I'm here!

The airports good-byes were tearful and the flight was long... but I'm here! As it would turn out, the name of my blog is misleading. I'm actually living in Saint-Doulchard, which is a small town, situated close enough to Bourges for them to bleed into each other a little bit.

I was picked up by the amazing Rotary youth coordinater from my host club, Jacques and his friend Ann Marie. They were wonderful, even though I was too tired to string a sentance together in French, I felt completely welcome. In fact, we made a detour through Paris to give me a "preview" of the sights by car... so just four hours after my plane touched down I had already caught a glimpse of Les Invalides, L'Arc de Triomphe, the Eiffel Towel, la Seine, and several other momuments. These others slip my memory mainly because I was busy trying to hold onto my lunch (it was airplane food) as we swerved wildly through the Parisian traffic. I thought the Bay Area was bad... I don't think I dug my fingnails out of my knee until we were a half hour out of the city! But on the whole my befuddled first impression of Paris is decidedly favorable.

After a three hour drive (I slept for the first half and my second-ever cup of coffee at a lunch stop kept me awake for the second half), we finally arrived in the lovely Saint-Doulchard! I haven't seen any of the city besides my host family's neighborhood but that alone is charming enough for me. All the houses are bigger than my neighborhood in Davis, but they all match with smoot white walls. The sidewalks run outside of the yards which are walled in. It sounds unfriendly but is actually quite sweet. To give you an idea, my room has shutters on the window! It's on the second story, and I can throw them open in the morning and overlook the backyard (with a pool) and the neighborhood as it climbs up onto a hill.

My host family is wonderful... my host parents are welcoming as can be and my host sister is as bright and friendly as can be. I feel completely welcome. Not only that, but I can understand almost everything they say. Replying is harder, but I'm encouraged by the fact that they can understand me too. I'll learn fast, but it will be alwhile before I reach any semblance of eloquence in this new language. We had delicious cordon bleu for dinner and french bread, followed by french cheese, and a peach tart my host sister made in honor of my arrival. She also printed out pictures from my facebook page and framed them in my room, to make me feel at home! Have you ever heard of anything so sweet? And the icing on top was that when I opened a cupboard in my room I found a stack of my favorite copies of Tintin! ... Did my plane crash and send me to heaven?!

Apparently not, since my eyelids are drooping enough to tell me to sign off. Lots of love!