Saturday, August 29, 2009

Claire Parsons - La Belgique

Hello Everyone!
Greetings from Brussels, Belgium! Everything is going wonderfully here. I arrived on the 15th of August and was lucky enough to spend 10 days on vacation in Bretagne, France with the Menetrier Family (Celine Menetrier was one of two inbound exchange students this past year who came to steamboat) while my first host family was on vacation in Greece. There I ate some wonderful food, enjoyed the company of many of the Menetriers' friends from Belgium and had some adventure kayaking and sailing in the ocean. Now (since the 28th of August), I am living with the Collins in a town right outside of Brussels. They are all beyond amicable and have welcomed me into their home. The food is amazing, and the weather has been absolutely wonderful (which is not characteristic to Belgium so I've been very lucky). The speaking french part has been hard and I often find myself exhausted early in the day, however, no one ever seems annoyed, and they don't mind playing charades or waiting for my dictionary when it is needed. And I can already tell in these two short weeks that my french has already improved tremendously. I start school on this coming wednesday which is pretty frightening as the population is double that of SSHS and everyone will be speaking french. But I plan to go in with my head held high and try to make it through! Hope everything is well in Steamboat!
Au Revoir
Claire Parsons