#d1700

[rivka-kopelman]

[rivka-kopelman]

[demyaabroad]

And another vacation has started!

Yayyyy school's out and my vacation has officially started!!! And what better way than to spend it with friends?! My exchange student friends from the Montpelier area are coming to stay with me tonight (I gotta go pick them up at the train station in like an hour), and tomorrow all of D1700 (us inbounds and future outbounds) is having a Rotary weekend in the mountains!!! After I get back on Sunday, Monday I'll be departing for a week long trip with my host parents to visit my host dad's parents in the central France region. And then the week after that, I'll be spending with Margot's family! So much to do!

[demyaabroad]

Americanas -1

Yesterday we lost an Americana in District 1700. My Argentinian amiga returned back to her homeland. Sometimes homesickness gets the best of us! So now I guess we're just the North Americanas. :(

[demyaabroad]

TRAVEL DELAY!!!!

If all was going to plan, at this very moment (12:57 a.m. CST), I would be waiting in Munich, Germany for my last leg of my trip to Toulouse! But I used the word IF! MY FLIGHT PLANS WERE CANCELLED!!! That's right, cancelled. There was a situation where my flight from my initial airport had a 2 hour delay that would cause me to miss my flight to Munich from Washington, D.C., which would then cause a full night's layover until the same time the next day. Perks: Had one more awesome night with my friends and get to eat breakfast with them one last time before I leave. Downside: all of the other exchange students going to France through Rotary would have arrived a full day before I will. So I decided to take a well deserved nap, and woke up to post this in case some of my readers think that I am travelling as of right now. I'm just as confused and surprised as the next person, but sometimes crazy things happen for a reason. So today I will be taking the same flight plan (to my knowledge), and just arrive an entire day late. I don't think I'll be flying from a small "international" airport again anytime in the near future. My biggest concern is that nobody will receive my email and my host family will be waiting on me in the airport when I don't arrive. Well that's my little update for now, DeMya 08-26-14

[demyaabroad]

30 Days until Departure!

Everybody is leaving on exchange and I'm just sitting at home thinking to myself how fast time passes! This adventure started as an idea, then became a dream, and now it's reality! This time last year I had just convinced my mom to let me pursue this dream. In one month I'll be living it! How did my year go by so fast?

[demyaabroad]

Quick Little Update

So I got around to emailing my first host family on Thursday afternoon. I emailed both my host-mom and host-dad. This morning I awoke to emails from both of them.Turns out I actually have 3 host-sisters. Their ages are 20, 18, and 14. This puts me (currently 16, 17 when I arrive) between the 18 and 14 year old. So I’m not the youngest, but I still get to be a younger sister!

My mom was worried that nobody would be able to speak English to me (in case of an emergency?), but according to my host parents, they all speak English to varying levels. My host-sister who is 18 is currently on exchange somewhere in the U.S. and will probably be leaving soon, as most RYE students for 2013-2014 are. I’m guessing that she’s probably going to be the best English speaker in the family.

Also, I have my consulate appointment booked. It will be on Friday, July 18th. The car ride over won’t be that bad, only 3 hours or so. I have to start getting all the paperwork together soon, which won’t be very fun.

Well that’s all for now!

DeMya

[demyaabroad]

That's a Wrap!

So I haven’t been very loyal to my blog lately but let me catch everyone up. So there was an ongoing problem with paying for my travel insurance because my mom doesn’t own a credit card and her debit card wouldn’t work, blah blah blah. We ended up wiring the money to the insurance company after several failed attempts with other forms of paying. This payment was required before I could get my guarantee forms, which I waited for 2-3 weeks after paying.

Paying for my insurance was a craziness of its own but on top of that I was taking those standardized tests that I mentioned in an earlier post and preparing for my final exams. I ended up taking only 8 standardized tests because I did not feel I was prepared enough to take one of my SAT Subject Tests. My last day of school was on May 22nd and today concluded my journey of ACT test-taking (4th times a charm)! This wrapped up a months worth of testing for me, since this time last month I was taking my first AP exam. I have taken 6 standardized tests in ONE months time!! Hopefully I’ll never have to take another one in my high school career.

On a brighter note, I have BIG NEWS!!! Today after I got out of my ACT, I checked my email to find that my guarantee forms had been emailed to me! Eeeep! I’m still excited and it’s been 4 hours since I opened the initial message. I’ll be living in Toulouse, which is France’s 4th largest metropolitan area. I found out what school I’ll be attending and who my host parents are. From my understanding of the email (which was in French), I have 2 host sisters. They’re both older than me and for once in my lifetime I get to experience being the younger sibling. 

                             Here’s a map of where Toulouse is located for those who are wondering where it is.

My next big step is to talk to a travel agent to book my flight, then drive out to Atlanta to visit the French Consulate so I can get my Visa! Everything is finally fitting together like a puzzle. As of June 14th (the day I’m writing this), I have 73 days until my arrival in France! Now I just need to focus on improving my French before arriving!

Until my next post,

DeMya