My exchange to Annecy, France 2013-2014

Last weekend the Petits took me to the medieval festival, which was so incredibly fun! It was really like we were back in time haha. All the workers were dressed up in old fashioned clothes, and like half of the public that came were too, (including us!) It was so cool dressing up and hanging out there all day! There were a ton of shows and everything to go see. Like the horses. Those guys riding the horses would preform tricks, like standing up, or doing handstands, or swinging around the horse. It was unbelievable! 

Then Sunday the 15th me and Nat had our going away party. All our friends and family came and it was so much fun! They tried to throw Nat in the lake, but it didn’t work haha. And they had tight rope lines, that you hook up to two trees, and try to walk on them, (which is actually a really popular thing in France now. I see people doing it all the time). But yeah it was so nice to see all our friends and family together. Like I said in another post….It will be soo hard to leave them all. But it makes it easier knowing that I will be coming back.hopefully soon. :D It doesn’t even feel like I’ve been here ten months (it was ten months yesterday actually) and now it’s already over. I just can’t believe it. It will be so weird going home to Louisville. Don’t get me wrong I am excited to see everybody back home. But I have no clue the next time I will see my friends and family here, that’s what makes leaving hard. :p

My host sister Iris came home the 7th of June for her exchange year in Thailand. So I went to her coming home party the following day. And everybody was there, it was so much fun ! And I’m so happy I finally got to meet her!!

Two weeks ago was the animation film festival in Annecy. They had movies playing all week, and then every night at 10:15 they would play a film, by the lake on a giant screen, and there would be tons of people! They played, Roi 2, Frozen, How to train your dragon, Norman’s strange power (or something like that), and Jack and his mechanical heart…It was really incredible, and people came from all over the world. Throughout the week I heard so many different accents and languages! 

My friend Rapheal and I made caramel macaroons. the other week too! :] They took forever to make, like 4 hours, but they were so delicious! And we went swimming in her pool and then we went to watch the film that was playing by the lake, which was Dragons. 

This is  me and my friends Raphael and Romina (Ecuadorian). We were dying our hair blue haha. We weren’t in the apartment with the blue in our hair so we had to wash our hair in the park with a faucet that was was. Mine took less time because I didn’t have to bleach my hair. So when I washed my hair nobody was there. But when Romina washed her hair there was probably about 15 people in the park…All the adults were giving us strange looks, and all the little kids surrounded us and just watched haha

This is me, and my friend Megan, after we finished the Tour du Lac on bikes…We rode our bikes the 26 miles around the lake, it was tiring but it was really pretty, and worth it. 

These are my friends from school :} I love them, it’ll be way to hard to leave them, and everybody else I’ve met this year! 

The next three pictures are of a pentathlon I did with two of my friends Heliose and Appoline. There was, archery, rock climbing, hiking, mountain biking, canoeing, and target shooting. It was so cool, and we got to miss school. It did rain though :p but it was still fun!

I want hiking again with my third host family, and a friend Raphael, and Alan too. We went to htis place called the Clots. It was so beautiful there! And we went on like a 7 hour hike. Which was difficult, but the views were incredible! :] And we even walked through the snow haha, that’s how high up we were! 

So apparently I haven’t updated my blog in a month and a half… well I will do it now, and this will be the last time I update it, since I’ll be home in a week…which will be weird. 

Anyway, after my bus trip, my parents came to visit me for a week! It was so much fun. I got to show them all around my city, and they meet my host families, and all my friends. They really enjoyed it, and even said they already started saving to come back, which is good because I have too! :] 

Then we went to Milan…which I don’t have pictures of because my phone ran out of space…I will have to go facebook creeping and take other people’s photos ;] 

These are pictures of the United Nations at Geneva, we took a tour there. And I found it interesting that there were two peacocks roaming the grounds…and furthermore, that everyone was acting as if it is completely normal! 

Venice was beautiful! We had a lot of free time to roam the city together, then after we went on a guided tour. And after that we went on a gondola ride through all the canals. It was unbelievable! And I talked to the guy who was stirring our boat, who explained that you have to got ot a specific gondola school for five years to learn how to stir a gondola, because it is actually quite difficult! And he explained that he has been doing this job for six years now. And that he has only ever fallen in once! And I asked him what do you do if you fall in…“You swim…” I guess the answer was pretty obvious haha. And then there are so many other gondolas out and about too,  so I asked him how he doesn’t ever hit any of the other boats, his reply… “oh haha I hit them all the time! But I’ve only ever fallen in once!” haha he was great! Oh and i forget to say that right at the beginning of our tour, I saw a seagull eat a pigeon…It scarred me so badly! And I am pretty sure that the seagull killed that pigeon, he didn’t find it dead I don’t believe, because I saw various seagulls attack the pigeons throughout the day! 

The night we arrived in Italy, near Venice, we went to the beach! I absolutely loved it! I wasn’t s warm, but it was so beautiful and carefree. It was probably my favorite place throughout the whole trip. I was just so happy at the beach. 

After Prague we went to Vienna, Austria. It was also incredible in its own way! 

The next city we went to was Prague! We stayed two days there! It was my favorite city! <3 It was absolutely beautiful and full of life! And also it was not expensive at all! I did all my souvenir shopping there! 

The third city we went was Munich, Germany :] It was beautiful! We went on a bus tour around the city, and then stopped at this huge castle (the picture with the fountain), which was actually a GIFT. That castle was given by the prince of Germany, to the Princess of Italy because she was pregnant. And I don’t really remember the rest of that story, because I knew they were suppose to get married but then she got pregnant, and it was something to do with the mother of the Princess…But I can’t remember the real history. Anyway, it was super beautiful! And That night we were allowed to go out which was super fun, hanging out at night in the city with all my friends :}