WOOO two weeks in!! France has been quite French so far. I’m really digging all of the scarfs (I’m the only girl in town without one) and the cheese. The first couple days here were pretty mellow. After I walked around town I mostly hung around the house reading and petting the family cat. Starting school was a huge change of pace, the sheer size would have been shock enough but the Lycée Victor Hugo is in almost every way different than Bush. All of the habits took a while to get used to: asking the teacher to use the bathroom, knocking before you enter a classroom, finding the right times to enter the chaos that is their lunch line, etc. Overall the school has been great, there are a lot of friendly people who are eager to make me feel comfortable there. I am in terminal, the final year of lycée, and I am in the socio-economic track. I’m finding my classes to be interesting and it is becoming easier to follow along. My family here has also been very kind and helpful which I really appreciate. They have planned an excursion next weekend in cerebration of my birthday. We will be visiting some old chateaus and doing an escape game and I am really looking forward to it. The hardest part of this trip so far is being in such a small town but I think I am already beginning to get used to it. À bientôt!

– Emma Smith

p.s: Sorry this is so late! I had no idea how to post on this blog. More posts coming soon!