I have realized...

I have been living in Angers for about 65 days now.

Days I have left: 39.

I DON'T WANNA LEAVE YET!!

However, I do miss my family and my friends back in the States.

It's just hard for me to believe that I have just about a month left to go before I go.

I'm starting to feel like I just arrived in Angers again. Wow...

Sorry that I haven't posted in a while. The next post will be of updates!!  ^.^


~Mia ^_^

Updates!

HEY EVERYBODY!!!

     Sorry I haven't posted in EXACTLY three weeks!!! Things have just been going on. Sooooo, what I'm gonna do is update you all who has been reading on what I've been doing for the past few weeks.

September 30 - I went to the soirée internationale at my university here. and saw some awesome talents being shown from the students from all the different countries. I wish I could've taken pictures but my phone with my good camera died. -____- I did something for the soirée as well. I decided to sing "If I Ain't Got You" by Alicia Keys for that night with my friend Jocelyn playing the piano. One word: AWESOME!!  It was seriously the BEST night of my life (and I know I've said this many times! haha) I felt so great after I was done with the song and I got a standing ovation!! (the first one in my entire life, actually) Everyone was clapping and I loved it. I have to give an extremely huge thank you to my friend Jocelyn also! We got everything together in three days. (because I almost didn't sing for the soirée!) She really helped me out, and she was a really great cooperator. Thank you sooooo much Jocelyn!! I'm so glad I did this soirée though!! After that, I went out and hung out with my friends and I got compliments the whole night!! ^_^

Here is a video of it that I put on YouTube (recorded by my friend Katsuki!!)

 

October 1 - October 9 - This week was pretty much my Fall Break. lol I didn't really do much. A lot of my friends went to different countries like Italy and Greece, and other places. Some left Angers and stayed in France and went to Paris and Lyon. I decided to stay here in Angers. I kind of had a chill Fall Break. I caught up on sleep, and I did some shopping, and sent my family some postcards as well. Also during that week I week I went to the market with Julia. It was a good break for me. I relaxed all through break haha. 

October 10 - October 13 - On October 10th, it was time to go back to school for the fall semester. For classes, we had to be placed into levels based on how we did in the intensive courses back in September. (or for people who weren't here in September, they had to take a placement test on October 5th.) I went to school that day and saw that I was in level Superior!! (the highest level) I was happy and a bit relieved because now I knew I had a chance to get the classes that I needed. However, whoever got into Superior had to take another test, because this level was split up into five more levels. After I took the test, my relief started to go down a bit, because I started to have doubt in getting my classes. Then for the rest of the day we got schedules to go to  some classes for a "trial run" to see what we wanted to take. It was like this the next day after we got our results back. 

     Then, the next day on October 11th, after I came out of Literature class, I was going to see how I did on the placement test. When I came out of class, my friend Anhton sees me and he's like "Hey, we're in the same level, 341." I had to look at the paper again to see where we were and I then became surprised with myself. I couldn't believed I had placed there!! There are five Superior levels : 331, 332, 341, 351, and 411. I was totally proud of myself, and not only that, I knew FOR SURE that I was able to get the classes that I needed. I was also happy that there were some people from group 6 back in September in my level also.  

     For the rest of this week, after we got schedules of potential classes we could take, we went to the classes to see how  they were and stuff. I already knew what I was going to take and I'm so glad everything worked out such as not having one classes overlap with another. The classes fit perfectly. It's not set in stone until tomorrow (October 17th) but I looked at my schedule and there were  absolutely NO classes that I needed or wanted to take that day meaning...NO. FRIDAY. CLASSES!!! Three day weekends are awesome!! ^_^ Not only that, but my first Monday class starts at around 11:15am...super long weekend!!  Buuuuuut, on a not so happy note, on Tuesdays I have classes from 8am to 7pm...YUCK!!! Not gonna like that day!! haha.Once I get everything situated with classes, I'll make more posts. I will also try and post more pictures and make random posts about small things just to keep you readers updated!!

 

Keep reading...and sorry for this suuuuuuper late post!!

~Mia ^_^

Good news!!

    I had a cold, and now it's just about gone!!! Yayyyyyy!!!! haha. Anyways, I have to say that for the most part, the weekend was good for me. On Friday (September 23) my host's mother friend René treated us (her, me and Katsuki) to dinner. Before I get into to that, I must tell you about Katsuki. She is another student living in the house and she arrived in Angers late Monday night. She's from Japan and a couple of days ago we had dinner here at the house (her first dinner at the house). We were talking about interests and our hometowns and stuff and she was really sweet. We kept laughing because we kept running out of things to say!! haha. She also gave me these cute erasers that are from Japan and they are ADORABLE. Here is a picture of them:

A-DOR-A-BLE. ^.^

     Okay, back to the weekend update. So we went to a crêperie for dinner called La Crémaillère. The food was sooooooo delicious. I had a galette with ham and cheese. It was sooo good. I wish I could have taken a picture of it. I will next time, because I am definitely going back!! For dessert, I had sorbet. It was strawberry and so sweet!! (for those of you that don't know, I love strawberries!!) I only had "une boule" (one scoop) though. Katsuki had ice cream I think and it was caramel. We tried each other's desserts and her ice cream was sooooooooooooooo sweet. My mouth had a sugar party, I swear lol. I may get what she had the next time I go. I wish I had gotten pics of the desserts too. Next time, next time. 

     So after that, we all decided to go the Nouveau Théâtre d'Angers. We went to the top of its roof and saw all of the lights of the city. My host mother says it was "Angers by night!" I saw many lights, the cathedral, Chateau d'Angers, so many buildings! I took pictures from the top of the building and it was awesome!! Here are some pictures:

 

Me and Katsuki

Soooo pretty!!

    So Friday night was good. ^_^ On Saturday (September 24), I went into town and was looking for a hair straightener for my hair. (the one I brought with me blew and died -_- ) However, I didn't find one cheap enough, buuuuuuuut I got a hair dryer instead!! I did bring a hair dryer from the States with me, but I didn't want to take the chance of it going through the same fate my straightener did.   Before all of this happened, something else happened haha. So, the first time I went out that day I was looking at things in stores. I left at around 2 or so I think. So about an hour later, I decide to check my phone for the time, and I see that I had missed messages from Katsuki. (she had gone out earlier than me and returned to the house) She had forgotten her key and needed for someone to come and let her in. Sooo, I hopped on the bus and went back to the house and saw her standing outside of the house, but right when I got there, my host mother shows up and lets us all in. (she was out at a theater) It was a funny situation!! I went back out a second time after and that's when I found the hair dryer. Later on that evening, we had dinner and we had pasta. Soooooo delicious!! ^.^

Well, that was my weekend and that's all I have for now, but keep reading because this definitely isn't the end for me here lol.

~Mia ^_^

   

This is probably something silly to ask for but...

Is it wrong to want an "I miss you" or "Please come home soon"? (even if I can't)


Feeling a little down right now...


a bit out of place, and also kind of alone.


I hate feeling this way, but I do.


:(

Picture Time!

So here are some pictures I took from my weekend (September 16-18) Definitely not all of them because I took A TON of pictures haha.

Friday September 16---Anjou troglodytique

 

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Saturday September 17---La Journée du Patrimoine (Gallery of David d'Angers)

 

 

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Sunday September 18---Chateaux de la Loire

Azay-le-Rideau

Chenonceau (my favorite <3)

Chambord

I'll probably put more pics up in a different post. I took lots of pics!! ^___________^

My weekend!

    Sooooo I had a pretty good weekend.  On Friday (9/16), I (along with some CIDEF people) went to "Anjou troglodytique." There were caves everywhere and I took tons of pictures inside. There were homes made inside of the caves and there was lots to see in them.

   Saturday (9/17), the museums and the Chateau d'Angers were free!! ^___^ so I went to see the gallery of David d'Angers. I took pictures of some of the sculptures. Wonderful! I tried to go to the Château d'Angers, but it was about to close.Then I chilled at a cafe with friends from school.

   Then on Sunday (9/18), we (me and other CIDEF people) went to see three of  the "Châteaux de la Loire". Château d'Azay-le-Rideau, Château de Chenonceau (my favorite <3) and Château de Chambord (I loved the outside of this one. These were sooooooo beautiful!!!

    Sorry if it has been a while since I last posted!! I'll try to make posts every few days or so if not every other day. I will have pictures of my weekend in a separate post, probably not all because I took 250+ (I think, haha) (over 200 pics from Sunday alone!!)

~Mia ^_^

Life so far...

    So, this has been on my mind recently: have I really been here for only 10 days? I feel like I've been here in Angers for a bit longer than that. I feel like I've been here a month. I guess I'm getting used to things. Anyways...I finally got a a bus card today!! I'm sooo happy because now I can ride the bus without having to pay 1.40 for each ride! One day though, I wanna try and walk to school from the house. It's thirty minutes on foot, but I don't think I'll mind this. 

  I've been really tired this past week because of the classes I'm taking and adjusting a bit to the time change. Haven't been able to go exploring as much but this weekend may change that. It is still kinda weird for me to think that when it's 10pm my time, it's like 4 pm in North Carolina, but hey, that's how things go. I'll get more sleep...eventually haha!!  

  I've been feeling a bit homesick, but that's okay. It's natural. I've been talking to my family lately and I'm soooo glad they're supporting me the whole way through. This week I've been having thoughts like "I wanna go NOW!!" and "Maybe this was a bad idea." However, I just think about how awesome an opportunity this is and all the reasons  of why I'm here.  I did feel lonely coming to Angers all by myself, but I am totally excited that Julia will be here in a couple of weeks. She was a Meredith student who graduated this year and studied abroad in Angers two years ago. She's coming back to work as a lectrice at the the university!!  I can't wait until she gets here!! She could show me around Angers a bit and it'll be sooo awesome to have someone from Meredith/NC here with me!! Yay!!!!! ^___^

  Although I've felt my share of lonleliness in the past few days, I've been meeting some cool people though! Yesterday, I met a girl and her name is Yuka. She is from Japan and she is really nice!! We talked about our interests and stuff at lunch yesterday. Yay again for meeting new people!!

  I can feel myself improving when it comes to comprehending French. I do get a bit stuck sometimes, but I think that I'm doing better with comprehension now than I was spring semester of this year.  I am talking more and more to my host mother and I feel she can understand me more as well. I want to come back to Fayetteville and Meredith College extremely fluent in French!!

That's all I have for today, but I'll be sure to keep updating you  with my adventures and such!!!

~Mia ^_^

New stuff!!

   So I have officially found two or three places with pizza here!! Don't get me wrong, I like the food here. It's just that pizza is my absolute favorite food and I was soooo excited to actually find pizzerias. There are two of them down the street from campus, but there is a Dominos Pizza like right down the street from where I live. Cooooool, huh? No, I'm not gonna be eating here all the time. I wanna try more new things. One day, I would just like to go grab a slice with a friend or something.  Ohhh yeah, I finally found the supermarket today which is right down the street from the house. I got myself some candy and a can of Sprite.

 At the end of my school day, I decided to walk somewhere in the city to buy something so I could break change for the bus. I went to this paper and supply store and bought some pencils. Not that this is some huge adventure I went on but I like being able to walk around and stop and go into places. This is one of the things I really like about Angers.

I've only been here for a total of eight days, but every new thing I find is a new thing I discover haha.

Meh.

    My loneliness is kicking in a bit. I'm meeting new people, you know. It's just that I feel a bit awkward sometimes. Lots of people came to Angers with other people from their school, so they have some familiarity. Me, on the other hand came totally alone. I can't help but feel a bit lonely. I'm alright though, it's only been five days. I really do like it here though. I just miss my family, friends, and some foods. (even if I do like the food here.)

~Mia

What's been goin' on with me?

It's been a day or so since I last posted, but I'm going to update about mostly everything that has happened so far!! ^_^  

  Sooooo, I started my intensive courses yesterday. I think they're going to go well. My actual semester doesn't start until beginning of October. I am actually surprised by some things with these courses though. We took the placement tests to see what level of courses we would end up in. The levels went from 1 (lowest) to 7(highest). I'm gonna be honest...when I took that test, I thought that I BOMBED it totally. It was a test on a scantron (ughhhh) and it was split up into four different sections and there were 120 questions. Also each correct answer was 3 points, each incorrect answer was -1, and whatever you left blank, you got no points. I did leave some blank, but not a lot. Anyways. We found out the results yesterday (we took the test on Monday) and I look at my name and I see that got a 6. I had to look at it a few times to see if it was true but it was there. I was happy but utterly shocked haha! The courses are interesting and the people who also got placed into the sixth level  and have classes with me are pretty cool too.

  I never got the chance to say anything about my "famille d'accueil" (host family). So I live with a lady named Anne. She's extremely nice!! When I try talking to her in French and I get stuck on a word, she understands, although I feel kinda bad and a bit embarrassed. I met her sister, her sister's husband and niece yesterday at dinner. They were nice also. I also live with another student. Her name is Lingdan and she's from China. I sometimes feel a bit awkward when I try to talk to her also because she's super fluent in French (she studies foreign languages, so she knows other languages too) and I'm not as fluent as I would like to be. However she is very nice also. What we have to do is take our shoes off  when we get inside and we have shoes for wearing around the house. We also have to open the windows before we leave for school and close them at night. Things to remember! ^_^ My room here is very nice and has lots of space!! Pictures will be up soon.^.^

   Eating meals here are so different from eating meal in the States too!  For breakfast, I usually have a choice between coffee, orange juice and hot chocolate. I eat bread either with butter or preserves. For lunch at the university cafeteria, there are usually three plates of food including dessert. For dinner it's the same way. I've gotten used to all of this.

   Transportation, transportation, transportation. My goodness where to start...I finally know how to get home by bus!! I know it may not seem like much, but this is a big triumph for me!! Until now, I have been struggling a bit since Tuesday with how to read the bus schedule. I finally know now. I need to buy a bus card because it's like 1.40 each time I get on. It's okay though. I've only been on the bus three times. I also walked to the bank yesterday and I was proud of myself for that. Hehehe. I also need to buy a map. I will this week though. Gotta know where I'm going and how to get to places. Lol.

Well, that's all that I have for now, but I'll try to post here more often. Everyday I discover something different than from the day before. I know it's only been three days but hey, I'm in a new place. :)

~Mia ^_^