Steamboat Springs - Rotary Youth Exchange: Mallory Richey

Hellllooo Everybody!
I apologize for the late blog post but as the last two weeks have been vacation I have not been home very often, but it will make for an interesting blog post! Let me start with the Mt. St. Michel Rotary weekend!! LOVED IT...three days of crazy sight seeing with all of the other exchange students. After one night of running through the rain, and trekking through the ocean the next day, and very little sleep over the weekend, I came back sick as a dog. It was well worth it though to see the abbey and even a stop over at Omaha Beach (that was so cool). I love Rotary Weekends because after struggling with the language barrier for a while , it is nice to be able to express yourself to your friends.

Mt. St. Michelllll

Omaha Beach

After the excitement of Mt. St. Michel it was time to go back to school :( but not for long! Only two weeks. It flew by too, due to the fact that school is getting easier and easier. I am meeting more and more people and understanding more and more in the classes. It is now beginning to feel just like regular school! And then, the vacation commencessss. The first day, Saturday, I went to Bruxelles for the day. IT IS SO COOL, it is one of the coolest cities I have ever been to...the streets...the food (waffles, fries, chocolate, had it all). It was also the first time I took the TGV...took us 40 min to get from Lille to Bruxelles. It is so bizarre for me to have everything so close here! The next week I headed to Bordeaux, where it rained, but still was gorgeous. The first day we hit the beach and the dune de Pyla, the second, the cutest little vineyard village you have ever seen called St Emilion. I felt like I was living in a postcard, every other shop sold wine, and we went down into the cellar of one, as it is one of the most famous villages in France for wine (and that is saying something). It was incredible. Finally, the last day the city of Bordeaux...another beauty! Upon the return. I went to see Paranormal Activity 4 in french and understood it all...which was a small victory. I then headed to Versaille. MAGNIFICENT! I pretended I was a princess the whole time and was in awe at the fact that this was someone house at one point! That was a fun day and I think I met more Amercian's than French. On Friday, my host family surprised me by taking me to London! It was so bizarre because it switched from me being being the one struggling with the language with my host family, to being the translator! SO FUN though, we had some serious laughs. I loved London, and we were blessed with beautiful weather ( odd rain in Bordeaux, sunshine in London). It was great spending the day with my host family. No time for homesickness anymore, and yesterday I was with my french friends and she mentioned to me that she was going to cry when I leave, and for the first time, I realized that I have already built a life here without knowing it. Overall, the last week has been the best in France, I finally feel like it is real life now...hope everything is good back it the States.