Friday, December 30, 2011
10:16 AM
I have been in Belgium for about four months. Sometimes I have to take a
step back and just breath because time seems to fly by. Making the decision
to become an exchange student has probably turned out to be the best
decision I’ve made so far in my life. Don’t get me wrong, it hasn’t always
been puppy dogs and moonshine, but I do not regret one moment. The hardest
thing is probably taking a step back and write it all down. I seemed to
write a hundred versions of my journal but none of them seemed worthy to
post. Until I realized that it doesn't not need to be clean and polished,
because honestly, this is a learning experience. I know it’s important to
document our exchange, but the biggest lesson I have learned is that
sometimes it’s okay to put down the camera and live in the moment. On that
note, I will categorize.
The Language of French: Let me start off by listing a few observations:
1.No matter how much of the language you now before arriving, it will still
be incredibly overwhelming.
2.Learning a new language you basically forget everything you have learned
to learn your mother tongue.
3.Your language abilities depend highly on your level of tiredness.
4.Talk in the present, and use your hands for past and future.
5.If you are normally a humorous in your mother tongue, FORGET THAT, humor
is the hardest thing to pick up on in a different language.
6.One you master humor, give yourself a pat on the back.
When I first arrived, I could understand quite a lot, and answer simple
questions . And from there on, I kept making progress everyday. The most
challenging was school because teenagers speaking really fast and use a lot
of slang. Thank goodness I stumbled across people with patience and
understanding . I can’t call myself fluent yet, ( my host mother still has
to correct me) but I feel confident in how much progress I have made and how
I can be involved in conversations and even joke around. I am naturally a
talkative person and love to tell stories, but of course its to as easy.
Thankfully I have a super patient host mom that will listen to my broken
stories even if it takes me 20 minutes to tell it.
Family:
I live with just my host parents because their youngest daughter is in
Mexico on her exchange (Bonne chance, Margaux!) and their other two children
are much older and don’t live at home. My older host sister is 27, and stops
by every once in a while, she is super helpful and fun to talk with. My host
dad travels a lot for work, so it's mainly just my host mom and I with our
two dogs, Aramis, and Bandit. Its pretty quiet but we have a nice routine. I
couldn't have asked for a better first host mom. She has been amazing these
past few months. What is awesome though, is that my three host families are
pretty intertwined. My third host family lives right across the street ( I
actually walk to school everyday with my third host brother.) My second host
dad is the president of my Rotary club and good friends with my first
family. So its nice to be surrounded by all of them, it makes me feel like I
am part of something special. If you think about the situation it’s rather
bizarre. To have a random teenager sleeping in your house, eating meals with
you, and joining in on family activities. I don’t think I can explain the
relationship, or how it grows. But I was talking with my host parents and
they explained that their daughter was scared I was going to take her place.
I looked at them and said “ I could never take her place, but instead we
make a precious place in our hearts” .
School:
My first day of school consisted of the whole fifth year (11th grade) in the
cafeteria as the director of the school introduced the new exchange student.
Yes. It happened. I was not dreaming as they all turned around and stared.
I’m positive I turned bright red. After that, word was out. I was the
American that everyone wanted to question. I was prepared for the questions,
but I think I broke some hearts when I said high school isn’t always like in
the movies. After a while things settled down and I found a group of what I
can now call good friends. My schedule looks like this per week:
14 hours of French ( with my grade, 7th, 8th, and 9th grade. Yes, it is a
lot of French)
4 hours of German ( learning a new language in a language you don't know is
rather challenging. Would I recommend it? Absolutely.)
2 hours of Religion
4 hours of History
2 hours of Gym
2 hours of Geography
I still don’t understand everything in class but I try my best to stay
attentive, take notes, and figure out what in the world my teachers are
talking about. Or course I get the friendly picking on, as my teachers me to
read texts aloud, or make special presentations.
When a teacher is not present, you go to the cafeteria and have study
hall.
Chalkboards
Studying is taken very seriously
There are no arts, after school activities, or sports teams. They are
usually separate from school.
Some days I don’t start till 10:00 AM. But other days I don’t end till 4:30
PM.
Rotary:
My Rotary club is really awesome. The people are all nice and welcoming.
Our meetings are the second Monday of each month. My Rotary club president (
my second host dad ) loves to put me on the spot and have me get up and talk
a little about my life in Belgium. I have already done quite a few things
with them. For example visit three museums in two days with lots of long
meals ( it was a long weekend).
Our district also organizes activities for the students. There are over 200
students in Belgium. It doesn’t sound like a lot, but Belgium is a small
country! The activities are great for meeting new people and making new
friends. So not only do I have my Belgian friends but also my exchange
students friends who are from all over the world.
Food:
I have refused to step on a scale to find out if the “exchanger 15” is true.
As long as my jeans fit, I’m a happy camper. The food here is amazing. The
chocolate? Heavenly. The waffles? Mouth watering. The fries? Delicious and
addicting. To clear something up, something I learned right away, that
French fries are in fact not French! They are Belgian!! I don’t think I have
tried something I don’t like. And I can now say proudly that I eat fish! I
didn’t tell my host mom that I didn’t like fish, but instead ate whatever
was served. Much to my surprise I like fish! Of course I confessed to my
host mom that I didn’t eat fish before I came here, she just laughed and
said “ I thought so!”
I decided to make food a separate category because I realized how
essential foor is to a culture. If not, the center. Not only is it necessary
to eat, but the way we prepare the food, how you eat it, when and where you
eat, the conversations you have while you eat. It is when people come
together. And thank goodness, I love to eat.
Random:
Theatre - I am involved in a theatre group that meets once a week! Although
there are differences, it is still a place where I can be myself and have
fun. I didn't understand everything in the beginning, which made improve
scenes interesting. But the more I comprehend, the more I can really get
into whatever we are working on. We recently had our first performance,
words can't come close to describing the feeling of doing something you love
in a different language. The biggest adrenaline rush I have ever gotten.
Travel -
I have traveled a lot through Belgium. but I have also had the chance to go
to Pornic, France with another exchange student and her host family. It was
so beautiful, and a holiday away from home. I also went to London with 70
other exchange students organized by Rotex. The trip was 4 days, but we got
to see a lot of London. My favorite part was going to see the musical Blood
Brothers. Sitting in front row, I don’t think I could have asked for more.
Weather -
Belgian weather is a very interesting topic. Just make sure you always have
an umbrella on hand, because it could rain anywhere, anytime! Some like to
say it’s a little bipolar, I say that’s Belgium. We just had our first snow
recently, and I could not bottle my excitement!
Thanksgiving -
I decided to cook a Thanksgiving dinner for my host family, and luckily my
host mom was all excited and helped me plan everything. It ended up being my
family and a Belgian friend from school, in total ten people! It was rather
stressful, converting measurements, finding the right ingredients, and
making sure everything got pulled together. It turned out great, and it was
fun to bring a bit of my culture to my family. They were very supportive and
loving, I couldn’t have asked for a better Thanksgiving!
Christmas -
Joyeux Noël! Christmas was definitely a strange time. Luckily, we had a
Christmas tree, and it was fun decorating! The celebration started Christmas
Eve, as we had a family friend and her son over for dinner and the fun
lasted till two in the morning. Christmas day was busy, hectic,
wonderfulness. All the family came over, and their tradition is giving gifts
with appetizers. For our lunch we had a very scrumptious raclette! Raclette
is where you melt cheese and meats and put it over potatoes. Around 18h, my
second host family picked me up, and I got to meet their whole family and
eat another huge meal. Of course the day didn’t end till midnight, and when
I collapsed that night in bed, I thought to myself how lucky I was to have
an amazing Christmas surrounded by people who care about me.
Bonne Année à tous !
Bisous Bisous,
Chantal
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 |
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| At
a Rotary Event in Brussels, the Grand Palace! |
About to eat Thanksgiving dinner! |
First snow! |
Vacation in Pornic, France with my friend from Mexico, Malu! |
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Taking the cliché picture with a telephone booth in London! |
My
first theatre performance! |
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Our
Districts
Chantal
Mihailovic
Alaina
Alex
Aly
Aly
Andrea
Annaray
Annie
Ashley
Ashley
Callie
Claire
Dakota
Danny
David
Gentry
Hadley
Haley
Jenna
Juli
Kaitlynn
Katherine
Kendall
Laney
Lucas
Madison
Natey
Nicole
Rainey
Sebastian
Taylor
Terry