Arrival in France

On the 2 of September, 2011, I took the plane with 4 other Swiss exchange students to Paris. Two girls, Chantal and Hélène, sat next to me on the plane. They are the ones that are also staying for a year. The two others are  just staying for 3 months. So when we arrived in Paris, the French AFS volunteers picked us up at the airport, Charles de Gaulle, and brought us to the AFS camp. We stayed there for 2 nights with 300 other AFS students from all over the world. It was kind of chaotic because there were so many people and everybody was really nervous and didn't know what to expect. We played different games, had the rules explaned to us multiple times and just got to know eachother better.  We even got a tour of Paris and visited the Eiffel Tower.
I shared the room with an american and a chinese girl. That helped me be busy so I could forget about being homesick.

Chantal and me in front of the Eiffel tower

On September 4th we left early in the morning and took the train to our department. I hopped on the train at the station Gare du Nord and got off in Maubeuge. I was really nervous to meet my host family.

Gare du Nord: Federica (Italy), Clara (Brazil), Sylwia( Poland) and me

When we arrived in Maubeuge, I finally met my hostfamily. The whole trainride, I was really nervous. When we arrived in Maubeuge, I finally met my hostfamily. First we went to the AFS President's home. Afterwards we arrived at my future house.

My house :)

The veranda with my beloved billiard table

When we arrived at home and I saw everything the first time in person, it made the whole experience finally seam real. They were so nice to me and the moment I stept in to the house I felt really comfortable. I have a hostbrother, called Théo(14) and a hostsister, called Louise (11).

The next day (5.2.2011), I went directly to school. My hostmom brought my Italian friend( Federica), the mexican girl(Tita) and me to Lycée des Nerviens. That is my school for this year. The other days I take a bus, which leaves from my village, called Vieux-Mesnil.
So I arrived at school and we entered the principals office. He put me in the class Premier L. L for literature. The first day passed okay. It was sort of hard making friends the first day, because everything is new. I didn't speak french very well, so that made it even harder. After school, I was happy to go  home and eat the first delicious dinner with my hostfamily.

Lycée des Nerviens