I’ve let 4 days slip by since my last blog – sorry! I’ve been a busy bee.

On Thursday after lunch, my class and I (there’s about 30 of us) went to the piscine (the pool) for our weekly sport. I was a bit apprehensive about waltzing around it my 1-piece, but of course the minute we were all standing there in our swimmers I no longer gave a crap. Then we had to swim laps for about 45 minutes. I was genuinely surprised when I didn’t get a stitch as I usually do. I was focusing on not holding my breath, because that’s usually what is responsible for me dying when I try and exercise for extended periods. Anyway, they all though I was “très vite” (very fast) and even though i was not tanned like an Australian; I was definitely a sporty like an Australian. So there we are, I’m keeping up the reputation of Australia. Oi oi oi. I asked my friend Jacques why he did not swim and he said because it is boring and that he has nothing to think about. I wondered what I had been thinking for those 45 minutes and realised that i go through song lyrics in my head! So I sing while I swim.

I’m a bit annoyed at myself because even though i haven’t written a blog for a few days, I could at least have written key things that have happened so i wouldn’t forget when i eventually did get around to writing it... but I didn’t, so I have a suspicion I am forgetting to tell you a few things that have happened. Sorry about that too. Last night after school Anne and Charles told me that they were taking us to see a movie which was in English – a reward for me! It had French subtitles and was called the mole. It’s based on some old book about agents in England at war against Russia etc. I struggled to follow what was happening unfortunately. I think it is one of those movies you have to watch at least 20 times to pick up on all the minute details which complete the story. I ate a bucket of pop-corn... again :D

After the movie we went to a little Vietnamese restaurant along one of the narrow cobbled streets in Aix. It was pretty empty which for me is always a sight that is a little depressing. the food was great anyway but I ate soup with chop-sticks which was a bit of a fail. When we left Charles pointed out the pub next door and said it would be a really great place for me to go. He said it has a bit of a reputation for young people and people who speak English, so when I get a change I’ll go check it out. When we got home i had a late night Skype with Mum and Jeffy.

 It was on Thursday that Colleen told me that she and a friend were going to catch a bus to Aix to visit me on Saturday at 10. I don’t know if I told you about Colleen, but I sent out a group email to all the exchange students in my district and she was one of the girls who replied. There are only about 10 exchangers in district 1760, which is not that many unfortunately. I travelled a 15 minute walk to Aix bus stop to meet them, but because I didn’t have a phone or a watch I had no idea what time it was when I got there. I tried to ask a guy by saying “excuse me, what is the time please” (in French though, I just have no idea how to spell it), and he had already started saying ‘no’ before I’d finished my sentence. So then in English I said “you don’t have the time?” even though he had his phone in his hand -“no, No”,(God, what an idiot), “umm ok, Thank you anyway...”.

There were about 8 buses coming/parked/leaving, and I barely knew what these girls looked like so I got a little nervous until a bus pulled in and there they were staring at me through the window. Colleen and Sally from America. They’re both 16 and have been in France since august so they are pretty advanced with their French which is kind of inspirational for me. We were planning to buy lunch, but my awesome and wonderful family decided to cook for us. We went for a stroll anyway before lunch (which turned into a pumping power-walk in order to keep our body temperatures above freezing) an a bit of window shop (that’s all exchange students can afford – they both came with like 10 euro each or something ludicrous) and then we found a cafe for a coffee. It was actually an ice-cream shop which I though was a bit ridiculous in the middle of winter, but i got an espresso and possibly the best  (and only) nutella cookie i have ever experienced in my life.  Sally got a crepe with nutella and banana and colleen got double-choc ice cream. We all shared coz we’re heaps close now after a whole hour of friendship! It’s pretty amazing that if you’re in the same boat e.g. being an exchange student, you seem to bond no matter what.

We came home and i played them a couple of songs on my guitar. It feels like i haven’t played in front of anyone for ages and you know what? I’ve missed it. Then we had the most awesome lunch ever.... it was veal in a creamy sauce that had been slow cooked so it was really soft and it had white wine in it and we had it with rice and a baguette. I love my family. Then the girls tried to teach me as much French as they could before being dropped at the bus stop at three.

I spent the afternoon mucking around of my guitar, and i uploaded a song onto YouTube (Finally) of me doing a cover of Video games by Lana del ray. Hopefully it’s get a few hits: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IByYsrMD3TU

Anne and Charles went to the other house in the country - I’m not even going to attempt to spell the name of the town – so Jean and Julie and I Packed up our bag for overnight and walked down to their grandparents house – which is where I am now. It’s probably the most amazing house I have been in since I got to France. I’ll have to get some photos soon for you. These guys are the people who are going to be my third family which means i get to live in this fantastic house whish is a five minute walk from my house now... I’m sitting in their lounge room at the moment watching the rugby between France and Ireland (they’re all rugby people here) and have just eaten a dinner of pizza and a desert of apple pie and ice-cream. There were 4 flavours of pizza but my favourite was cheese and honey... omg it was absolutely amazing.

Just a little ‘anger venting’ here: I had a man tag my name (in a picture on facebook) on the ass of a naked woman clearing snow. So if he happens to read this, he should know that that is pretty bloody messed up for an old man to do that to a 17 year old girl – hence we’re no longer friends on facebook and stay away from me. It was really creepy.

Asides from that, everything is still great here in France and I’ll keep you all up to date!

Lots of love,

Danika x