outfit multiple days in a row or the same article of clothing for an entire week (ex. Scarf, pants, shoes, sweater, etc.).

School

School schedules here are very different than in the US. For one thing, you have a different schedule every day of the week, but the same weekly schedule all year. There is a “bell” system that goes off every hour (I say “bell” because it’s not so much a bell, but more of a jingle, like from a TV commercial). You have each of your classes with the same group of 30 people, unless you elect to take a less traditional class like Euro English (the equivalent of AP English Language) or Russian, then you’ll have different people.

Here, I am in the classes set on the business track, so I take classes like business, math, English, French literature, Spanish, history, and a gym class. I have English two days of the week and I so look forward to having that little time when I know exactly what is going on.

Also, if your teacher is not there one day for one reason or another, you just simply don’t have class. If it’s your first class of the day, you can just come in late, and if it’s your last class, you can leave early. The French school system operates under a complete “open campus” model. Students are free to come and go as they please as long as they are there for their classes. Smoking is also very popular among teenagers so in between classes or during the lunch break, many students will go outside in front of the school for a smoke. Students who smoke and those who don’t will all congregate and just have social time. So far, I have not been pressured to smoke at all.

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So much has happened in this first week, it’s hard to comprehend. So far I have visited Bordeaux twice, gone to the supermarket, met the other exchange students in my program, and gone to a movie premier where there was a famous French actor. I have to say, I think this exchange is off to a great start and I can’t wait to see what else this experience has I store for me!