To say these past few days have been a whirlwind of overwhelming and exciting emotions would be an understatement. I guess I should start from the beginning- Boston. Before heading off to Paris via Boston Logan airport, my mom and I drove up early in order to explore Boston as well as avoid being late due to traffic. We spent our two days shopping on the wonderful street of Newbury and stuffing our faces with lobster rolls. YUM. For a while, our stay at the hotel and the touristy things we did just felt like a regular vacation, as opposed to the launching point for a completely new life I would soon being creating. It only really hit me that this was all actually happening once we were in the Hilton listening to the director and president speak about the year that would ensue. With all the talk of their expectations and other things that were said in order to reassure the parents, I felt almost dismayed by their lectures. "Maybe this wasn't such a good idea?" But alas, I eventually boarded the plane and said a goodbye to my mom. Eventually, I made my way through the decently long security line and waited as my classmates slowly made their way through the overweight suitcase lands to the more relaxed gate area. Our flight was at the late hour of 10:50 PM, and I was thankfully able to sleep somewhat, but still talk to some girls from my program sitting next to me. When we finally arrived in Paris, the only thing going through my mind was, "How will I ever transport my suitcases?!" However, my friend and I ended up finding those rather large suitcase carts which were free at CDG. When we arrived at the busses, we were all buzzing with nervousness in anticipation of our arrival. That feeling subsided after sitting for an hour when we were eventually informed that 7 peoples' suitcases were lost (and still are). We left Paris sans their suitcases and began our 5ish hour drive to Rennes. The speed bumps in our journey did not stop there. When we were just 30 miles outside of Rennes, my bus's tire just beneath me on the driver's side exploded! I honestly felt like we were going to flip or something horrible was going to happen. It was a scary experience, okay? About an hour later, we transferred everything onto another bus and continued the adventure. After being dropped off, I found my host family within seconds and we walked to the house which happens to be about 2 minutes walk from school and everything really. These past few days have been all about adjusting as best I can before school starts. Yesterday, we took a little tour of Rennes and the bustling city life. There are so so many shops and restaurants, a few of which are American- I also can't wait to venture into some of the hole-in-the-wall cafes. After a cheese, bread, and avocado filled lunch, I took a solo trip to the Parc Du Thabor, which we had visited earlier in the day with my host mom's dog in tow. The park was so much bigger than I had imagined, with oodles of flower mazes, a lawn filled with people chatting, and a large grass square. With my camera in hand, I explored all of the ins and outs, taking in the beauty. I stumbled upon a small basin of water, where tons of children sat pointing at fish and trying to touch them. After sitting there for a while just watching, I eventually returned back to the house for a pie-cheese-type dish for dinner. Today was a bit more jam-packed, with lots of walking and running involved. This morning, I took a nice run through the Parc Du Thabor, which was full of other people running and reading beside the flowers. After conquering that pursuit (I've had so.much.food. It was necessary!), we took yet another tour of Rennes, though this time more extensive. We passed by houses with more of a medieval feel and the train station which I expect I will be using in the future. On our way back from the tour, we saw someone from my group and promptly invited them over for cider. Even though I didn't understand a lot of the conversation, observing multiple french people talk was helpful. And now, I am going to finish up this post and set out my clothes for tomorrow because we have school!! Yayy!!!!! So fun!!!! To my luck, it's just orientation and then we have testing Tuesday, with Wednesday being a Rennes exploration day according to one of my classmates. Thank-goodness for two day school weeks. Hope you guys are doing well and enjoy these photos! xo P.S. Sorry this is so long! I don't know what got into me, haha. {FACEBOOK}{TWITTER}{INSTAGRAM}{BLOGLOVIN'}{TUMBLR}
To say these past few days have been a whirlwind of overwhelming and exciting emotions would be an understatement. I guess I should start from the beginning- Boston. Before heading off to Paris via Boston Logan airport, my mom and I drove up early in order to explore Boston as well as avoid being late due to traffic. We spent our two days shopping on the wonderful street of Newbury and stuffing our faces with lobster rolls. YUM. For a while, our stay at the hotel and the touristy things we did just felt like a regular vacation, as opposed to the launching point for a completely new life I would soon being creating. It only really hit me that this was all actually happening once we were in the Hilton listening to the director and president speak about the year that would ensue. With all the talk of their expectations and other things that were said in order to reassure the parents, I felt almost dismayed by their lectures. "Maybe this wasn't such a good idea?" But alas, I eventually boarded the plane and said a goodbye to my mom. Eventually, I made my way through the decently long security line and waited as my classmates slowly made their way through the overweight suitcase lands to the more relaxed gate area. Our flight was at the late hour of 10:50 PM, and I was thankfully able to sleep somewhat, but still talk to some girls from my program sitting next to me. When we finally arrived in Paris, the only thing going through my mind was, "How will I ever transport my suitcases?!" However, my friend and I ended up finding those rather large suitcase carts which were free at CDG. When we arrived at the busses, we were all buzzing with nervousness in anticipation of our arrival. That feeling subsided after sitting for an hour when we were eventually informed that 7 peoples' suitcases were lost (and still are). We left Paris sans their suitcases and began our 5ish hour drive to Rennes. The speed bumps in our journey did not stop there. When we were just 30 miles outside of Rennes, my bus's tire just beneath me on the driver's side exploded! I honestly felt like we were going to flip or something horrible was going to happen. It was a scary experience, okay? About an hour later, we transferred everything onto another bus and continued the adventure. After being dropped off, I found my host family within seconds and we walked to the house which happens to be about 2 minutes walk from school and everything really. These past few days have been all about adjusting as best I can before school starts. Yesterday, we took a little tour of Rennes and the bustling city life. There are so so many shops and restaurants, a few of which are American- I also can't wait to venture into some of the hole-in-the-wall cafes. After a cheese, bread, and avocado filled lunch, I took a solo trip to the Parc Du Thabor, which we had visited earlier in the day with my host mom's dog in tow. The park was so much bigger than I had imagined, with oodles of flower mazes, a lawn filled with people chatting, and a large grass square. With my camera in hand, I explored all of the ins and outs, taking in the beauty. I stumbled upon a small basin of water, where tons of children sat pointing at fish and trying to touch them. After sitting there for a while just watching, I eventually returned back to the house for a pie-cheese-type dish for dinner. Today was a bit more jam-packed, with lots of walking and running involved. This morning, I took a nice run through the Parc Du Thabor, which was full of other people running and reading beside the flowers. After conquering that pursuit (I've had so.much.food. It was necessary!), we took yet another tour of Rennes, though this time more extensive. We passed by houses with more of a medieval feel and the train station which I expect I will be using in the future. On our way back from the tour, we saw someone from my group and promptly invited them over for cider. Even though I didn't understand a lot of the conversation, observing multiple french people talk was helpful. And now, I am going to finish up this post and set out my clothes for tomorrow because we have school!! Yayy!!!!! So fun!!!! To my luck, it's just orientation and then we have testing Tuesday, with Wednesday being a Rennes exploration day according to one of my classmates. Thank-goodness for two day school weeks. Hope you guys are doing well and enjoy these photos! xo P.S. Sorry this is so long! I don't know what got into me, haha. {FACEBOOK}{TWITTER}{INSTAGRAM}{BLOGLOVIN'}{TUMBLR}