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I know I haven't written a full post in a little over a week, so here goes:

Saturday, 4 Septembre

Adrien was leaving for England the next day, so we were going to go out for dinner as a family. For some reason, dinner didn't work with everyone's schedules, so we went out for lunch instead. We drove all around Hannut searching for an open restaurant, but every single one was closed. This is not a joke. Every restaurant we drove by was closed; it was lunacy! We ended up driving to Pizza Hut in Liège, and many a joke was made about Adrien's last dinner being at a fast food restaurant. Anne-Michèle, Amaury, and I ordered off of the menu, while the men (Adrien, Etienne, and Arnaud) went the buffet route. It took upwards of half an hour for our salads to arrive, which made me wish I'd just eaten from the buffet. However, once that plate of Cesar-y goodness was set down before me, I forgot all of my qualms about waiting and simply stared at the lettuce like it was the most beautiful pile of greenery I'd ever set my eyes on.

That salad is probably on the list of most delicious foods I've ever tasted. No, I'm not kidding. I miss vegetables so much! We have them here, of course, but my host family likes to stay within the realms of potatoes and green beans. With extra tomatoes. Yes, I know that tomatoes are a fruit and potatoes are a starch, but whatever. That doesn't make me miss lettuce any less.

After that divine salad, Anne-Michèle and I went to Liège to buy a hand-held translator thingy majig for Adrien. We went past a bookstore I visited the first time we went, and there was a guy there giving out free little pots of Ben and Jerry's ice cream! Anne-Michèle and I both ate one, bought Adrien's translator thingy, and then walked by again to get ice cream for the rest of the family. :) That ice cream was seriously delicious.

Sunday 5 Septembre

Anne-Michèle, Etienne, and I went with Adrien to the train station in Bruxelles. Adrien checked in or something of that sort (I'm not sure how the train station works, to be honest) and then we lost Etienne, so we had little detour while we searched the train station for him. Once we were all reunited, we went to lunch at a little sandwich shop (I didn't eat anything, as I wasn't hungry). After that, Adrien walked through a little gate thing, and that was it! He's in England right now, and I really hope he has a fantastic time!

Monday and Tuesday, 6 and 7 Septembre

Back to the lovely life of a 6ème student. I have the schedule figured out now, which is really great, but the classes are difficult (made even more so by the fact that I don't understand most of what's going on...) and they're not always in the room that's listed on the schedule. I don't know how people figure out where the class is instead, but they all seem to know. I need to figure out how that works.

I went to English class for the first time, and it's definitely going to be a challenge. I speak, read, write, and think in English, but in the class, the students translate from French to English. I don't know a lot of the French vocabulary, so I can't translate. I failed a test (I got 0 out of 10, I'm not afraid to admit it), but I've studied the vocabulary and the verbs and all of that business, so I think I'm going to do better next time. I talked to Sofii, a girl in my class, and she said not to worry, it takes a looooooong time to learn this stuff. She knows all the verbs, but she has been in the class for four years with the same list. I know it'll come eventually, but in the meantime, it sucks feeling like a fish out of water.

OH. I'm in calculus. It's nature's idea of a sick, sick joke, I think. I'm not in the beginning calculus class, I'm in the second year of it or something. I don't understand a single thing that has been reviewed so far. We don't have the real teacher right now either, we have a substitute (I have no idea why) and she's a chemistry teacher, not a math teacher, so she doesn't really know what's going on either. It makes me miss my Unit Circle back home. :(

I think my favorite class so far is Science Sociales (Social Sciences). It's taught by a woman named Mme. Gallo, who told me that she exchanged to Oregon when she was my age. She's verynice and really understands how difficult it is to be an exchange student. She's also one of the few teachers who actually expects us to work. She gives us the handouts, she expects us to take notes, etc. It's so refreshing! My French teacher (it's the equivalent of an English class in the U.S.) didn't give me the handouts last class. I don't know why, he just didn't. I don't know if it's because it's something I don't have to do or if it's because he thinks I can't handle it; either way, I wasn't thrilled. I don't want to be one of those exchange students who just floats along, not really doing any work and not participating. I like to work, I like to learn, and I like being a participating member of a classroom. *sigh* It'll all work out. I just need to take it one day at a time.

Wednesday, 8 Septembre

I went to the mine in Blègny with the other Rotary exchange students in 1630. I had a blast! It was so much fun to be down in an actual mine and to be able to see where people had actually worked (kids as young as 6 worked in mines, opening and closing doors!) and changed the earth so many years ago. Granted, I don't support the exploitation of nature, but it was still super cool to be inside Mother Earth that way.

Unfortunately, my camera has decided to suck through batteries like mad, so I only have about 8 pictures from the mine and none inside the mine itself. :( If anyone has any tips on extending battery life in a camera, or if you'd like to send me a new camera that has a rechargeable battery, lemme know.

Friday, 10 Septembre

After school, I went to a cafe and bowling with my friends from school. I had a blast laughing and telling jokes and just enjoying being a teenager. Here's a picture of my friends:

Left to right: Mathieu, Marie, Florian, Amandine

They're seriously awesome people. They show me around school and help me when I get lost (Florian was late to his French class because he was helping me find my class... once again, they had decided to have class in a room besides the one where it's normally supposed to be...) and I eat lunch with them every day.

Florian is a total Harry Potter junkie too, so we talk about Harry Potter and the new movie coming out and which book is our favorite and all manner of things like that. It's quite enjoyable. Florian is actually like my own mini-translator; he translates the French most kids speak into Mikayla French. What is Mikayla French? It's sloooooooow, uses small words, and doesn't use any type of slang. It's quite convenient.

Saturday 11 Septembre

It was a little weird not seeing the replays of 9/11 on tv. No one was talking about it, no one was wearing red, white, and blue to show their patriotism. And then I remembered that I'm in Belgium. 9/11 didn't affect Belgium the way it affected the U.S. It was very different from the mood I'm used to on this day every year.

I went over to Frèdèric (Etienne's brother)'s house to meet his wife (Caroline)'s aunt -- she's American, but she lives not far from here with her husband. It was nice to speak English again and to meet other people who have learned foreign languages. Caroline's uncle told me to watch the news in French every day. Not just have it on in the background, but actually watch it. He said that it helps one learn a foreign language very quickly. I'm going to give it a try.

After that, Anne-Michèle and I went to my third family's house for a large Thai meal. Apparently, a group of people who took some sort of cooking class get together every few months and have a themed dinner (this one being Thai, obviously). It was really nice for me because I got to hang out with all four of my future host siblings (Kaki, Camille, Pauline and Quentin). I actually met Kaki, Pauline, and Quentin for the first time last night! They're all extremely friendly and welcoming. They asked about school, how I like it here, what I miss about home, etc. Camille and I ended up watching The DaVinci Code until Anne-Michèle and I left at about 1:15. In the morning. I was so tired! But I had a really good time, and I'm glad I got to know my family better.

Last but not least, I'd like to congratulate my friend Shannon and her new husband Dustin. They were married on September 11, 2010. I wish I could have been there to celebrate with you, and I hope you have a wonderful life together. Congratulations. :)

Sunday 12 Septembre

Today, I lazed around, studied my irregular English verbs some more, and went to lunch at Etienne's parents' house, like we do every Sunday (this is actually only the second time I went, we've been busy every Sunday since I've been here), came back, read, and studied my irregular verbs again. I'm about to head to bed as my eyes are getting tired and I have the beginnings of a sore throat (ugggggh!).

Ohhhh wait! Two more things:

1) The chipmunk will be departing soon. I must say, I've gotten used to him being there when I wake up, staring at me from around the massive nut he's trying to crack and making obscene amounts of noise.

2) I braved the dryer! And it totally worked out! I'm SO proud of myself!