Switzerland for a few days.

20th, 21st, 22nd, 23rd of April.
After the Exchange weekend I had a few days free, and couldn't think of a better way to spend them with my kind of Aunt, Heidi, Uncle, Colin and cousin, Jonah.
So I made the 3 hour something journey over to Winterthur. How cool is it that another country is so close and easy to go to? With such a welcoming and lovely house to go to whenever I please?
I arrived at the station of Heidi's village, with Heidi and Jonah there waiting for me.
Switzerland is so beautiful in the Spring! As is France, but I haven't seen so much of the rolling green pastures, and lush country-side! As we wandered back, we noticed the complete lack of snow, in complete comparison to the last time I was there, and admired all the beautiful Daffodils and Tulips which grow like pests in Europe in the Spring. They're everywhere, in every colour. It's so beautiful. =)
With Spring, comes longer days, and warmer weather. We ate dinner outside in the evening light. It was lovely.

The next day Heidi had the idea of going to a pool in the next town. I haad heard of it in my last vosot, but I didn't bring my bathes. I came prepared this time. It was such a nice pool!! We lazed around, as per habit in Switzerland, which is soo good. After the pool we bought some strawberries and couldn't wait until we got home to eat them, so we had them at the station. In the evening we made a plan to go to the Swiss Alps in the morning, and to get up at 8am! Shock, horror!!

So the following day, we made it with good time to the train, and caught 3 before catching the bus up the mountain, and then a funuclar up to the summit. It was AMAZING. Really. After a while it got a bit cloudy, so you couldn't see heaps, but it was still MAGNIFIQUE!! (magnificent in French) After eating sandwiches on the summit, we went to the traditional Swiss café for a drink on the summit. It was soo cute! With the paintings and Swiss music. =) We had hot drinks to defrost our insides.
We made the journey home, and were pretty tired by the evening.

The next day I left for France, with Heidi taking to Winterthur. I had a half hour in Zurich, so I wandered up the mainstreet a bit, just to absorb the wonderfull atmosphere. =)

I love Switzerland and Europe!!!

Exchange weekend for the French kids heading out in July-August.

18th and 19th April.
This weekend was very highly inticipated, by all the exchangee's, as it was a time to get together. We have all bonded so much, our friendships are so strong now!! We will be friends for life. Friends from America, Canada, India, Japan, Venezula. It's pretty amazing, these friends can offer free beds when I can afford to travel, now I have beds all over the world!!

We all met from around our district, Alsace, at a train station, to take the bus up to the mountains, where we have our camps, at a youth hostel. It was really great talking and catching up on what everyone had been up to, and what they would be doing for the holidays, next weekend and the week after.

We arrived at the hostel, and met the newbies, who would be finding out where they were heading off on their adventures. We had some more time to settle in and chat, while the French Outbounders, as they are officially called, had photos taken. Then it was dinner time. The inbounders, that's what the exchangers are officially called, stood up and introduced themselves, and where they were living, in French, of course. Then the Outbounders found out where they were headed, and two people were headed for Tassie!! We had dinner, and I had a chance to have a chat with one of the French who was headed for Tassie. After dinner, I had a chat with the boy, Maxime, who is also headed for the Apple Isle. We are all going to go to my shack, I have decided.

After dinner, we had a stern talking to about the 4 D's, anyone unfamiliar with the 4 D's, they are the rules, no drinking, no drugs, no dating, no driving.

Then we had more time to bond, and get to know the Frenchies. As per usual, we didnt have a sleep time, so we just stayed up talking into the early hours of the morning, some people not even sleeping at all.

The next morning, we had breakfast, and got ready for our walk around the area. The parents arrived shortly after we had breakfast, for their information learning. We were going on the walk so they could learn in peace. Ha. The walk, was, like Raquettes, absolutly stunning. Unlike Raquettesn it was warm and there was hardly any snow left. So it was a walk in the countryside, and for a bit through the forest. It was a lovely walk, and I had the chance to really bond with a lovely American friend, Brittany. We got back to the hostel, had lunch, and shortly after, got ready to leave. No-one wanted to leave. It was sad saying bye, because these people I don't get to see very often, but whenever I do, it's always amazing.

Ahh, Rotary kids. I love us.

Love Molly.

Changeing of host families, and Easter weekend in Lille.

5th and 6th of April.

I cooked an Aussie feast on the 4th, when I met my new family, and a few couples from my host club, including the president and his wife. I cooked meat pie, which wasn't that great, apricot chicken, which was really delicious, and a real hit, and for dessert, sticky date pudding. I was in the kitchen from midday until 6pm. It was heaps of fun!!

I have just changed host families, and now i live 5 mins away from my high school, which is really good. I eat lunch at home. Not sure if I told you this, but Ill tell you again.
My new family are really nice. They are really good with me, and get me to speak a lot of French, correcting me when I make mistakes.

I have a mum; Noelle, a dad, Alain, and a host brother Pierre-Etienne, who spent a year in Noosa on exchange!! half his luck!! They are all really nice, and speak really good English, so its a good thing when I come across a word I dont know the translation of, they tell me.
I also have a host sister, Noémi, who lives in Lille, and a host brother Matthieu, who lives in Congo.

For easter we visited Noémi in Lille, it was really nice. I went with my parents, and my mum's parents. We drove up on the friday, and left on the monday. It took about 6 hours to drive there. On the way up we had lunch in Luxembourg!!
We wondered around the centre of Lille, had a look around on both days we were there. It was so beautiful, I fell in love. It's a ville with a lot of youth, and has such character. I ate so well and so much!! I, ironically ate rabbit on Easter sunday. It was a nice weekend to bond with my new family.

Love Molly. xx

Toulouse, weekend for all the exchange students in France.

20th, 21st, 22nd and 23rd of March.
After the holidays, which really seems like soo long ago, I returned to school as usual. Im sure you heard about the big Journèes de Jeunesse de Rotary?? Well that translates to the days of the Rotary youth, namely exchangers and ex exchangers. All the Inbound exchange students in the whole of France gathered at Toulouse, a big city in the South West of France. I am in the North west, and so had to travel quite a long way to get there. The exchangers in my district, my district president (I guess thats what she is) took a bus down to Toulouse. I got on the bus at 10pm at night, with a few others, and travelled for a few hours until 2am when the rest of my district got on the bus. We travelled all night, and didnt really get much sleep, untill we arrived in Toulouse at 1pm the next day. We had lunch at Pizza Hut, which really is so much classier in France, and headed to our accomdation at around 2pm. Our accomdation was a bit of a way out of Toulouse itself, and it had cabins and a lake and a big mess hall, with lots of grassy area. When we arrived, we found out that they were still cleaning our rooms, and we wouldnt be allowed in until 4, which turned into 5, whcih eventually turned into 6pm. at around 4pm, the students from the district of Lyon who were also staying at our accomdation, arrived. We had a bit of free time, so we got to catch up with the Australian students I had met on the way, and leet new people as well. After we had a bit of time to settle into our rooms, the others students started arriving. As it was such a big group of us, around 400 exchangers, we couldnt all stay at the one accomdation. So the students came to our for dinner, as we had a huge hall where we would eat all together. It was really good, before dinner, I got to catch up with all the students I had met on the trip over, and find out how they were doing. I also met heaps of new people from all over the world. Dinner was massive. Imagine, 400 16-19yr olds and about 200 Rotarians, plus ex exchangers. It was huge. A lot of the Australians were sitting at one table, and in a sudden burst of patriotism, started chanting 'aussie aussie aussie oi oi oi' really loudly. Of course, I was one of them. :) This started rivlry from other nations, and everyone began either singing their national athem, or chanting a famous phrase. The American started chanting 'yes we can' and they had people on shoulders and waving th flag. Soon everyone ( all the exchange students) got really rowdy and it turned pretty muchinto a riot. It was crazy. Everyone was screaming. I wonder what the Rotarians thought. After a while, they managed to calm us ddown, and we had dinner. After dinner, everyone who wasnt staying at the accomdation left. We didnt have an arranged bed time, so we all just had free time to socialise and get to know new people. It was a really relaxed environment. Evntually we all got to bed, as to be ready for a big day ahead of us.
We woke and had breakfast at 7am, and left at 8am, when we all climbed on buses to go to Toulouse. We arrived at this place which Im not sure what it was called, but definatly seemed like some kind of parliment building. We all sat and for around 2 hours listened to some people explain a bit about what we were going to be doing next. It was all in French, and difficult french, speaking very quickly, so I didnt really understand a lot of it. Around me, a lot of people were sleeping. After the talks, we had a bit of time again for a meet and greet, where I met some new people and met some Swedes! I got some badges and cards! After, we all left for various places around Toulouse, I went to the Cité de L'space which was a huge museum type thing with models of everything ot do with space. We had a guided tour, and learnt a little about space and getting there. After the tour we got to watch a movie about travelling to the moon at the IMax! It was pretty cool. All in french of course. We left again and went back to the accomdation, to get ready for our Gala dinner.
The bus driver got us lost, so we didnt arrive at the Gala hall untill 9 or 10pm. The French like to have their dinner late, but not that late! by then, everyone was starving. We met up with all the others, and sat down in the extreemly squishy tables, and had the first course. Then after, representatives from each country stood up on the stage with their flag and sung their national anthems. By the end, it got pretty crazy again, and when it was time for the Americans to sing, it was deafining. The US sent the most amount of people. It was pretty amazing. Then we had desert, ,and everyone settled down a bit. Before Toulouse, each district had prepared a short demonstration to be presented to a board of important people at a later date, which happens every year in France with Rotary. The districts performed their demonstrations. The technology was pretty dodgy, and eventually cut out all together, so the people at the start didnt have their music, which presented a few issues. The Rotarians eventually managed to fix the technology and there was music, dancing and singing, with everyone joining in. For one presentation, some Mexicans did the Macarina, and everyone joined in. 400 people doing the macarina. It was pretty crazy. Very fun. Then there was a district which prepared songs. One district had everyone singing 'Hey Jude' by The Beatles. Then another had everyone dancing and singing to Latina songs and 'Mercy' by Duffy was sang by a very talented Latina girl, which had everyone dancing and singing. It was a pretty amazing night.
After the Gala had finished, we arrived at the accom at 3am!! and didnt got to sleep for ages.

Paris with my Rotary club of Mulhouse.

2nd and 3rd of March.
On monday just passed, i went to paris with my rotary club.
My host parents, host sister and i drove up to paris, had lunch at a resturant, and then we met the other rotarians of the club. Then we had a guided tour of the national sénat, which is pretty much the same as the national senate here. It was a beautiful old building that had been built as a palace in the 17th century (i think, it was all in french!!) and it was huge. It had its own beautiful gardens, and was exactly like you would imagine a french palace to be. so beautiful. Inside/ they had keep the rooms in immucatlate condition, not all rooms are used. We ahd a look at green room, where the senators go before they have their debates. It was amazing. What I thought was gold paint covering the ceilings and walls of the massive room ( average house size) were genuine gold foils!! talk about luxury. After the tour, we had dinner at the resturant at the sénat. Whenever we go out to eat, Rotary always has a room to themselves!! I got to talk English to a lady who was originally from the US, but had been in france for 45 years. She explained in depth the French government system, and its really not so different to the Australian one! I explained ours as well, and we discovered the differences! My brain was just about ready to explode, as everyday I think so hard about translating and speaking in French, and then to have an intellectual discussion about politics nearly fried my brain! And I'm supposed to be on holidays!! I guess i dont really get holidays! But it was so interesting, and worth learning.
The next day we went to the house of assembly, and had a tour around that majestic building. It was also amazing. The president of the Assembly lives there, and when we went for a tour, he came down and said hello!!! It was amazing, he is a very important man in French government.
After the tour, we watched a questeur. Where members of the public, selected ones, asked questions to the government. They spoke very fast about things that were difficult for even the french to understand, so I didnt really understand a lot. but it was a fantastic experience, just to watch and observe the french government in action. Also, the President of Kuwat was there watching as well!!
I was talking to the rotarians, and most of them has never been to either place in their lives, and were very happy that i had the oppurtunity to see with them. I was very fortunate indeed!!

First Rotary weekend with the other exchangers.

14th and 15th of Febuary. At Lac Noir.
The snow weekend was amazing!! Jean, my host father, took me up, because he was there being a part of it. Also his son Vincent is part of Rotaract, and they were there too. So on saturday, we drove up tp the mountains, to a place called Lac Noir. We didnt really have much to do with the lake, just drove past. It was frozen, and looked really pretty. Anyway, so Jean told me that we were going to do a hike in the snow, and to bring really warm clothes, so i pretty much packed everything I owned. Didnt want to be cold!!! Gen, my host mother, lent me her warm jacket and some hiking boots, although I was worried about being cold while it was snowing on top of me!!!

We arrived at the house, which was like a backpackers accom, I met the other exchange students. Luke from the North of Tassie was there, and it was nice to catch up and see how he was doing. There also were two other aussies, and we had a chat, complaining about how much we missed the beach and tim tams and milo and fish and chips and stuff, and how different France was. But how we all loved it!!
There was a girl called Reyna, and she was from a country town called Bellinger or something, up the mountain a bit from Coffs habour. The other aussie was a boy from Sydney, called Alex. So a group of us exchangers were just innocently talking and playing cards when the window was suddenly attacked by snowballs!! which led to a full on attack at 1am in the morning, 20 exchange students on 3 rotaracts!!! It was really fun!! The next morning we got up at 7.30am to get ready for Raquettes (snow shoeing). We started right from the accom and walked for three hours, ending up on top of a hill looking down on this amazing valley covered in snow. I dont think much can compare. Totally different to anything Ive ever seen, even at Falls Creek, in Victoria. It was beautiful. Breath taking. And its sooo much fun!!! It was absolutly sublime weather, and everyone ended up too hot. It was such an amazing experience, I cant begin to convey how beautiful it was!! I am really loving France.

Recap- Arriving in France, first days.

Hey everyone! So at the moment I'm recapping a bit, using extracts from emails.

29th January, I had been in France 4 days.
"I'm safely in France, and loving it! it really is beautiful, all the old buildings and the general ambience. I have not realised how little French I speak and how much I am yet to learn, but I am learning everyday! just listening and speaking very limitedly at the moment! i looooooooooooove french food. it has definatly lived up to expectations. i havent started school yet, i start on friday, my first lesson being english!!!!! haha. the bad news is that im doing maths, biology, economics, and difficult, uncreative type subjects im intertested in. oh well, it will be hard, but im sure worth it!

30th January, 5th day in France.
Yesterday i went to strasbourg. its so beautiful. i shopped up and bought warm winter gear. ive been warm so far. i love it!!! the cold reallly is wonderful, and winter fashions. today i went into mulhouse and i am i am well equipped for the winter cold. it was -4 in strasbourg, but i was rugged up sufficintly. cant spell. i just love france already, i dont know if i will come home!!
also, i start school on monday now because the class has a test tomorrow.
i have holidays in 3 weeks already!!!! ha. yay.

14th Febuary.
I'm trying my best with the language, but it may take a bit more time to be fluent than none unfortunatly!
School is so much different! I am in the Economics stream, so I subjects like conomics, maths, biology, etc. But I also get to do English for around four hours a week, where I have just been answering questions about Australia for different classes.
I have had a few days of snow, its so beautiful, opening the curtains to a layer of white coating everything. I'll send some photos when I get the chance.
I haven't really heard much from the other outbounders, but this weekend, I have a snow weekend with Rotary and Luke Baker will be there, so we'll get a chance to catch up soon!
Ohh, the food! I've been hanging out in the kitchen, trying to pick up some of the expertise! I wonder if it will rubb off...hopefully.

Retracking.

Hi, so I've decided the best way to start from the beggining, in chrological order.
This is just a quick recap so everyone is on the right page.

August 2008 I was selected to do a Rotary Youth Exchange, after I filled out an expression of interest, as just an fleeting idea. Then I got a call saying a had an interview, so I went along, it went well, and everything just fell into place after that. It took A LOT of convincing of my parents. Mummy and Daddy didn't want me to be away for such a long time.

January 2009 I packed, cried, and left for France, my exciting 11 month exchange.

With the other blogs, I will write on events, rather than in chronological order I think!

Thanks for reading and keep in touch!
Molly.