Le Foot

Salut!

Things are good! This school week went by so fast! If I'm not careful the whole year will fly by! It seems like class time this week was minimal, but we finished the first half of our first unit in French, we are starting Liasions Dangereuses on Monday. But the highlight of this week was Le Foot! Yes, I did indeed manage to make it to 2 soccer practices with TFC. Tuesday night was cancelled because of the world cup game, but we went on Wednesday. Wednesday night was perhaps the most frightening soccer experience of my life....Sarah and I realized that the women who were wearing the French National Team warmups didn't just buy them, it meant they were acutually on the national team. The first half of the practice was conditioning, and that was the same as I've done before, so I didn't know what I had gotten myself into, yet. The 2nd half was just playing 5 vs 5 games, but I was scared when they shot the ball and played because they kicked it so freaking hard! I would have rather watched in awe than running around in circles panting. I did manage to get the ball a couple times. The coaching method was a little different, I guess when you play for a pro team and the classement in the league is the most important thing, you are allowed to yell. But I thought the coach was going to lose his voice! Oh well. Afterwards we learned that the 30 women made up the 1st and 2nd teams of TFC, some of them were my age while some looked more like 30. So we went back last night, Thursday, and played with the third team. Sarah, unfortuneately, hurt her ankle at the beginning, but I stuck out the whole practice. The girls were all high school age with a couple older ones and they were all nice and talked to me. One even is in 1° at Ozenne too and knew about me. They said they had a small team, so maybe they need me! We did sprints for the first half, then since we were on a field with out lights, we moved to play on a gravel field. It was actually kind of tight. Really fine gravel made up the whole field and it almost like playing indoors except it hurt worse when you fell and your shoes get really dirty. We played the rest of the practice jsut keep-away with like 6vs6. The speed of the game is way faster than I'm used to, but I tried my best to keep up. It was only about 40 degrees, F, outside so the weather was alright. I'm def. true that if I play with them I'll improve. I learned that they practice Tuesday and Thursday 7h30 to 9pm, and next week is the last week in the suburbs before we can go back to the Stadium (the rugby world cup occupied it for the month). This coach was pretty nice, and yelled a lot too. He said he would see us play next week and they deceide if we could join the team. It's true it'll different being on a really competitive club team, where everyone really tries their best in practice if they want to play in the games, plus since practice is only twice a week, with games like every other sunday for the rest of the year. But it would be cool being on it, I would make good friends and get tons of Lotto gear (TFC is sponsored by Lotto and not Adidas or Nike). I really hope I can. I can lose the weight I've already gained! This morning I could barely move my legs I was so sore and my oblique muscles were sore, never knew that could happen from soccer. This picture is from last Saturday when I went to the TFC game at the stadium, before the game started:

So I hope it works out! Fridays Liza, Sarah and I only have school from 9-11 so we decieded to go shopping and profit from this great city in the afternoon...after waiting till noon to eat a delicious lunch at the school cantine. We went on the community swingy chairs in the little park byt the Capitole and here are the pics of the colorful benches and stuff...they were still being constructed when I got here...so they are only like 2 weeks old!

Then we heard that the All Blacks, New Zealand rugby team who are favorites to win the world cup, would be making appearance a the Place de la Capitole at 2h30 this afternoon, since they play here tomorrow in Toulouse. We got there at 3 and we were pretty close to the front. We waited till 4h30 and FINALLY they came and it was this big Adidas campaign too. They had break dancers and they some of the players came out. There were bunches of New Zealanders too all around us, following their team around france, so they were fun to talk to. Heres a pic of us waiting for the hour and a half in the crowdedness. None of my pics really came out that well since Im not too tall and there was really a lot of people.

So à tout à l'heure for now! I have an exciting weekend planned. The weather has been kind of weird. It was so wonderful since I've been here till Wednesday, then it got colder. Yesterday it was like 40 and drizzly all day long, really cold. Then today the same but sunny. I want to buy a leather jacket/coat like everone here!

Lots of Love,

Leez

Things came through!!

BONJOUR!
Our internet hasn't worked since Thursday so now I can update! Highlight if this past week: I found a band to play in and its so awsome. Every friday night and it's at a music school, but noone takes French Horn lessons, so he had 2 really nice horns for me to choose from. So I picked one that looked practically new and it was awesome. There were like 15 people there, usually more but since it was the same time as the France-Ireland rugby game, there were less. The music was nice, and the director kept saying that he couldn't believe he was going to have a french horn this year. Also in french its called a cor d'harmonie. 3 out of the 6 flutes are teenage girls that were super nice and talked to me after it. The only problem is getting there since its in another town and the only way to get there is driving. I hope this doesn't inconvienece my host parents too much. There are Ecole de musiqe everywhere, but the american system of teaching music in school at such a high level (at least in Champaign) is, I think, taken for granted too much. I played almost everyday from 5-12 grades for free. I didn't have to take private lessons, but I did. Here if adults or kids want to learn how to play an instrument its private lessons like once a week.
Also this week I got a cell phone, thanks to my mom. My parents are still in Europe, and have been, since I've been here. They are in Germany now so she sent me the cell phone she had before they left france...thanks so much!
On Saturday I went to a TFC pro soccer game, my first european live soccer experience. It was so awesome. We were right behing the goal and it was so cool watching somebody actually score doing a bicycle kick! Toulouse tied Lens 1-1 and are ranked now 9 out of 20 in france. I went with Fabien, who is a rotaract and came on the weekend to Cahors and loves soccer too! He picked me up and bought me a ticket and everything! Thanks so much, it was so fun. Yes, that is the same pro club, and they have a womens pro team, then 2 teams under that, then a U16 team. So hopefully maybe we can be on one fo those teams.
I found a pool in Toulouse! It only cost 1.40€ to swim laps and its 50m by 25m and so beautiful. It is super deep for like national diving competitions and has 2 full water polo courts in tile that u can see when u swim. the first time i went the lanes were the 50m direction, the 2nd time the other way.
Yesterday I saw Ratatouille, in French, and it was so adorable and cute. Life is so good and unfortunately I don't have time to add any pics this time since host mom needs the computer. School is good, I add to write my first in class essay today in French, over a passage from Sentimental Education by Flaubert. In History we talked about immigration and it was interesting to see that only 4 out of 24 students granfather were born in France. Most peoples were from Italy or Spain, who came as children in the 30s to avoid Franco and Musslini. Others were from Tunisia and Morocco. Spanish class is hard, since I don't know very much spanish. English class is just funny because the teacher keeps telling Sarah, Liza and I that we speak American and not realy English, and that our grammar is all wrong. So we laugh. In between classes is fun because we go to cafes and get croissants and crepes. Yummy. We also scored some of the rugby world cup stickers for free to put on our blazers! sweet! Toulouse is such a beautiful city and theres a campaign to make it the capital of French culture by 2013 so there are these fancy public swings and many colorful benches and stuff that werent even here when I got here a month ago. There are also posters of lots of 7th graders, kids who will be 18 in 2013, everywhere.
Ok salut for now,
Love, Liz

Rotary weekend and school

Hello all. I feel like I update this a lot, but then the last time was last monday! Oh la la I'm so sorry. So yeah. School makes the week go by really fast, since the day is so long. I had my first history test today, and it covered the New Deal and lots of American history so hopefully my knowledge of things we didn't learn will impress her so much she'll overlook my 3 pages filled with french mistakes (hehe). Spanish is hard, but I think it's a plus that I know french. I'm learning in ly 2 different English classes many tenses that I never knew existed and I'm learning that how we, everyday Americans, contains many grammatical errors and it was kind of embarrassing. Also the teacher lived in London for like 5 years so she's kind of biased. Science and math are easy and I'm glad I took anatomy last year b/c thats what I'm in here!

So the weekend....friday I went wakeboaring for the first time in my life. It so much fun and I can't wait to go again. I went to a parc near Toulouse where you do it tele style, with cables in the sky and you sit on a little dock and grab on to something when its your turn. I finally made it up on my 4th try, then crashed in the water at the other side of the lake. But it was fun. I'm glad I know how to snowboard. Saturday and Sunday were busy and happy. There are 13 inbound exchange students in district 1700, 5 of them here from jan-jan, so 8 newies! Everyone got along really well, although the dominant language is english, so that was spoken a lot. Saturday we visitd the mideval and beautiful town of Cahors, and Sunday we went to a cave, then had a 2 hour long lunch filled with delicious confit de canard and and 3 other yummy courses, then we went to Rocomadour. Little different weather than in March, Mrs. Black! It was hot and sunny and filled with toursits. This time we were dropped of at the top and made our way to the bottom where the bus was waiting. It was fun and I spent a lot of the time getting to know Robyn, an exchenge student from Canada. She's having a little different experience being the only exchange student in a smaller town south of toulouse. Sunday night I barely had 10 minutes at home when I went with Nadine and Antoine to La Place de la Capitole and wathched France beat Namibia (by a lot) in the world cup. The game was at the stade in Toulouse and it was absolutely insane. The whole square was filled with people. No room for more. There was a giant screen and it was awesome. It had a really good "ambiance" as everyone says here...hehe. Afterwards was a musical show with songs and dancing from every country capable of winning the world cup (US was not included). For the All Blacks (new zealand) they danced and sang a Michael Jackson song. I laughed. For Scotland, Ireland and Wales they did some rock celtic dancing. It was completely over the top and only something that could be seen in Europe! I loved it.

So that's so far. Yesterday it rained for the first time since I've been here, and today it was nice and cooler. I had a 3 hour break today, so Sarah and I found an English bookstore, then ate some gelato, then went to library to go on the computers. Tomorrow is obviously a half day and hopefully I'll discover the pool and swim some laps in the afternoon. My friday schedule was changed so now I only have school from 9-11! This is awesome because I can go to my rotary meetings! Also I found a band to join and they can maybe lend me a french horn if I join it! It's gonna be awesome. They practice friday nights and I'm going to watch this friday.

So things are good and super. The pictures are: Nadine on her birthday last week with the cheesecake I made her. I used fromage blanc since there is no cream cheese here, the crust was a disaster, and it didn't taste like american cheesecake, but it tasted good. She liked it. I also forgot to set the timer if you can't tell by the browness (oops!!). The next one is the whole group on an overlook over Cahors. Then its Ekaterina (Russia), Anna Victoria (Mexico) and me in front of the famous bridge in Cahors, then a group shot. There is only one boy in our district, Vincent from So. Africa. The next one is Sanjena (India), Robyn (Canada), me and Sarah (USA) on top of the castle in Rocomadour.

C'est tout! Gros bisous à tout le monde! Love and miss everyone.

Love, Liz

Rugby insaneness!!!

Hello. I have now done 3 full days of french high school. Yay! Math and science will be easy since I al 2 years ahead, but, to say the least, todays physics class was a tad bit different than Mr. Plattner's. The teacher just told everyone to take out a piece of paper and we then spent 1.5 hours taking detailed notes, just listening to here talk, nothing written on the board. After class I borrowed a classmates notes to see how much of the diagrams and notes I'd gotten and I was pretty impressed with myself for this 4 page dictée. Spanish is difficult since the teacher speaks very quickly, but she's really nice. Everyone laughed at my accent when I had to read aloud =(. But to me, it sounds like some of them are native spanish speakers; it must be easier if when you're french. But English class today was hilarious. It was after lunch and Sarah and I could not stop laughing the whole time. People's accents, including the teacher's, were so funny and the questions we were doing in the book we funny too. Sarah wrote the answer to one of the questions down, passed it to a girl in our class, and then she raised he hand and read it, perfect grammer and perfect answer. It was funny. In French class we will be reading lots of Flaubert and Maupassant and romantics this year, and since I'm in the Lit section we have to read more books. The first book we have to read is Dangerous Liasons by de Laclos, then its Don Juan.

So the rugby world cup is here! We went to friends house and watched France lose to Agentina (in Paris) on Friday night, but on sunday France plays here in Toulouse against Namibia. Toulouse is the heart of french rugby and its club team, Stade Toulousian, is who the majority of the national team plays for. US lost to England on saturday in Montpellier and it looks like South Africa, Australia and New Zealand are the favorites as always. The womens world cup of soccer starts today in China, but France didn't make it so there's no news. I like the sports coverage here. We also wathced Itlay and France tie in soccer, for the qualifications for Euro 2008, the 2nd time they're played since the world cup. The gymnastics world championships were in Stuggart this weekend so we watched the 15 year old American win! yay! Euro basketball chamionships are now too and France shouls win since they have the 2007 NBA MVP playing for them. So yesterday we drove an hour to Ax-les-Thèrmes in the Pyrenées and went for a nice hike (pics included). Its so awesome to live so close. It was so beautiful too. They said on a clear day you can see the Med Sea, but I guess it wasn't clear enough. I just found out that my 2nd host family lives in Centre-Ville Toulouse, walking distance from school, so thats exciting, I'll get more city living experience. I can't wait for this weekend....the first Rotary weekend with all the other exchange students!

Later, Love,

Liz

lycée commences

Hey!

I've been waiting to write till I went at least a little to school. Today was the first day and we just went from 10:45 till 11. There are so many students at Ozenne its amazing, but only a third of them are there for high school, the rest are taking other classes and getting a degree, luch like a community college. The school is a renaissance military headquarters, so its basically just a big square with a courtyard. So we must got other places for PE. My class of Première L, 11th grade litterature, has 24 people, with 4 being exchange students (the only class that had room) and 3 being boys. So there are many 16 year old french girls. I laughed when I looked at the class list because it lists your birthday and Liza from Canada are the only ones born in 89, the rest being younger. I turn 19 when one of my classmates turns 16! Oh well hopefully math will be easy. If you were wondering about the lit. thing, starting in 11th grade in france you pick your emphasis, either Econolie-Sociale, Scientifique, or Litteraire. I still have science (once a week) and math. So yeah, the schedules. A little different than Central hs to say the least. Everyday I start at 8:15, but friday at 9:15. I have class for 2 hours than an hour hole because im not taking japanese or chinese, then class, then lunch, then class, than like on mondays, a 2 hour hole, then another class. I don't know what I'm going to do, I guess do all my homework? The classes are arrange like college only that I don't really have time to go home since I take a sunway then a bus, and my house is on a hill not exactly next to the bus stop. Anyway everyones is kind messed up but tomorrow (thurs) i have history-geography for 2 hours, hole, english, lunch, english reinforcement, english, and then hist-geo again. i dont see how the same class twice in the same day can be good, but we'll see. Mondays i end at 5pm, tues 6pm, weds 12 (almost everyone in france has wed afternoon off), thurs 4pm, and friday 2pm. I migh go later those days but hopefully not b/c the classes on my schedule are bac preperation (not taking it!).

Anyways....what I did since the last update. Sunday I went to Europe's largest hedge labrynth. You had to solve puzzles in order to go thru doors. It was pretty fun. Friday night I went to my Rotary Club's kick-off dinner. It was the fanciest dinner I've ever been to! It was at one of the member's estate and it was catered and I felt like I should have read an ettiquette book before going. I had to stand up and introduce my self and that went pretty well. Some of the members took my card, hopefull they will call me to go on fun outings with them! On Monday I got my 4 textbooks that my rotary club bought me (u have to buy your books even at public school), and we are working on making photocopies of them so the other exchange students dont have to buy them. On tuesday I met Jenna (from So. Africa) and Danielle (from Australia). They have been here since January and are leaving then too. They got to travel all over this summer and visit people around Europe, something I wont get to do. They were super friendly and had lots of stories to tell! We saw a movie and went shopping, something hard not to do in Toulouse!

I've noticed ecological srides that are here in France than seem easy enough to adapt to the US. No grocery stores give out bags anymore. You have to bring your own canvas bags or whatever you want. If you forget you have to just unload all your food in your car (I saw someone doing this). Clothing and shoe stores etc. still give out bags. This seems like a really simple way to cut back, and everyone def. has enough stored up at home. Also the speed limit on the highway is 20 km/hr less in the summer to cut back on pollution. Since it is in greater use then, maybe there will be less pollution. This seems like a smart idea. Also all my books and things are printed on recyled paper, and as well all the city buses run on bio-fuel. Go France! People complain about high gas prices in the US, but after converting to Litres, I realized my host dad paid like 90 dollars to fill up our small car! Eeekkk!

Anways, now its time to eat....mmm maybe some more duck (so good!) and some roquefort afterwards! yummu i love french food so much!

Love, Liz

ps: the pics are of my school, the Place de la Capitole in Toulouse, Danielle (left) and Jenna (right) after our shopping, and Eliza, Sarah, Eri and me on our first day of Lycée!