TGIF!

Thank God It's Friday is all I really have to say. I made it through a full week of school! Today was actually one of the best days I've had so far. I wrote in my first composition in french today! We had to reflect on a newspaper article (the same one I was talking about the other day), and how our view had changed after reading it. Mine was about 5 sentences, but you have to start somewhere! Lunch today was volleyball again, and I am so sore, you wouldn't believe it! Besides the one day there is choir, Julie goes to Volleyball everyday! I'm not sure I'll be able to do that, my arms have never been worked this hard!

After Lunch we had art class, and we started a big project. We are making life size paintings of people, using colors and shapes to represent emotions. I am partnered with a girl who speaks very very fast, and I didn't understand a word she said. We decided to each draw out a rough idea of our own ideas and then compare and combine them into one good copy. This didn't really work, because I drew a person representing "confidence," and she drew a person representing "sickness." So, as you can probably guess, we had to scrap the combining idea. We ended up just creating a new person that represented "joy." It was good practice for me to make conversation with a new person, but it was really difficult to express my ideas about the project! I felt like a child, because I ended up miming or drawing my ideas. I hope this will get easier soon.

After art I went and talked to the exchange co-ordinator at the school, because he had mentioned I might be able to get into a drama class. He gave me some news I wasn't expecting though, he told me that "everything will be sorted out on monday when I get my new timetable." So, all the effort I've put in to getting settled in my classes was for nothing, because I will have a new timetable next week! I am frusterated with that, because I was finally starting to get comfortable! It could be a good thing, because right now, I am in mostly the same classes as Julie, and I lean on her so much. I feel like a parasite, because I take so much from her, but I dont really have anything to give back. I'm sure it's hard for her, and it will be good for me to be on my own.

After that conversation, I had Guitar, which I dont know if I will even remain in! I really hope I do though. I can play well enough that I can play the pieces with the class. I only played the first and third note of every bar, but again, you have to start somewhere. I enjoyed it so much. Music is something I am good at. I barely play the guitar, but I am good at thinking the way you need to think for music. I understand it so well, and that is such a nice change, because I really don't understand anything else. Something I do understand quite well though is whats in/out. Here is my continued list.....

In
*PDA's (There are couples everywhere! I saw a teacher walk right past a guy with his hand on a girls ass, making out with her hard, and he didn't say anything!!)
*Sweatpants for gym
*Super thick headbands that look like ones you would wear in the winter to keep your ears warm.
*Joshua Perets (This is a clothing brand from Montreal. It's logo is a little dog that I have seen everywhere. I just found out today what the brand was. Joshua Perets is the french equivalent to "hollister" or "abercrombie". PS, said stores didn't quite make my "out" list, but they are by no means as popular here as they are at home.)
*Oasis juice (this is the dominant brand in Quebec, for you hardcore Juice drinkers)

Out
*Spankies ( In gym, no one wears shorts higher than their knees)
*Gym runners for gym (everyone wears skateboarding runners. In my gym class me and one other girl had gym runners. and her runners were borrowed from the teacher.*** When you forget gym shoes, the teacher has a stash you an borrow from....)
*Hippie Headbands (these are soooo out. There is no way i could bring them in.)

***Fun fact for you, "salut" can be used as hello or goodbye. It is the french equivalent to "aloha!"

After dinner tonight, I went with Julie and her sisters to cadets. The first part of the evening, we just sat in groups socializing, and it was so nice. The girls from cadets are the people I met on the first night, and they are so outgoing and fun, I feel confident with them. It is such a nice change from school. The only "cadet-ish" thing I had to do was stand with my hands by my sides while they took attendance. Afterwards, there was a dance for valentines day.I cannot even explain to you how good it was! I felt so confident, and we danced so much, and had so much fun! One of the boys even told me that after one week, he could not believe how good my french was! That is something I have not heard yet! But we just danced, and communicated in ways other than speaking. We communicated with our faces and our bodies, and It just felt good to be on the same page as everyone else! It was bizzare, because most if the music is english, and everybody sings along, and it is so funny to see how they interpret the words! I'm sure they had a good laugh at me during the french songs, when everyone moved to the left, and I moved to the right! The french are also huge on organized dance... they had like 4 or 5 songs that everybody knew the dance to, and i had to catch on! At the end of the dance, we sang french-karaoke, and it was really funny!

On the car-ride home, it was really frusterating because Julie's older sister tried to ask me something, and I still had no clue what she was talking about after she rephrased the question several times. She finally just gave up. It is stuff like that in my day that makes me upset. When people give up on me is especially hard. I am here to learn, if people won't help me learn, it is so much harder!

Everyday is getting a little bit better, and spring break is just around the corner, so things are looking up!!

It's not the destination, it's the journey,
Carly