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My host dad, Jocelyn, had his sister visit from New Caledonia, and his brother (and his wife who is from Germany) from another part of France. A German, New Caledonian (hope that's right), a few French people, and a Canadian. We were quite the group.
Jocelyn's sister came on Friday, and she leaves tomorrow (Tuesday). The brother came on Saturday, and left Sunday. They are both super nice, and really funny. I went shopping with the sister, and we went to the maison carree, a very, very old building in the centre of Nimes, (my town) where we watched a 3D projection of "The Heroes of Nimes".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maison_Carr%C3%A9e
On Sunday, Noemie's cousin and aunt dropped by, to see their relatives too.
I liked meeting everyone. They are super nice people. Funny too.
In the picture, we have:
Jocelyn (host dad), me, Esther (host mom), Noemie (host sister), Jocelyn's aunt, a cousin, the brother, and an aunt.
I'm sorry, but I am really bad with names. :P
When a teacher is absent, they cancel class rather than call a sub.
It's the link for my Facebook pictures. It says it's a public link, so here's hoping.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=45154&l=37a21&id=708148762
Have been slow with updating AGAIN! So I guess I should talk about Halloween. It was very very rainy, so no kids came to the door, I think it's also because the French don't celebrate it as much. I didn't dress up, but I watched TV and waited to hear the doorbell ring. When Mr and Mrs were both out, Noemie and I got into the candy. It was good.
Been doing homework, internet, TV, shopping, that type of thing.... I'm really blanking right now. I should write something, but I really can't think about anything.
I do want to say good luck tomorrow (Monday) Grandad! I'll be thinking of you!
Will try and update when my mind wakes up! :P
Back from an amazing weekend.
It wasn't the type of film festival with stars, but some professionals (director of photography, music composers, etc...) talked with us.
Having a problem with the photos. But I will work on them later.
So, we left school early on Friday. About 1:30ish. My main cinema teacher drove me and three other students. It was funny, because to get to the hotel (which was directly in centre ville by the way :D ), we walked through a busy mall. My teacher had taken our bags for us and was walking through the mall with all sorts of luggage.
The hotel was really nice. There were 11 students. Two to a room, except for me. I bunked with my friends Chloe and Margot.
Our other cinema teacher was our supervisor, and she stayed at the hotel too.
It was an "Ibis" hotel.
The first day, we watched "The Young and Innocent" by Alfred Hitchcock. It was pretty good. That was for the high school students only. After the movie, we had someone discuss it with us, and we took notes about it. Music, story, symbols... that type of thing.
Then we were let loose to find dinner. My friends, Chloe, Alban, Margot, and I bought some sandwiches. Afterwards, at 8:30, we returned to the Corum theater, but we were in the room "Opera Berlioz". It was amazing! It's a huge opera house, and I've never seen a room that large before.
It was the opening of the festival, and there was a lot of people. I'm stupid for not using my camera that day, because the directors of the film were there. It was an Italian film, called "Il Divo." When the directors walked in, everyone cheered. I should have written their names, because I can't remember anymore.
The next day we watched "North by Northwest" by Hitchcock. And talked with Jean-Louis Bompoint: director of photography (if anyone has seen the Nspresso commercial with George Clooney, Bompoint worked on it), and Laurent Lafran: who works with sound.
They had a lot to say, and it was interesting to listen to.
At 9:30pm, it was back to the Berlizo room to watch "Psycho" by Hitchcock. Really good, I know you've all seen it before.
I was expecting the girl to be murdered in the shower, because it's such a famous scene, but when the "mother" jumped out and attacked the police officer, me and the theater jumped 10 feet in the air. The violence is cheesy, but it was the surprises and the jumping out, and the scary music that got me.
On Sunday Gilles Tinayre, a music composer talked with us. He discussed music in movies, then concentrated on the music we heard in "North by Northwest".
During lunch I had lots of fun with my class. We went on the roof of the theater and everyone goofed around. We took funny jumping photos, and photos of our shadows, and I found it really amusing.
Afterwards, we finished our trip with the projection of "Shadow of a Doubt" also by Hitchcock. It was good as well, and I came home at about 4:30.
All in all, a great festival. Had lots of fun.
I noticed that my french is improving too. During "Il Divo", the subtitles were french, while the language was italian. I got along just fine with the french subtitles. Well, I always fond political and mafia movies confusing, but you get the idea. I'm really glad I'm learning so much.
Everything else is going well
Miss you!
There is an orange alert for rain today, so I have no school! Apparently this happens every year. There is flooding, and once some students had to sleep overnight in my school's library.
I do like school a lot, but I had the opportunity to sleep in this morning.
You may have noticed I posted a post underneath this one, titled "Did you know?". That was mom's idea, and I think it's a good one. So basically, every time I update the blog, I'll also add a little thing that I've learned about France.
I forgot to mention Alia in previous posts. She is a little baby. Almost one month old. She is the daughter of a niece or something, and it sounds like she will be staying here permanently. She is a cute kid, and fortunately, she is friendly and doesn't cry too much during the night. I'll post a pic one of these days.
I got my photos form school on Monday. I'm planning on scanning the class photo and putting it up here, because I think it looks nice, and it will allow you guys to see people in my class.
Last week I took 7 buses in one day. It was pretty crazy. Here is the rundown:
2 to get to school earlier than usual.
1 to get to the movie theater with my cinema class (we have to take public buses)
1 to get back to school.
3 to get home. It was wednesday, so it was my usual 3.
Speaking of cinema, I head to Montpellier the day after tomorrow. I'm really looking forward to it. I know it will be really interesting, and I'll be sure to bring my camera.
It'll also be nice to take a little break and spend the weekend with some of the friends I made.
Noemie and I have been getting along really well. We help each other out with homework. We joke around. We hang out. And Desperate Housewives is called "la programme de Noemie et Katy" around the house.
So, that's all I can really think of right now.
Miss you guys!
That two words the French use a lot, are not French at all. They are Spanish and Italian:"Si", instead of "oui", and "Ciao" instead of "aurevoir".
