Tours, France

Last Saturday, we finally arrived in Tours after the long hours of traveling around 5:00 pm at the school. All of our exchange students were waiting to pick us up and they even threw us a small welcome party with food and drinks. After, my host family gave me a small tour of the city by car. They live very close to the city center and only five minutes away from the school. Their house is so cute, and they converted the playroom into a bedroom especially for me to stay in. We sat down for a family dinner later around 8:00. Families in France typically eat around this time and they tend to eat larger lunches and smaller dinners. I got to try all sorts of cultural food such as soufflé and a type of meat which tastes a lot like beef jerkey. The family also practices some different customs than I do in America. For example, every single member of the family says goodnight to everyone, every night.

 

The next morning, after catching up on missed sleep during our travels, I went with the family to a French grocery store called “Carrefour”. It was a lot like any grocery store in America, but instead of taking a cart, you have to pay for one with an euro coin. Also, their is a certain method of doing the groceries that is different than in America. Because my host family had a membership with the grocery store, they received a small scanner to scan all of the food that they put into their cart. Once finished, all they had to do was click a few buttons to pay. This method was a lot more efficient than having to wait to have all of your groceries rung up by the cashier. Later, we met up with some others at a local shopping mall before heading over to see a movie. The movie was hard to understand at some points but overall very funny! I can’t wait to learn more french and experience more French culture on this trip!

My first full day in France was largely spent in caves. I woke up in my new room to the sound of Thomas’ knocking, and then I went downstairs to enjoy the incredibly stereotypical breakfast of baguettes and croissants. I spent the rest of the morning getting to know Thomas’ family better, who are all very nice and understanding. For lunch, we went to eat in a restaurant located in a man made cave, which made for an interesting aesthetic. There was no menu at the restaurant, but rather several courses that were listed at the beginning of the meal. It ended up being a very good lunch; there was bread for each course in which you could put the food, whether it was mushrooms or goat cheese. The goat cheese in itself was a nice experience, for it had a very strong and differentry taste without being bad. The restaurant also had some mushrooms with butter and garlic and a few other things inside, and those were pretty good as well. After eating in the cave, we went to another system of caves. The location was called Le Mystere Des Faluns. The caves had different inscriptions and displays that helped describe the history of them. It went over their formation as well as the creatures that had once lived where the caves are now. It also talked about the miners who first dug into the caves and unearthed the fossils and other remnants. Overall, the caves were quite beautiful and astounding. I also enjoyed walking around the area outside the large cave systems where you can see the houses of people who carved their homes into the rock. Again, it was quite an amazing experience. After this, my exchange family and I returned to their home where we had mushrooms and chicken, along with green beans and a few other vegetables. I would think that my taste in food is branching out during this trip, which is nice. It’s a good improvement to make during my first full day.

Note: I will edit and post pictures as soon as I can, but it does not allow me to submit them from my phone, at least not that I know of or can figure out.

This weekend I spent time with the family at the house. When first arrived at the house, she gave me a tour around. It was my first night here, and we had a quaint dinner in the garden, just Agathe, her mom and I. Her mom made homemade pizza (the dough and everything) and the vegetables on it were from their garden. The next morning (it was really the afternoon) I woke up at 1. That afternoon her mom brought us to the mall of Tours, and we met up with Axelle, and Fiona(the French students and their correspondents.) the mall was so different from the ones at home. While we do have indoor/outdoor malls, they aren’t like it being that it was mostly outside. At the entrance of the mall, there was this waffle bar just to the right. They sell Belgium styled waffles, and Agathe and I both had one with Nutella. After the waffles, more people from the exchange started showing up, and we walked around and shopped a little before the movie. We saw a romantic comedy, but it took place in real life. It was called ‘Connasse’ Princesse des cœurs. It was filmed from hidden camera and the French woman in the film was obsessed with trying to marry Prince Harry. It followed her quest and eventual failure. Although I couldn’t understand everything that was said, her actions were very interesting and hilarious. After the movie we met other people, mostly the guys and we all walked together back to the mall. We didn’t really shop, we hung out upstairs in an outdoor loft like area. People started leaving so we went downstairs and waited outside subway until the parents arrived.  When I arrived back at the house, I met Clara, Agathes’ little sister, and their bunny, Apple!

After having a previously long day of traveling, it was wonderful to sleep in. Once waking up, I put on a clean outfit for the day. I came downstairs to a delightful hello from the mother. I enter the kitchen to an array of fruits, fresh bread, yogurt, and cereal. The kitchen is filled with red coloring and has a farm chicken theme, which I find adorable. When finishing breakfast, Marie and I headed out to the backyard. We put up a hammock and caught up on all of the things that happened when we were away from each other. After much relaxing, the family and I got together for lunch. We started with boiled asparagus. This was then followed by baked chicken and steamed cucumbers. After finishing the main course the father brought out a tub of variety of cheeses and yogurt. I tried some of the cheese, which has a stronger taste than those in America. To finish the meal fruit was brought out. When we finished lunch, we all got into the car to head to a nearby town named Chinon. The ride was filled with lots of neat building to look at outside the window. Unfortunately for me, the ride also contained my turns and harsh bumps. After waking up from a little car nap I proceeded to vomit in my bag. But after pulling over and dumping it out we were back on our way! Chinon was a cute little town. At the top was a castle which showed a great views. When walking down the street, I saw many cute little stores containing clothing, food, art, and other items. I learned that some of the houses there were made out of mud and wood to keep them strong. When in the town it seems as if time stops. People take their time wondering the streets, not running around trying to get somewhere on time. After much exploring we sat down at an outside café. There I preceded to drink an Orangina. This was also my first attempt at ordering something in French on the trip. It was lovely sitting there talking to the parents and looking at all of the surrounding buildings. When we were finished with lunch we headed on home. For dinner we feasted on cantaloupe, ham, potatoes, bread, cheese, and yogurt. After a long tiring day, I went upstairs to sleep for the night.

On Monday I woke up kind of late because I was still so tired from the flight. I woke up at around 11:30-12, French time of course. The night before Val’s mom asked me what I wanted to eat for breakfast and I asked for a croissant, because I love croissants and we are in France, so I expected it be really good. The next morning I walked downstairs to go see what was in store and I wasn’t greeted with an extremely appreciated surprise: sitting in the table was 2 really big croissants that were just for me!!! There were so soft and giant and delicious and just so wonderful to eat. After that we went back to my room and hung out for a little listening to music. After that we went and ate leftovers from the night before which was, as it was the night before, absolutely delicious. As I said in my pre-trip reflection I was really nervous about liking the food from here, because I’m kind of a picky eater sometimes, but trying everything has been put in front of me has been amazing so far. After that Val and I decided to meet up with gregoire and Brett in the city. First we met with gregoire and Brett and then we met up with a bunch of Val and Greg’s mutual friends. We then walked to a bar where Val and his friends has a drink. After hanging out there for a little bit we walked to this sort of tunnel like place where there was stairs and we sat on those. A little while after getting there Kaelin and Esther (her exchange partner) showed up. We hung out there for a while talking and Val and his friends began rapping all of a sudden. It was so cool!!! After hanging around there for a while we all went back to Val’s house and did even more hanging out! We ended up throwing around the football that I brought as gift for Val. The French kids were pretty amazed as how we threw the ball how we did so far and fast. They taught us how to throw the ball like a rugby ball because it was easier for them and I was so amazed how far they could flick the ball. Eventually everyone started to go home and after everyone left we went back inside for dinner which consisted of chicken and French fries. That was, obviously, also delicious. I then went up stairs, after eating, to take a shower. After my shower I went into my room, wrote a little bit and fell asleep.

Today was be first day at the school. We had only been at the school once before when we were dropped. At first we got a tour of the school. The school is split up into buildings labeled with letters and then a lab building. The school made us breakfast which was amazing. The had typical French breakfast food. The school has one gate to let students in and out. The buildings surround a quad like area. There is no grass like the Cary Academy quad. There is a basketball court and volleyball court. There are also random hidden rooms in the school with couches. The lab rooms are marked by color.
After the tour the first class I had was history. In this class the students were preparing for a big exam. They were talking about some wars in the Middle East. Ones including Israel and Egypt. Then I was in math class. It was very different to the first class because in the first class the kids were very quiet and in the second the kids were loud and joking around. The teacher seemed nice. After math we had lunch. This was confusing because there are a lot of kids in one space. The lunch was good but we had to eat very quickly because people needed tables. After lunch there was a break and a French exchange students showed us a hidden room with couches and seats. This reminded me of senior corner but for everyone. After that it was time to go to biology class. In this class we talked about the heart and different parts of the heart. I think I only understood most of what the teacher was saying because we had learned about that last year. This class was very long and took up the rest of the time before school ended. After school ended we went to a café in Tours, which was fun. I got to walk around the streets of tours and it was beautiful. Overall a had an amazing day and can’t wait for the rest of the trip.

Day 1:
I woke up late today at 9:35. Everyone else was up already. Yesterday we had watched a movie called interstellar, and we went till 11:30 before it finished. Ate bacon bits and eggs for breakfast. Me and his little brother went down the street to a bakery but it was closed unfortunately. We came back and all of us played a game of blockus, never seen in america. Parents friends later came and we all ate lunch. Lunch was served at different times clearly. Before main course, main, and after course. As seen in the picture, all that was set on the table was the appetizer. No other part of the dinner course was present. This is very different as we tend to either eat them all at the same time or not have a distinct separation. We then played mario kart and mario bros along with the other family’s kids. Hugo and I later went to watch mad max with a bunch of other exchange students, and we later stayed in an outlet mall like place before we all parted. Ate dinner with the family. The dessert had a cheese that they said was french cheese. I was not obliged to try it but did anyways. Was very soft and liquidy on the inside. It was bitter after it stayed in your mouth after a while and did not like it. I do think that the exchange family is doing their best to make it as American as possible. We had pizza on the first night, and then macaroni pasta with meat sauce on the next. Overall good day. There was an old lady on the train who was being racist, and it scared everyone off the train. She demanded that nobody eat her cookies as well. People even left the train to catch a different one to leave her alone.

This weekend, we arrived on Sunday with little sleep, some of us with no sleep, and left the airport to go to Tours.  On the way to Tours, we stopped by a café-like place to eat.  My lunch was composed of a chicken sandwich and orangina.  After lunch we drove another 2 hours to Tours and were dropped off at the school.   At school we met our host families and had a snack before riding home.  At home I had a quick tour of the house and then proceeded to play soccer with my exchange student Hugo and his little brother Antonin.  We then ate dinner and went to bed early.   The next day we visited the château Chambord.  Apparently, after the castle was built, the king only used it for thirty days before leaving for Paris and never returned.   We were supposed to meet at Chambord with Drake, his exchange student Johan, Michael and his exchange student Adrien.   Michael was more tired than he thought however, and instead slept in.   While Drake and I were at Chambord, we met Luke and together we all picnicked for lunch.    After that we stayed for another couple hours then returned home.  We ate dinner outside, then went to bed early for school the next day.

 

 

 

Continue reading My First Weekend in Tours by Natalie

After we arrived in Tours on Sunday evening, we went to Constance’s home for a small party. We had snacks and drinks, sat by the pool, and talked a bit. She had an adorable little dog that fit in two hands who was really hyperactive, but nonetheless super cute.
The next day, we went to Chambord and explored the entirety of the castle while learning about the history of it. Additionally, we also toured the outside of it in a golf cart, which my family let me drive! The castle was massive so it took the majority of the day to see all of it, which got tiring, but was well worth it. Both nights, we stayed at home in the evening and had a family dinner, and then we all went to bed somewhat late.