Amsterdam

So on Saturday I went to Amsteram!! It was really awesome.  I went with Greta and the host parents of her first host family, Yves and Anne.  They also took three other exchange students: Celliane from Brazil, Sakura from Japan, and Cynthia from Taiwan.  We were quite the multinational bunch.  Claire, from Misouri, was supposed to come as well, but she wasn't able to make it due to a change in host families.  So we got her a little pin as a gift.  Exchange students love pins, and Claire is going to absolutely adore the pin we picked out for her.

So on Friday evening I took the train in to Tournai and I stayed with Greta and her first host family who is also Sakura's second host family.  So us three were already there that night and spent it together.  But because January 6th was the epiphany, we ate a special cake/pie for dessert.  It's tradition to have a pastry like it with a stone of some sort somewhere in it.  The location of the stone is unknown to the people eating it, and everyone gets a piece.  Whoever has the stone in their piece becomes the king or queen and then gets to wear a little crown.  Anne is the one who found the stone.

The next morning we picked up Celliane and Cynthia and left at 6h45 for the drive to Amsterdam. I wasn't really keeping track of how long it took, but it was somewhere between two and three hours, probably closer to three.  We walked around the city and through the Red Light District.  It's very interesting, and I've never been anywhere like that in my life where they have so many stores advertising magic mushrooms, psychedelic herbs, sex toys, and much much more.  Anyway, we didn't spend much time around there.  We took a boat tour, ate at a Chinese restauraunt (which I'm very happy about because I've been craving chinese food for the past 4 months), got some souvenirs, went to the flower market, and visited the Anne Frank House.  Since I have yet to actually read the Diary of Anne Frank, I decided to get it there, and in french too.  At the end of the day and after a lot of walking, we ate our pre-purchased sandwiches/salads in the car as we started heading back to Tournai.

Myself, Celliane, Greta, Sakura, Cynthia

It was a really fun day.  I got three pins and two patches for my blazer, and a pair of awesome and comfortable clog slippers.  I also learned a lot of interesting things.  For one, I didn't know that Amsterdam had so many canals!  Almost every other street has a bridge or runs along one of the canals.  Another thing they told us on the boat tour was about the houses there.  They are all built really thin, deep, and close together.  They are so thin because the way they taxed you was based on how wide your house was, so the skinner, taller, and deeper the better.  Because they are so thin and tall, when people move homes, they move all the furniture out of the windows into the street below instead of trying to accomplish the impossible and move them up and down stairs and in and out of doorways.

I came back home from Tournai on Sunday morning.  In the late afternoon, I stopped by to visit my "oldie", Fernanda, one last time because she left to go back to Argentina this morning.  I was sad to have to say goodbye, and her leaving just makes me think about how fast time flies and how I'll be the one to go home soon.  I'm almost halfway done my exchange already! In some ways it still feels like it's only just the beginning.  I'm going to miss her a lot, but I am promising myself that I will see her in the future.  I plan on doing a lot of travelling even after my exchange year and for the rest of my life.  Argentina is definitely near the top of my list of places to go.

Today I had to go back to school.  I don't really enjoy waking up at 6 in the morning, but I get to see my friends, and that's worth it for me.  I also met a new exchange student who just got here over the vacation at the end of December.  She's from Australia, and she's on her exchange for 6 months with YFU.  She's in 5th year here (for school), so a year under the rest of us, except Cristina (also with YFU) who's in 4th year.

Bonne Année!

Happy New Year everyone!

It's weird to think that I'll be going home this year instead of next year.  Now that Januray 2012 is here and my beautiful oldie is going to be leaving, I'm going to be next.  In just over 7 months I'll be going back to Windsor! :/

So I got my report card from school.  I only failed one exam! and, to my surprise, I passed geography! Overall, it was the worst report card I've ever had, but I was satisfied enough.

Christmas went well.  I got a few gifts, including mascara, a shirt, a book, and a scarf.  Everyone I gave a gift to all seemed to like them.  So I didn't go to church at all this Christmas.  I don't think a lot of people here did.  But this is the first time I've never been to church at Christmas time.  I'm not complaining and I can't say that I missed it, but it was just something else that made my Christmas different.  On the negative side of things I missed over the holidays... well, food is basically all that list is made up of.  Not to say that I didn't eat here, nor that that food wasn't good, but I just didn't have annolini or Mom's Christmas cookies.  Otherwise, Christmas wasn't really all that different.  All the family got together and ate for two days in a row, and then we did it again on New Year's Day.

On Christmas Eve, the family all came over and we started with champagne and little appetizers.  The little appetizers included oysters (which basically feel like a huge soft booger plus a bunch of salty sea water going down your throat - do not recommend), pistachios, chips, salmon on melba toast, foie gras on little crackers, little sausages and salami slices, and things like that.  We had also prepared some things to eat with spoons out of little glasses.  One that I made was basically finely cut up tomatoes and applies with pesto, olive oil, and basil.  By George it was delicious.  After that + socializing, we all went to sit at the table and proceeded to eat soup, asparagus risotto, duck a l'orange, and cake for dessert.  It was all very good.  The evening finally ended at 2h30 and I was very tired.  Christmas Day was here at the house again with most of the same people.  We didn't really have a huge meal, but the meal we did have together was earlier in the day.  We basically just had salad, cheese and lunch meats/bacon.  But we got to melt our own cheese and cook our own bacon on these big hot apparatuses that were on the table... I enjoy that kind of meal very much.  We had one just like it again on New Year's Day.  On New Year's Day, it's tradition to go to the home of an older member of the family's house, so in my current host family's case we went to my host dad's parents' house in the early afternoon, and we went to my host mom's parents' house in the evening.  On New Year's Day, we do a greeting of three kisses instead of just one, so it takes three times as long to greet everyone.

In between Christmas and New Year's, Alejandro came over and we made Butterkuchen together.  It wasn't baked perfectly, but it was still pretty darn good.

On New Year's Eve, I went to a party in Baileux with some friends, and I spent the night at my third host family's house.  It was the first time I'd been to my third family's house and it seems very nice.  The house is a different style than where I'm currently living, and it's also different from my first house.  I like that each place I'm staying is different from the last.  I'll have a big bed!! I'm very happy about that.  Maybe I was just exhausted from the party when I went to sleep in it at 5am, but it was quite comfortable too.

Next Saturday, I'll be going to Amsterdam with Greta, Claire, and Greta's host family! I cannot wait! Greta and Claire are extremely fun to hang out with, and every time I've been with them, I've always had an amazing time.  I don't expect this to be any different.  I am super excited :)

Also, my host family keeps saying that they're going to bring me to Paris soon.  It'll be sometime after my host sister, Anne, is finished her exams.  She studies non-stop, the poor thing.  I'll be happy for her once her exams are finished.