The Past Couple of weeks :)

Hey everyone Back home :)
ok where do i begin? ....

On the 16th of May Ellie's host grandfather died so Ellie has moved into my house for 3 weeks. i had stayed with the grandfather in Le Mans earlier in the month so Ellie and i attended the funeral on Thursday the 19th. RIP Pierre Benoist. Ellie and i are now living together and its cool like a sleepover every night haha. But she returns to her host family this Wednesday :(

Last week was just an average week at school. we had our usual chocolate feasts and hot chocolate sessions at cute cafes, did some more exploring. On Tuesday my school had a fundraiser run for poor kids in Madagascar, some Rotarians sponsored me 40 euros a km so i walked 6.5 km and raised 260 euros. i was happy with how much a raised because a little in places of poverty can go a long way!!

On Friday evening (the 20th) Ellie and i went and visited the Prytane. the prytane is the best military school/ University In France. It Is very famous and is covered in lovely old buildings and huge beautiful gardens. Our friends that go to the university there gave us a tour. After that Ellie and i went and brought kebabs from Shian. ( the kabab guy) he normally gives us free kababs and food but i don't think he's loves us anymore because we aid for pretty much like the first time ever!! we brought them and eat them on the ier on Le Loire river and watched the sun set.

On Saturday the 22nd my host parents took Ellie and i to their apartment at the beach in Sables-D'Olonne. it wasn't very hot weather so we didn't get any sun bathing in, but that didn't stop us from having a really good time. we brought ice creams and explored the town and walked along the beach front. That night Ellie and i got dropped in town  and enjoyed a fun night in the nightlife of France. my host parents were arguing most of the weekend which made it uncomfortable, but i still had a really good weekend.

the weekend that has just been we had a rotary weekend in Au Pouliguen it was a really nice weekend. We spent Saturday on the beach and had a picnic there for lunch in the afternoon we went to a town called Guerande and went around and had delicious ice cream. on Friday night i tried creme brulet for the first time and now i have fallen in love with it...... dangerous. On Saturday night we had a really fun night together and then on Sunday we met all the future exchange students that leave for their countries in August. i met three students that are heading for NZ and one girl that is going to Auckland, all and all was another great weekend:)

 I'll keep you all updated on everything, Love Always Es xox

 

The Month that has been: April-May 2011

The past month has been such an amazing month full of cities, adventures, emotion and so many memorys. This month has been such a highlight in my life, one of the best months of my life so far.... actually I think maybe THE best month so far in my life.

Ok so the past months highlights for me were going to Spain and Paris. Also this month i changed to my second host family whom are alot different to my last. Ok so let me tell you about some of my adventures this month.

I left on a school trip to Spain on the 11^th of April. The first city we set for was called Burgos. It took 14 hours to get there from La Fleche on the bus, we arrived at about 10am and as you probably realised you can’t really get much sleep on a bus filled of 14 year olds so when we arrived we were all very tired. We travelled at night but that really didn’t make any difference.  In Burgos we went  to a huge cathedral which was very pretty  in the morning and then we walked up a big hill to a look out and had lunch looking out over the city and spent the afternoon looking around the city and shopping . In the late afternoon we headed off on the bus again to Salamanca. Salamanca was such a beautiful city full of history and amazing buildings and beautiful and surroundings. We spent 3 nights in Salamanca discovering the city and the Spanish culture. On the last day we headed to Bilbao the last city of our Spain trip there we went to a Museum of modern art and went to a huge football stadium and then heading home in the evening back to La Fleche. It was such an awesome trip. I absolutely loved Spain it is such a beautiful country. I didn’t expect France and Spain to be very different because they are so close but they really are so different to each other. But both as great.

For the Easter break i went to Bretayne again except with my host family this time (the Sureaus) they have a house there. The pasrt of Bretayne i went to was called ‘Au Pouilguen’ it was so different to part i visited last time. The beach had white sand and hotels/shops ect lining it all the was down the beach. The beach was very long and looked like something off a movie or American tv programmes. I spent the weekend getting brown on the beach in the sunshine. My host brother and sister eve and Paul covered me in sand and we enjoyed our time together before i moved host families. The temperature is very warm for this time of the year. 

The temperature is around 26 degrees everyday and its only the beginning of Spring so i can’t even imagine how hot Summer is going to be. Already looking forward to the Autumn/ Winter to come .. eek

 After returning form my long weekend In the sunshine i came back to La Fleche and i moved host families. My new family are the Guttierez family, it’s just me and the parents as their children are grown up and not living at home.  They are very different from my last family but i think it’ll be ok and they speak no French but i guess that is a good thing, so i’ll learn more French and learn that French faster. But for now it is very difficult.

At the end of the holiday the last weekend from the Friday- Sunday i went to Paris for the first time with my host parents. So Paris.. Where do i begin? Paris was a dream of mine since i was a little girl. And there i was looking at the Eiffel tower through my own two eyes. I couldn’t really believe it. It wasn’t on a picture it was right in front of me. In Paris we went shopping, up the Eiffel tower and arc de triumph also went to the Louvre and the notra dame i walked along the Champs elysees and went to the Moulin Rouge, i really saw most of Paris and its amazingness J Paris was better than i expected, and trust me i had high expectations. Absolutely loved it. I think the best weekend of my life so far J

So yes that was my past month in a nutshell. Saw many new things and experienced so much. Been away nearly four months now. Oh how time has flowen by!!

 Lots Of Love, Esther xoxo

February-March

Bonjour, Salut!

The month that has been has been fun and exciting and full of many great times.

Well in the past month as you all know it was my birthday, i had a lovely day and went to Angers a town around 1.5 hours away by bus with my two good friends Humberto and Ellie. we spent the day looking around at the shops and having a lunch together, funally enough while i was there i bumped into a friend from New Zealand which was very funny and random. my host family made my birthday lovely they brought me some gifts and a delicious cake, i must find the name of it and get the recipe so i can make it when i get home so you can all taste how good it is:) How many people can say that they spent their 17th Birthday in France shopping, watching the sunset over the countryside of France and with great people? i bet not many can but hey i'm part of the small percentage that can say they did, so amazing.:)

 I went to a beautiful castle that used to be the castle in which the royal family of France lived it was called the AZAY-LE-RIDEAU-CHATEAU. it have a huge pond and a walkway around it through all the lovely gardens, i like how i find out so much history about so many places. i went to the royal ballroom and dining hall and all over the castle it's exiting to think about all the wonderful and beautiful things and events that have happened where i stood. i went there on the 27th of February. The castle was built in 1537 so it is really old and it was occupied until the 18th century and in 1905 the state bought the chateau and its gardens. 

I had a two week holiday that finished a week ago and in the holidays my family took me to a beautiful cathedral called the cathedral of angers it was huge and had many beautiful stainglass windows, it was built in the 12th century it is 77m high with amazing towers. It is a very famous cathedral in France . Also in the holidays La fleche had a carnival, i had lots of fun there with my host siblings and my friend ellie we went on lots of rides and ate candy floss and toffee apples, i love how france has street carnivals and they just block off a street. it was lots of fun

For the last week of the holidays i went to Bretagne. Bretagne is the west coast of france. It was so nice to breathe in the nice open ocean air and to relax. i went on lots of day trips i went to a cathedral in Quimper called 'Saint Corentin' it was very beautiful. all the past Biships coffins are all in there and there were many candles around where people have prayed. quimper is my favorite town so far it was so beautiful and lovely. In Bretagne they eat alot of seafood so to my dislike i ate lots of seafood including stingray!!!! which to me was very very strange. Bretagne is very famous for cider, Seafood, Crepes and Pottery. Each day we went for long walks around the port and the beach. Here in europe i found the beaches are very different instead of sand there is big boulders and rocks. All the churches in Bretagne on by the sea because the french used to believe that it would protect them( not to sure why)

I also had a day where i got to meet all the other exchange students that are in my district in france which was really nice and i met lots of new friends. it so awesome to have friends from all around the world that i will hopefully stay in contact with throughout my life. Will be helpful for my future travels.

This month has been quite busy and i have had lots of fun! next month i am going to Spain On a school trip for  5 days which i can't wait for it's going to be so much fun!! and in June off to England so there is lots to look forward to in the next few months.

 

 To Everyone Back home, i miss you all lots and loving you all everyday. thinking of you Always. Lots of love Esther xox