Yesterday was my last day of Belgian school.

Talia, Emma and I presented an oral exam together in Social Sciences, which we passed with flying colors (45/60, a GREAT score by Belgian terms). It was a pretty simple exam, but it was nice to finish on a good note like that. It's weird to think that I'll never have a class there again; that it's all over.

After we finished our exam, our super awesome teacher, Madame Gallo, drove me to my second host family's house so I could pick up a package from my mom. I ate lunch with my family and caught up with them, and then my host mom drove me home.

I spent the rest of the day bumming around, talking to my host sisters and to friends back in the States. It's nice to finally be on summer vacation!

Countdown: 29 days left in Belgium!

Bulletin !

J'ai reçu mon troisième bulletin aujourd'hui, et je suis contente. :) J'ai réussi dans tous mes courses !

I received my third report card today, and I'm content. :) I passed all of my classes!

Mes résultats:

My results:

Religion: 16/20

Education Physique: 14/20

Histoire: 10.5/20

Anglais: 18/20

Sciences Sociales: 16/20

Sciences: 12.5/20

Géographie: x/20

Français: x/20

Mathematique: x/20

Overall: 69%

I would like to stress that my overall score is good. There are Belgians whose scores aren't as high as mine. I'm immensely proud of the points I've earned here.

Two things to note here:

1. Any grade above 50% is passing, so yes, I am passing History, despite my 10.5.

2. I didn't get a grade in French, Géo, or Math because I don't do the tests in those classes. I'm not really sure what's going on in math (we've had 2 teachers, and now all the students are "en stage" which means an internship of sorts, until the end of April), I take notes but canNOT seem to follow along in Géographie (besides, my teacher doesn't even know my name. He's called me Clara once and Emma twice. The most recent time? Today. I wrote my name in giant purple letters on a piece of paper and held it up for him to see. We'll get to being invisible in another post, okay?), and I tried doing some work in French, but my teacher didn't bother to give me any points. If you will grade my work and write "Useless" and "sense? sense? sense?" all over it, but you won't bother to give me any credit for it, then sorry, I'm not going to work for you anymore. Fair?

I did receive a rather lovely note at the bottom in the comments section:

Le conseil de classe te rappelle que tu es ici pour t'investir dans TOUS les cours. Nous comptons sur toi.

English: The (equivalent of) homeroom teacher would like to remind you that you are here to invest in ALL of the classes. We are counting on you.

See point number 2 above.

My point? You're not counting on me if you don't know my name, and you're not counting on me when you don't give me points.

I showed my host parents my bulletin today, and they were very pleased. My host mom kept saying "Tu as des bons points !" (You have good points !). She told me to keep my bulletin downstairs to show my host dad after dinner, but be ready, he was going to tease me and tell me they were bad points. Sure enough, when I pulled it out, he told me to kneel down on the floor while he went over it. (It was funny, I promise). The first thing he said was "Religion. Only 16? What is this?!" He was giving me a hard time when my host mom ran into the dining room, waving a dish cloth and a plate in the air crying': "And how many points did YOU get in Religion, huh?!?!?! Let's go pull out YOUR old bulletins and show those off!" My host dad's response: "Chuuuut. Go back in the kitchen."

***I would like to point out that this was a joke and that he was *not* being serious.***

Then he told me that he completely and totally flopped Religion and was going to have to retake his rhéto (flunking senior year) but he passed some test and was allowed to finish school.

They both seemed pretty proud of me, and I'm proud of myself. I've gone from being completely lost and confused to understanding everything around me and doing well on tests.

Happy St. Patty's Day everyone!

Another month, gone.

So, my updates have been... sporadic, at best this past month. With school, a new family, and just life in general taking their respective courses, I haven't had much time to write. Add that to the fact that the internet at my new house is as moody as all get out. Anyway. Let us begin.

On Tuesday, the 25th, I had to give a speech to Rotary, which included a powerpoint about Loveland and my life in the states. I basically made a slideshow of photos of me and various things/people: horses, my friends, school, my two super awesome French teachers, my family, etc. At the end, I devoted two slides to Loveland: one to the amazing amount of art we have in our little town, and another to the massive event that is Valentine's Day. I think most of the Rotary people enjoyed it, and I was definitely proud of myself for doing it all in French. The biggest gaffe I made was when I forgot how to say "nine" in French. I couldn't remember if it is "neuf" or "nein." It's neuf.

Wednesday I went to Liège to buy a dress for a Rotary dinner (that was Saturday, we'll get there...). I ended up meeting up with Talia, Eduardo, Emma, and Aymeric (a Belgian) for a while, before breaking off to go find my dress. I don't know what it was about Wednesday, but I was incredibly homesick and miserable. The rest of the group and I ended up finding each other again, and Talia really helped me come out of my funk, which was great. We all went to Pizza Hut afterward, and had some delicious pizza, which was amazingly like pizza from back in the states. I'm ashamed to say that I have lost the ability to eat pizza with my hands. :( I'll have to practice when I get home.

I ended up buying a different dress from the one I originally planned. It's much cuter though, and it was on sale. Cue happy Mikayla. :)

Thursday was all set up to be a normal day, but I got lucky and two of my professors weren't at school. What does that mean? Well, in the states, we have substitute teachers. They don't do that here in Belgium. If a teacher is sick and not coming to school, class is simply cancelled. So, since my two teachers weren't there, I finished school at 10 am. I had finished at that time on Wednesday as well, which means I had two days of relaxation, honestly.

Friday, I went to Brussels with my host mom's neice, Marie. We went to the Royal Museum of Fine Arts (yes, the same one I went to with Jordan) and toured the Modern Art exhibit. It was a lot of fun just talking to someone new. Marie doesn't speak English, so I spoke in French with her all day long. It was good practice. :) We also walked around the Grand Place in Brussels a little bit, and I saw the Manneken Pis again. Did you know that there's a Jannekin Pis, too? The Manneken Pis is a boy, the Jannekin Pis is a girl.

Friday night was Marie's surprise birthday party. That's the whole reason we went to the museum -- to get her out of the house so she wouldn't be able to find out about her surprise party. Everyone did a really good job of keeping it from her, because she was SHOCKED when we got there. There were all sorts of cute decorations and pictures of Marie from throughout her life, and really great deserts. A Silly String fight was involved in there somewhere as well, which was quite entertaining. The adults really got into it.

Saturday, I had the Rotary party. It was a soirée for the president of our Rotary club, to celebrate his 6 month anniversary as president. There was all sorts of delicious food (I tried caviar and lamb for the first time), a special beer type drink, and alcohol soaked crêpes (not so yummy). After the five hour dinner (yes, it was quite the formal affair), the waiters moved the tables and there was a dance floor. I would have loved to dance, but most unfortunately, Miss Talia wasn't willing to accompany me. I left the soirée at about 1 am, and came home and crashed.

Sunday morning, Valérie woke me up and told me that I had to get out of bed and go on a walk with her, my host mom, and one of their friends. As much as I would have loved to have stayed in my bed and slept, Valérie was insistent, and so I had to get up, get dressed, and get my game face on. We ended up walking for about 2.5 miles, and it was fairly pleasant, albeit REALLY cold. Dang winter. After that, I came home and watched Sex and the City for the first time. Valérie has the first season on DVD, and she loaned it to me. In all honesty, I don't know why people get so worked up about this show. It's stupid. The West Wing was much better (I finished it, by the way).

Today, I went to school and fell back into the routine of the Monday usual. I was supposed to be going to a concert tonight (Angels and Airwaves) with Jordan, but most unfortunately, that didn't work out. :(

However, this lovely band shall be the song of the day. Enjoy. :)

I WILL post about London, I promise.

But it's going to take a while, so I'll probably do it tomorrow after school when I have more time. But today, I wanted to share a few little things that have gone on.

1. I changed my math class. Now, instead of four hours per week, I have two. I just couldn't keep up with the regular math class. I was two years behind what they were learning and I could barely keep up, even when I copied Talia's notes. So I talked to the principal and switched into a math class that's two hours per week, and I'm told it's more applicable to life than the math I was doing before. We'll see what happens when I have the class next week.

2. I added two more classes to make up for my new hours of study hall. If I hadn't added them, I would have had an hour of etude, lunch, then three hours of etude after lunch, THEN my last class of the day, geography. That's lunacy, so the principal had me add Science Humaines and Formation Sociale. I'm not entirely sure what these classes are or what we're learning, but I think it'll be fun. I've never seen any of the kids before now, and they were so excited when they found out I'm an exchange student. It was like the first day of school all over again. The problem is that these classes are both two hours per week. I, however, have classes during the second hours, which are on Friday. So I'm only going to one of the hours every week. It's kind of confusing, and I'm going to miss loads of material, but I'm really only in those classes to fill time and continue learning French. So ça va.

3. My school has a rule, an actual rule, that states that you may NOT stand up and eat. You have to be sitting to eat. I found out today when I was talking to Talia and eating my sandwich, and the principal said, "Bon appetit, mais tu dois s'asseoir." (You have to sit down) I asked why, and she said because it's not healthy to stand and eat. It's a legitimate rule, not a joke. I've never been so flabbergasted in my life. Never.

The end.

Mikayla

P.S. London will come soon, I PROMISE!

Amaury is watching The Hannah Montana Movie.

I can hear it through the floor.

No amount of music can drown out that horrendous noise. Ugh.

This post is about two quick things though:

1) I got my first Belgian report card! Here are pictures:

In Belgium and France, grades are given out of 20, as you can see. I don't think anyone can get the full 20 points though. Even kids who haven't missed a question all year in math only got 19. I'm pretty satisfied with what I earned, honestly. For someone who doesn't completely understand the classes, I managed not to fail anything. I'm pleased.

2) Here's a photo of Amaury:

Yes, he's wearing heels. He's definitely one of the coolest kids I've met in a long while.

Tonight, after dinner, he offered me an éclair. I told him I only wanted half, so he cut it for me and put it on a plate, all nice and fancy. After I finished the half, he asked if I wanted the rest. I told him no, not tonight, and he said, "Okay, tomorrow, for breakfast," and nodded, the same way Arnaud does when he's trying to convince me to do something ridiculous, like karaoke. Oh, by the way, I'm going to karaoke on Monday night. This should be an adventure....

Mikayla

The Best Monday in a While.

So, I didn't have to bike 20 km today. I learned how to tie knots for rock climbing and played volleyball instead. I didn't even break a sweat. :)

Anne-Michèle bought waffles. YES.

I got accepted to college. It's hard to describe that feeling, honestly. It's a mixture of relief, happiness, surprise, and I don't know what else. I'm very pleased right now. :)

I hope your Monday was just as fabulous as mine.

Mikayla

Sunday.

It's Sunday. I have to go to school tomorrow. Yuck. I have to bike 20 km for school. At least that's rather mindless work.

Friday was a regular day at school... We did get out an hour early though because my English teacher wasn't there. She fell at school and knocked out one of her teeth (OUCH), so she wasn't there to teach class. We all went to the café for a while, then I went to Amaury's school to wait to be picked up, comme d'habitude. Friday night I hung out at home and caught up on sleep. It was so nice. :)

Saturday I relaxed some more. Etienne and I went to pick up Anne-Michèle in the afternoon, and after we got home, I skyped with Hannah for a while and then we ate dinner. During dinner, Arnaud told me that I'm going to be seeing the chipmunk again. The chipmunk's owner has an English exam coming up, and she wants to practice speaking English, so I'm going to spend the night at her house next Friday. Okay, cool. I kind of missed the chipmunk.

I stayed up waaaaay too late again last night, so I need to catch up on sleep. Again. It's a vicious circle.

I think that's about all I need to say... I have school next week, then we're closed for Toussaint, and I'm going to London November 4th through 7th. Let me know if you want a post card or a souvenir! :)

Bisous,

Mikayla

A weekend with Emma.

Okay, so I haven't written about the soirée yet, but I promise I will soon. This post is all about the fabulous weekend that began on Friday night and is going to end Tuesday morning.

Friday after school, I went home with Emma. Her host mom picked us up from the café after school, and we went to a lady's house to buy some vegetables. When we got back in the car, Emma and I were both complaining about how hungry we were, so her host mom took us to a boulangerie (pastry shop/chocolate shop/bread shop/heaven) and let us each pick out a piece of cake. I got something involving chocolate and mocha, and Emma picked out a cherry creation. We drove home before indulging in the deliciousness, and let me say, that was possibly the best piece of cake I've ever had. EVER. It was SO yummy.

After that, Emma and I asked her mom if we could make pumpkin seeds, since her mom was making pumpkin soup. She agreed, and so Emma and I spent the next hour or so picking pumpkin seeds out of pumpkin goo and trying to explain the idea behind pumpkin seeds to her host mom. She seemed a little dubious at first, but after we baked them, she couldn't get over how delicious they were. Emma and I ate a good portion of them, but we saved some for the rest of her family too. I definitely want to make more.

We ate a delicious dinner with her host family, and afterward, we put on sweatpants (YES) and made cookies. Emma is the best. These cookies were PERFECT. I tried making cookies with Talia last week, and they didn't exactly work... They were more like little rocks than cookies. But the cookies Emma made... fantastic. Absolutely perfect. There was one cookie in the bunch that was just... words can't describe it. It was the PERFECT cookie. Baked to a light golden brown, the correct chocolate to cookie ratio... It was amazing. We saved that cookie for Arnaud, my host brother, to try to help him recover from the traumatic experience of eating a cookie I made with Talia. Although, he said that the cookies Emma made were too soft. So Arnaud, here is a challenge for you: You can try making the cookies. That way they won't be too hard or too soft. Show us how it's done. :)

The only downside to making the cookies was that I burned my finger. Why does that always happen to me? It's nothing too bad though, and it doesn't hurt. I'm excited because I think it's going to be a wicked awesome scar when it's healed.

After cookies, Emma and I went up to her room and tried to watch Ocean's 11, but we both fell asleep.

The next morning, we made French Toast. YUM. It was delectable. SO delicious. French Toast is really good with Nutella, by the way. Shortly after breakfast, Emma had a dance class, so her host mom drove me home on the way to dropping her off. I cleaned my room and just bummed around for about 2 hours, and then Emma came over to my house. We basically sat on my bed on our respective computers, chatting and just relaxing. No one was home last night, so we made tortellini with a butter sauce... Kind of. It was supposed to be a butter sauce, but it turned into a butter/milk/flour/cheese-alfredo-ish sauce, but it was actually REALLY delicious. We had an excellent dinner followed by some home-made mousse au chocolat (chocolate mousse) made by my host dad. That stuff was GOOD.

After our delicious dinner, we hung out some more, talking and being crazy girls.

We got ready for bed and watched 27 dresses. It was a pretty cute movie, and lemme say, James Marsden is a very attractive human being. We fell asleep at about 2 am, and slept till 9:30 this morning, which was refreshing.

We got up and had breakfast, and then my host dad drove us back to Emma's house, where I'll be spending the night again tonight, and possibly tomorrow night as well. We don't have school Monday, so Emma's host mom is taking us to Brussels to see some sort of exhibit about European/American relations. I'm rather excited. :) Plus, I get to raid Emma's closet, which will be fun.

That's about all I have for now... I'll write another post in the next couple days about the rest of what's going on. Until then, enjoy life and eat dessert first.

Mikayla

Oh, and I cut my bangs. :)

Today:

I have lots to tell about the past few days, but I don't have the time to do it right now; that'll be my next post, okay? I just want to share a few things that have happened today:

• my science teacher exclaimed over my teeny-weeny family tree
• I ran another 5 kilometers
• my host dad asked me if I'm fat now that I'm in Belgium while we were eating dinner (it was funny, I promise)
• I forgot all of my school papers this morning
• I'm craving egg salad. And a Chipotle burrito. Ugh.
• The gnat that has been flying around my room for the past few days is still in here, attacking my ears while I sleep.

That is all.

:)

A rant about the U.S., for a change.

Applying to college really sucks.

I know that I'm qualified and capable and whatnot, but it's just such a pain in the butt to have to fill out the same information over and over and over again. Yes, my name is Mikayla. My birthday is November 19th. Have my address again (because you don't already send me three pamphlets a week about how beautiful your campus is, the exceptional cafeteria food, and your Nobel Prize-winning faculty). Yes, I'd love to list all of my courses. Sorry they're in French. I bet you'd like me to explain that! Oh wait... there isn't a box for "Additional Information" about my courses. Well, that's a bit of a problem, isn't it? Oh, I'd LOVE to write an essay about how I'd be an asset to your campus. Yes, I'm a unique individual. Just like everybody else.

Grrrrrr. I know I just need to get it done, but that doesn't stop me from griping about it.

P.S. Corndogs and pizza rolls.

The latest.

I know, I'm getting really bad at regular updates. I'm sorry, I'm just super busy! I'll try to post more often, okay? :)

Here's what's been happening:

Friday, 24 Septembre

Friday was a regular day at school, culminating in a fabulous geography lesson. Okay, not really, but the teacher did let us pack up five minutes early, which was nice. Friday night, my host parents hosted a dinner party kind of thing for Talia and I. All three of our host families came, in addition to some Rotarians. I had a lot of fun talking with people and gossiping with Talia and Camille, my very awesome host sister from my third family. Most of the people I talked to told me that my French has already improved, which makes me very happy. I don't want to get into a huge spiel about language right now, so I'll put it in a paragraph at the end.

Saturday, 25 Septembre

In all honesty, I don't remember what I did on Saturday. I don't think it was much of anything. I probably read a little bit of Lord of the Flies and watched "The West Wing" (I do love that show). It was a pretty calm day.

Sunday, 26 Septembre

On Sunday, Etienne and I went to a horse show near the border of Belgium and the Netherlands. It was rather chilly, but I loved it, of course. There was a competitor from the stable up the street that lets me ride, which was super cool. Etienne and I also got bracelets that gave us special access to the barns and such, but we didn't get a chance to tour them, which was unfortunate.

After the show, we tried to drive home, but the GPS we were using went a little crazy, and Etienne and I ended up in Maastricht, which is a city in the Netherlands. So, I've officially been to two countries in Europe, which I think is pretty awesome. Talia, Emma and I are hoping to go to Maastricht in the not too distant future to do some shopping and to find the Domino's (yes, the pizza place).

Sunday night, Etienne and I drove to the forest about half an hour from the house to listen for elk mating calls. Yes, I'm serious. Apparently, Etienne does this with his friends every year. It was actually really interesting. We got to see some elk in a field probably... 400 yards from where we were in the forest. It was interesting to watch the dynamics of the herd and how the males interacted. Yes, I'm a little bit of a science nerd. :) Anyway, Etienne and I left after about an hour, since it was VERY cold. We stopped at McDonald's on the way home and I had my first "American" food since being here. The menus are different here though, so that made ordering a challenge (along with the fact that I didn't know what the worker was saying to me...). But it was yummy at least.

Monday, 26 Septembre

Monday I had off from school for some sort of holiday. It's only in the Walloon region (the southern, French part), and if I'm correct, it was merely so that people could have a chance to celebrate being French. I stayed home all day and relaxed, reading and catching up on things.

OH.

A great thing happened on Monday. A fantastic, amazing, wonderful thing.

We got tickets for Lady Gaga.

November 23rd at 8 pm in Antwerp.

I am SO excited! I'm going with Talia, Emma and my host brother, Arnaud. We're all dressing up (okay, maybe Arnaud isn't...) and it's going to be CRAZY. Our seats aren't very good, but that's not the point. I'm so excited just for the music and the atmosphere. It's going to be absolutely incredible. And it's right after my birthday! I canNOT wait!

Tuesday, 27 Septembre

I had to go back to school, but Amaury didn't (LUCKY), so I drudged along trying not to fall asleep in my last class of the day. Arnaud picked me up afterward and we had a lively conversation about Valentine's Day (he's very amused by the fact that I come from Loveland), spiders and Lady Gaga's meat dress. It was rather pleasant.

That night, Amaury made waffles, and oh my goodness, they were INCREDIBLE. People don't make waffles here like we do in the U.S. You don't use syrup or peanut butter or fruit or whipped cream on waffles here, and you eat them with your hands. They're absolutely delicious, too. I told Anne-Michèle that I would like waffles for my birthday; she laughed, but she agreed.

Wednesday, 28 Septembre

Went to school. Got out early. Came home. Read The Great Gatsby (I finished Lord of the Flies). Talked to mom. Ate fondue. Went to bed.

Thursday, 29 Septembre

Today, I went to school, again. I do that a lot. At lunch, Florian told me that he heard that the actors in the Harry Potter films might be here for the premiere. HOLY CATS, I hope they are! That would be AMAZING, and would totally satisfy my desire to go to a premiere in London. I'm keeping my fingers crossed....

Anyway, after school, Talia, Emma and I went to GB (a kind of grocery store Wal-greens combo) and picked up a few things (an eraser for school, gum, chocolate, Q-tips, etc. All the essentials) before heading over to a makeup store. I'm not usually big on makeup, but I liked that store a lot. I managed to find a new mascara that I really like, which makes me happy.

Now, I'm home reading The Great Gatsby and talking to Talia and Emma about food (of course).

Here are a few things that didn't really fit into my description of the last week:

Language:

I'm still thinking in English most of the time, and I haven't had any dreams in French (that I remember, at least). However, I do find it easier to speak in French at school and with my friends. I'll ask them if a word is masculine or feminine, and then continue my sentence. I'm way more comfortable with object pronouns now, which makes me very happy. I'm starting to use "one" more as well. Last week, I was journaling while I was in étude (it's not like I actually have to do homework...) and I actually found it easier to write in French! Florian read it afterward, and politely told me that I didn't have any spelling mistakes. I know my grammar was horrible and most of the sentences probably weren't complete thoughts, but still. I journaled in French!

At the dinner party, I talked to Camille for a while, and she told me my French is better, which made me feel quite proud. I also talked to my second host family's daughter, Valérie, and she told me that I'm speaking very well, too. I've decided not to stress too much about the language, and just let it come. Life is more fun stress-free.

Homesickness:

I was a little homesick today in math class. As you may have read, I'm in calculus, which is just NOT okay. I have absolutely NO clue what is going on. It's not because I'm not trying; believe me, I am. But there's a gap between where I finished math at Loveland and what they're learning here. I can kind of follow what the teacher is doing algebraically, but after a certain point (derivatives...) I get lost. Talia said she'd help me though (THANK YOU!) and Ericson offered as well. I think I'll make it. And if not, hey, it's Monopoly School.

Okay, you're probably confused now. Talia, Emma, Eduardo and I call everything here "Monopoly" because it feels so unreal; it's a play off of "Monopoly money." We have a lot of time on our hands.

Chocolate:

I'm getting sick of it. Seriously. I just want fruit. And vegetables. Right now, I'm craving Broccoli. With a capital B.

Well, I think that may be all for today. I hope everyone's doing well and enjoying life!

Oh, I would also like to throw out a huge "HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" to Mr. Jordan Blevins, my exchange buddy from Florida. :)

I've been sick for the past week and a half.

And I'm soooo sick of it! My host family doesn't use tissues, they use hankies, which, quite honestly, have always kind of grossed me out. Don't you want the germs to get away from you? Alas, I have been craving tissues for the past week. I go to school every day and take a bunch of paper towel from the dispenser in the bathroom and use that. It's worked quite well so far.

Tonight, Anne-Michèle asked me if I wanted to make "pâte avec le fromage," commonly known as mac n cheese in America. Of course I said yes, and ran up to my room to retrieve the boxes of Kraft goodness. While cooking, I talked with Anne-Michèle and Amaury, which was fun. I was almost moved to tears of joy when I opened the package of powdered cheese. I do think Anne-Michèle was a little surprised when I didn't bake the final product in the oven for a few minutes. When we finally sat down to eat it, Anne-Michèle and Arnaud both wanted salt and pepper on theirs, which was fine by me. The only thing that freaked me out was when Arnaud added ketchup. You just don't do that to mac and cheese. You just don't.

While we were eating, Arnaud asked me if it's a common American dish. I laughed a little and told him yes, yes it is. I eat it at least... 5 or 6 times per month, right mom?

Anyway, as we were eating, Anne-Michèle was saying that it's made with cheddar cheese. I responded, "Well... I'm not sure I'd call it "cheese" exactly...." (come on people, the stuff comes in powdered form...). I don't think I was very clear though, because Anne-Michèle started explaining cheddar cheese to me. Of course, being a Wisconsinite, I could live off of cheddar cheese (and often eat little else for days at a time...), so I found it kind of amusing that she didn't think I knew what it was. On a related note, I've been missing cheddar cheese. If Anne-Michèle knows what it is, it must be in the country somewhere, right? I have a new mission. :D

I'm going to post pictures of the mac n cheese in a different post; the photo uploader is acting funny, unfortunately.

Here's a recap of the things that have happened lately:

Friday I was in a stupendously happy mood, and I have no idea why. I was jumping around with happiness. My adrenaline was insane. It hasn't completely worn off yet, either. I'm still walking on air!

Friday night Etienne and I went to a concert in a nearby town. It was the Belgian band October. They do U2 covers, and they were pretty good. Unfortunately, they totally butchered "Sunday, Bloody Sunday", which is my favorite U2 song. That put a bit of a damper on it for me (that and the fact that I was so cold I couldn't feel my feet), but otherwise it was a lot of fun. I met some of Etienne's friends (I'm not kidding when I say my host family knows EVERYONE) and two little guys who were 13 and 14, the sons of one of Etienne's friends. The friend kept trying to force them to speak English with me, which was a little funny. They did try a little bit though, which was nice. And they didn't laugh at my mediocre French, which was a relief.

The concert ended at midnight with some fireworks (I enjoyed those, of course) and Etienne and I left right away. It was SO cold! But I'm really glad I went. It's nice to get out and see things once in a while.

Saturday I slept in for a bit, and then Anne-Michèle and I went shopping after lunch. I didn't bring nearly enough warm clothes along, and my school doesn't allow shirts that expose our shoulders (that includes tanktops, unfortunately), so I needed to get a few things. I managed to find a warmer jacket that I really like as well as a sweater and two pair of tights, one black, one gray. At the next shop, Anne-Michèle and I found a pair of black heels and a necklace for the soirée I'm going to with Arnaud at the beginning of October. Funny story: when we got home, I realized that the shoes were both for the right foot. Anne-Michèle exchanged them today. :)

Anyway, Saturday night, I went to Namur with Arnaud for the Fête de Wallonie. We went in a big group with his friends, which was a lot of fun. There was the usual exclamation of "You're only 16?!" and one guy thought it would be funny to ask Arnaud if he was babysitting, but aside from that it was a pleasant evening. I met up with Talia and Emma (other exchange students who go to my school) for a little while, which was great. We had a good time laughing and joking about school and exchanges and life back home and all of the rather drunk people we were surrounded by. Talia and Emma left at about 11:30, and Arnaud and I went with his friends to a tent with a DJ and we all danced until about 3 am. Arnaud taught me a swing dance move either called "The Rock" or "The Work" (his English wasn't too good at that point), which I enjoyed. The DJ stopped playing at about 3, and we were home at 4. I only slept about 3 hours, but I really wasn't too tired the rest of the day.

Sunday at noon, we had lunch at Mami's house again, and I got to meet one of Etienne's sisters, which was nice. Her name's Sophie.

The past two days I've been doing school stuff, and tomorrow is a half-day, so I'm very excited.

Oh, I've also had some new problems with the shower. It seems that it wants to be one of two temperatures: freezing or third degree burns. This should be interesting.

I hope everyone is doing well!

What's new?

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!

More random crap about today.

I realized just now that I'm a hypocrite. Adrien is leaving for England on Sunday, and after he says something in French, I ask him to say it in English if he's speaking to me. He usually tries and does fairly well. I, on the other hand, speak mostly English. When Arnaud asked me something today, I didn't even think of answering in French, I just responded in English immediately. When Anne-Michèle came to pick me up from school, I asked her where she would be, in English. I spoke mostly English today at school. Pas bien. I need to start speaking French. I can't keep telling Adrien that the only way to learn is to try if I don't follow that advice myself. Tomorrow, all French. Let the games begin.

I can't believe I'm saying this.

I miss Loveland.

Shocking, I know. I lived there for a little over three years and couldn't wait to get out, and now that I'm gone, I miss it. Crazy.

Today was my first day of school here in Belgium. It really wasn't too bad. Granted, I had no idea what was going on most of the time, most of the kids ignored me, and the guy who was supposed to show me around abandoned me, but overall, it didn't suck. I kind of enjoyed myself. At least I didn't have to listen to the blasted chipmunk all day long.

The first class I had was French with Père Boly and the other exchange students, Emma, Talia and Eduardo. After French, the principal (maybe...) took us to our classrooms and introduced us, asking who would like to be our 'godmother' and 'godfather' and show us around. My "godfather" was a kid named Frèdèric. He only said about a dozen words to me, and I didn't understand most of them, but he was pretty nice. He did abandon me at lunch though. He said, "You can eat with the other Americans," and I never saw him again. A girl named Fabiola took me under her wing though, and SHE SPOKE ENGLISH! She's originally from Canada, so she and I were able to communicate very well. I liked her a lot. After lunch, Emma, Talia and I went to the principal's office to see if we are actually supposed to take an English class. The answer for Emma was yes, but then there was a major problem with the schedule, so Talia and I were told to go sit in "Étude," which is like a study hall. After that, I had a religion class and sat next to a girl named Wiff (her full name is Wiviene or something like that). The religion class was basically a "get to know you" type of thing in addition to being a "gawk at the American" festival. I'm lucky, on Thursdays, I'm finished with school at 2:40 (after the religion class). So I went outside and waited for Anne-Michèle and listened to my iPod for the first time since I've been here.

One thing that kind of got to me about school: a good portion of the kids ignored me. They would greet the group of people I was with, but then their eyes would slide right over me like I wasn't even there. It would've been nice to get a "bonjour" or even a smile. But I suppose it'll come with time. Wiff and Fabiola were very nice, as was a girl named Sophie. Hopefully I'll get to hang out with them some more.

Oh. And the students all stand up when the teacher enters the classroom.

The school I'm going to has a LOT of breaks during the day. They have periods 1 and 2, then a 10 minute break. 3 and 4, then lunch for an hour. 5 and 6, then a 10 minute break. 7 and 8, then we go home. Actually, I didn't see any classes in block 8, so I'm not sure how that works. Maybe I'll have some there on Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday.

I asked Fabiola about gym class today, and she said that they play volleyball, soccer, baseball (I might accidentally break my leg when it comes time for that), and go biking in Hannut. Yes, biking. The school has 30 bikes it bought for the fitness classes. Craziness.

After school, Anne-Michèle, Amaury and I went shopping at Aldi's. Yes, Aldi's. I haven't been to an Aldi's in YEARS. It was kind of funny. :)

After Aldi's, we went to a store across the street so I could get gym pants. Yes, pants. Shorts aren't allowed. Your knees must be covered. Seriously.

Now I'm at home, waiting for dinner. Adrien is having a going away thing tonight, and I might go later with Arnaud. I don't know if I'll be able to stay awake though.

À bientôt,

Mikayla

I start school tomorrow.

Yay.

Actually, I'm usually excited for the first day of school. Summer loses it's oomph after a while, and I like the order and discipline that comes with the school year. I like getting up at the same time every day, having a set schedule, and being able to plan out homework and whatnot. I'm a nerd, holy cow.

But anyway, I start school tomorrow, and I'm a little nervous, I think. Nothing major (I'm not going to cry or anything like that...), just a few little butterflies. My new school is huge, and I don't have ANY classes with the other exchange students aside from our one French class first thing in the morning. I know that that will be good for me, that I'll be able to grow as a person, and that I'll learn quicker if I'm not tempted to speak English with the other exchangers. But still. It's a little intimidating, jumping into the deep end like this.

My classes (that I can remember):

French ---> first thing in the morning, taught by an 83 year old priest.

Religion

Math

Phys Ed.

Social Science

Geography

and other things I just can't remember. I think there's a science class thrown in there somewhere...

I went to a Rotary meeting last night and gave a small speech about me and where I come from.

It went something like this:

"Bonsoir messieurs et monsieur le président:

Je m'appelle Mikayla et j'ai seize ans. Je suis americaine. Je viens de Loveland, au Colorado. J'habite avec ma mère, deux chats, deux chiens, et six poissons. Les chevaux sont ma vraie passion. Je monte à cheval tous les jours avec mes amis.

J'étudie le français depuis trois ans. Après mon séjour en Belgique, j'irai à lúniversité pour étudier le français et science politique.

J'ai choisi de venir en Belgique parce que j'adore la pluie. Le Colorado est un dèsert, et il n'y a jamais de pluie.

J'aime lire, parler, et sourire.

Merci."

Let me know if you want a translated version. :P

All four of the inbounds to our club had to give their speeches last night, and we all did smashingly well. We gave the president our flags as well, and of course took a bunch of pictures.

Earlier yesterday, I rode Eros again. Sophie wasn't there this time, so I took Eros into the small arena near his stall and lunged him for a while, which seemed to work out some of his kinks. He still wouldn't behave on the trail though.

This past weekend was the Inbound Orientation for all of us YEPs (as we're affectionately known) in District 1630. It started with a lot of standing around and waiting in line on Saturday morning. We had to show the district people our passports (I forgot mine...) and received our insurance cards and gave the Chairman, M. Binamé, a pin.

After that, we had lunch, which was typical cafeteria food. I don't even remember what it was. I sat with Jordan again as well as some other exchange students, and it was nice to sit and talk some more. When we were finished with lunch, we saw about 584 slideshows about Rotary and the rules and what we are and are not allowed to do. Once all of that business was finished, we took a walking tour of Huy, the city we were staying in. The architecture was phenomenal. We toured an old cathedral and a monastery that was connected to a museum. It was all very interesting, and I wish my camera hadn't died halfway through. :( Dinner was uneventful (I don't remember what it was then, either), but afterward, Rotary had a dance party thing for us. There was a DJ and music and flashing lights. We also got 2 beer tokens each. With one token, we were able to get one glass of beer.

***No, we were NOT breaking any of the Rotary rules. The rules about drinking in Belgium are different, because of the culture. We, as Rotary Youth Exchange students are allowed to drink if we maintain proper behavior and do not go over the legal limit for alcohol consumption.***

I spent most of the night with Emily and Lily, from New York and Florida, respectively. We stayed at the dance for about an hour, then went up to Emily's room and just sat around and talked. The dance ended at midnight, and we all went to bed then, which was good because I was exhausted.

The next morning, we listened to more slideshows and presentations, then had breakfast. Our host families came to the breakfast as well, though we didn't eat with them, which was weird. The students ate first, then the parents (again, weird), so while the parents were eating, most people hung around talking or playing cards. I played cards with Jordan, Emily, Aditi, Christian, Lily, and a few other people as well, I believe. We played Egyptian Rat Race and B.S., and had a lot of fun.

After the parents finished eating, we all piled into our cars to go to another meeting thingy, at a nearby school. We listened to two or three speeches, took a huge group photo (I think I'm looking away... I wasn't sure what was going on) and then went home.

All in all, it was a pleasant weekend. :)

Today, I went riding with Marion, the daughter of Etienne's brother, who lives across the street. She has a pony, Fleche, who came home today. I had a chance to ride Fleche at the stable before we brought her back. She's a cute little pony. And I did NOT get bucked off. :)

The other day (maybe it was Monday?), I went to Namur with Etienne. He teaches at a cooking school there, and showed me around. He also drove up a large hill and we drove around the castle there. It's absolutely stunning, and the views are incredible. As we were driving through Namur on the way to the cooking school, I saw a CHINESE RESTAURANT! I don't know if words can express my excitement upon seeing that building. I told Etienne how much I love Chinese food, and he brought some home today. It was delicious. I think I'm going to have what's left of it for dinner.

There's a little problem though. My craving for Chinese food has been satisfied, but now I've moved on to cheesecake. Oh my gosh, I WANT CHEESECAKE. Oh well, I guess I'll survive.

I'm also out of chocolate, so I'll have to go buy some soon. Belgian chocolate is SOOOO good.

The other day, Anne-Michèle loaned me Season 1 of The West Wing in French. She has all 6 seasons and she knows how much I like politics, so she figured I'd want to watch it. She was right. I watched three episodes yesterday alone! It's definitely really hard to understand, but I like it nonetheless. I've tried watching it in French with English subtitles, just in French, and French with French subtitles. I think the French with French subtitles is my favorite. The English subtitles distract me from the French speaking, and the plain French is too complicated for me. My only complaint is that the French subtitles don't match the speaking, so that kind of sucks. But hey, it's better than nothing.

The chipmunk is still here, and it's still making tons of noise. I think it waits until I'm relaxed and about ready to sleep before attacking. And yes, it plans these things ahead of time. There's also a bird outside my window that caws every morning to wake me up. I love nature, but that bird is evil. Maybe it's friends with the chipmunk.

Tonight at dinner, I found out that Adrien can understand basically everything I say when I speak English. He just refuses to speak English back. I think it's a good and bad thing. It's good because I'm forced to speak French, but bad because he needs to practice speaking English. I did make him speak English to me today at lunch. I had understood what he said in French, but I wanted to see if he would say it in English. It came out as: "My father was to cherche my brother." That right there is an excellent example of Franglais. In case you're interested, he mean to say that his father had gone to pick up his brother (Amaury).

They're very into fountain pens here.

Amaury and I went for ice cream after dinner today. I had strawberry this time, and it was delicious. I have a feeling I'm going to be going to the ice cream place a lot. :)

One thing I've noticed since I've been here: my dreams are very strange. They're not bad, exactly, just strange. For example: Last night, I dreamed that I skipped school and took a train to Australia and spent the day there without telling my host mom. I missed the train back or something, and got in huge trouble.

Why is this strange? Well, number one, you can't take a train from Belgium to Australia.

Number two, I've ditched a grand total of 2 days of school my entire high school career; I don't think I'm going to start now. Other exchange students have been having strange dreams as well. I suppose it's part of our brains and bodies adjusting to a new lifestyle.

I'm craving American news. My friend Corbett just told me that Obama has officially ended the war in Iraq and that there's a hostage situation at the Discovery Channel building. I had no idea either of these things were happening. I'll have to start going to cnn.com or something so I can stay updated.

I'm doing laundry again. I don't know if I've said it already, but the first time I did my laundry, I used fabric softener instead of detergent. Go me, right? Well, I've got the buttons on this machine down-pat so I'm not worried about it never stopping. I'm just waiting for it to finish the eternal spin cycle so I can grab my laundry and go to sleep. I'm exhausted, and I think I'm getting sick (why does this always happen to me the first week of school?). My host brothers are passing some sort of cough/runny nose business back and forth, and I will be thoroughly displeased if it hits me next.

Well, that laundry is almost done, so I have to run. Have a smashing rest of the week everyone. :)

Mikayla

The laundry turned out okay.

I let it all hang-dry in my room, which works just fine for me. Back in the states I let my laundry air-dry all the time. I prefer it, actually.

I have yet to discover the chipmunk's name. Right now, I'm just calling it "the chimpunk." I know, I'm just that creative.

Aujourd'hui, I figured out how to get accents on my computer. C'est magnifique!

I'm still plodding my way through Harry Potter. I'm only on page 46. If I was reading it in English, I'd be done by now. But I realized that that attitude is part of the problem. I can't expect to learn French (or any other language) overnight. It's a process. Everyone I talk to here has been speaking it for their entire life -- I've only been able to speak French every other day for 90 minutes the past three years. There's no comparison.

I've only been here for a week, but I've realized that languages are taught WAY differently than they are in the U.S. Back in Loveland, I had French class every other day for 90 minutes. Over here, my younger brother (Amaury) goes to a school that's taught in Flemish. He has been going for a few years, and I'm willing to bet that he's 30 times better with Flemish than I am with French. I can't say I'm surprised, either. When he's at school, Amaury is surrounded by Flemish all day long. Heck, he even watches cartoons in Flemish when he's home! But in the U.S., we get one little dose of French (or Spanish or German) every few days. It's simply not enough.

I wish to continue writing about this, but as of right now, I can't keep my thoughts straight. So ça va.

Anyfunk, you can see that I've got accents now! I'm very pleased. :) It took me a while to figure it out, but after some Google searches and several minutes of confusion, I have it figured out. I quite like the system -- it's not complicated at all.

I'm super stoked to start school here. I know I'm going to be incredibly nervous on the actual day, but I know it will do wonders for my French. I'll be going with Talia, another exchange student (she's from Minnesota) so I won't be completely alone. I'm also curious to see what the "special program" is for the exchange students. I'm really hoping to take some art classes while I'm here. I think that my "creative juices are flowing," as my mom always said.

If you ever travel abroad, take more socks than you think you'll need.

Thank you: Michelle Skeens, for reminding me that it will all be okay, and that I should try new things.

Marianne Deschodt, for being an exchange student before me and reminding me that tomorrow is a new day.

Toni Theisen for being the most awesome French teacher ever, and for answering all of my random, half-formed questions at all hours of the day.

Mikayla

P.S. I kind of miss being called Ségo.