. . .

I opened this with a full intention of having something to say, and now I'm just stuck.

Well, school is going well. I'm starting to pick up random words, and can usually understand what my classmates say, even though my responses don't go very far.

Mom asked me a few questions when I called her on her BIRTHDAY (Bon anniversaire, AGAIN, ha ha) and so I'll answer her questions here for you all to see, too.

1. "Do you have friends?" - Yes. All of my classmates are really friendly . . . Pierre, Carole, Kelly, Sophie, Aurore . . .
2. "What classes are you taking?" - French (which is like English back home), English (which is like French back home), Religion (we're learning about immigration), geography, history, art history, astronomy, and gym. I'm not taking math or science because I'm absolute crap at those classes in the States, and even though I've heard, "ask your teachers, they'll help", my teachers hardly understand English, and my French is about as good as their English, so I'd rather take a math class that was being taught in my first language. Also, my exchange student friend, Emily, is also not taking math or science, and we originally had those together, so a lot of times we both get out after lunch. It's awesome.
3. "Do they talk to you in French or English?" - I don't know if my mom asked this, but I know people have, SO. Anytime someone talks to me in English, another classmate will yell "EN FRANÇAIS!" ("in french") at them. So, they mostly talk to me in French. There's one student who's fluent in English, and so if I'm sitting next to him and he sees I'm super confused, he'll explain something to me. My English teachers talk to me in English, but other than that, no one else except the other exchange students do.
4. "Is the food good?" - AH MON DIEU, YES. My host mom is an excellent cook, and we eat at home every night and so far everything has been amazing. We've only eaten out as a family once, and ordered pizza twice (the pizza here is really good, too). With the Rotary events in my district, we ate cafeteria food three times, it was disgusting, and ate at a restaurant once, in Brussels. That was funny though, because what we ate in Brussels was EXACTLY what I had had for dinner with my host family the night before. So, I was like, " . . . srsly?" Hahah. Everyone brings their own lunch to school and eats outside when the weather is nice. Even if the weather isn't nice, they eat outside anyway. I make a sandwich every morning and take it. White bread (which tastes AMAZING) or a baguette, with cheese, salami and ham, and then a bunch of chocolate stuff for after. My host mom knows how much I love chocolate and buys different chocolate snacks every week for me to try. It's great :)

Well. Last night was Valériane's last night in Belgium, she left this morning for two months to work with people afflicted with HIV/AIDS in Africa, so all of her best friends came over for dinner. We had some kind of fondue which was really good, but it filled me up really fast. So, I'll be an only child for most of the time, with the exceptions being when Jean-Michel's kids come for the weekend. She'll be back in November, and hopefully I'll know a lot more French by then.

I've been listening to a podcast called Smart Mouths to help keep me informed on what's going on in the United States and not look like an uneducated American when I'm asked questions. They discuss a lot of politics and explain issues from the very beginning (such as the Health Insurance Reform) so that it can be understood by their international listeners. It's just a great way to keep up on what's going on back "home" without having to watch CNN, because I feel weird watching CNN when I could be watching some cooler shows dubbed in French. I'm a big fan of the people who produce this podcast, and it's so nice to hear them tell me what's going on in the world, as well as my country while I'm gone, and it's something nice to listen to on my bus rides.

Also, I'm glad to hear that "Glee" has officially been picked up for a full season by FOX! The music on this show is amazing - everyone knows I can never get enough of Lea Michele's voice. The latest song by her character Rachel is now available on iTunes. It's a cover of Celine Dion's song Taking Chances, which I LOVE. Ahhh. I've been listening to it on loop for the entirety of this blog.

On Thursday, Emily (the exchange student from New York who goes to my school) and I are going to go take pictures of the school during our free class hours, so I'll post pictures of my school then!!

I should wrap it up now.

Love you all,

Alyce