Turn Left at the Castle

I love how in this part of the country, you can go down to spend the day at a beach on the Mediterranean Sea, and on the way back home you can get out of the car and stretch your legs walking on the Pont Du Gard.

(Guess what I did today.)

Every movie you've ever seen with a beach in it was probably modeled after the one we went to today.  Sandy yellow-white beach, beautiful crisp blue water, gentle waves, seashells everywhere you looked. I must have collected about a million of them. It was so wonderful. The only thing I didn't like about that whole place was that every time you moved, you got sand in a new place on your body, and that stuff stuck to human skin like glue.

Anyway.

It was two hours down to the beach by car, and in my utter boredom, I think I've discovered the single most irritating thing about France. (I'm such a pessimist, I swear I like it here.) As you're going down the road, signs jump out at you from every (Every. Not kidding.) angle possible. Most of them make no sense to me, being an American. Every so often, a sign with come up with a town's name slashed out. This means that you've just left town "so-and-so". But here's the thing: after that sign, there's absolutely nothing telling you what town you're in now. The only time there's any indication of your location is three seconds after it becomes completely irrelevant. I thought I was going to go crazy.

But, um, on to other topics.

I'd just like to make it clear that my host family is incredible. I don't think I could have gotten a better deal if I had searched myself. They're incredibly kind and wonderful, and for the sake of their privacy I won't talk much about them except when it's relevant, but I'm going to put it out here that I absolutely adore them. Just so you know. Even when I whine, I still love them.

So.

I went to my school orientation on Friday. You can see a picture of it in the dictionary, right under the word "intimidating". It was bad. I understood almost nothing, and not a complete sentence to boot. All I can say is that I'm so grateful that my host mom and sister were there taking notes and trying to help me, or I wouldn't have gotten anything done. On the other hand, I do have my schedule now. Which I'll write down.

Monday:
8-10 French
10-12 History
12-1 LUNCH
1-4 Cinema (I have no idea.)

Tuesday:
8-10 Gym (yuck.)
10-11 Free Period
11-12:30 History
12:30-1 LUNCH
1-2 Free Period
2-3 English
3-4 French
4-5 Italian

Wednesday:
9-11 French
11-12 English
12-1 LUNCH

Thursday:
8-10 Cinema
10-12 English
12-1 LUNCH
1-2 Free Period
2-3 Math
3-4 Free Period
4-6 TPE (I don't know. Social Studies?)

Friday:
8:30-10 Science
10-11 Italian
11-12:30 Math
12:30-1 LUNCH
1-2 English/ECJS (?)

That's it.

I have to go now, wish I could talk more, but seriously, this salt is not good for my hair.

~Josie Harris