Exchange is simultaneously the best and the worst time in your life.

There had been a lot of tears today, and I swear I never cried this much in my life.

Today's the last AFS weekend I had with my exchanger friends and french friends, we got our yearbooks and started writing messages to each other.

I was trying to hold back my tears, stay strong, but still I can't help but crying when one of my friend came and gave me a big hug. He's leaving tomorrow, not the same time with the other exchangers, so today is the last time I'll ever see him again. And when I left, I cried so hard and it's so difficult for me to say goodbye to the others. Today is the last time I see some of them, and it's so hard to say "au revoir" or "à bientôt".

In this big group of family, some of us never really knew each other, and some I've only met today. Living in different cities but in the same region, the only time we could spend together is during these AFS weekends. We didn't had much time to spend together, only with those who stayed in the same city. But now here we are, altogether, writing our thoughts to each other. Yes we will still meet again next week at Paris. But that will be really a goodbye. God knows when will we meet again. It's not gonna be that easy anymore.

Even though I've knew all along that this day will come, I'm still not prepared to leave. I've got used to this city, every path and every road, every turns and every corner, I don't even knew my own town that well. This is my home, the one that's irreplaceable, the one that will always stay in my heart wherever I go.

The memories I had here, whether good or bad, happy or sad can't be replaced too. There are hard times, but there are good times too. I was here at January, excited and scared at the same time, to embrace the new life I will have for the next few months. And now here I am, at the end of June, not ready to go back, but I still have to because that's the way it's supposed to be, to once again embrace the life I had before. But, never will I be the same again.

With my friends here, we've been through a lot together. No one will ever understood what we have been through together, how we overcame the struggles with our new life here, the great moments we had shared together in this foreign country. What if, we never came here?  What if, we never met? These questions are so scary that I didn't even dare to imagine the answer. Thanks to my friends here, always staying by my side.

And to my host family, who is willing to welcome me, a complete stranger to their house. My host family is really different, they are willng to open their arms and welcome student from all around the world to stay with them. Even during my 5 months here, I've already stayed with few students from different part of the world. Here, I thank them for accepting me as a family member to their house, not just some student who's staying here for a few months. They are willing to correct my faults, ask me to do chores just like a family would. Sometimes, I do feel lonely here but still I'm grateful to be here as well. I love them so much, and I couldn't ask for more. They are like my own family, my family in France. I will never ever ever forget them, ever.

My life here in France is coming to an end soon. I will leave my family and best friends and go back to my family and best friends. This is what being an exchange student is. I've grew up in the past few months, some part of me has changed, and some part of me will never leave here. Time passes by so quickly and everything will fade eventually, but I will never forget this life I've had in a whole new world, a totally foreign country that I never knew before, people that I've never met before who are now friends I will miss so much when I got back, a family that I have bonded with... This is not goodbye, and someday, hopefully, we'll meet again. 

Bourges.

After the Paris trip, I went to Bourges and stay at my friend's house. 

In the afternoon, we went to the town center. We strolled around, taking pictures of this magnificent old town, with old buildings and streets that just amazes me. And the huge cathedral too. 

And in the night, we did the "Les Nuits Lumière de Bourges", where we follow the blue lights starting from the cathedral, to the town center and back to the cathedral. France's playing at the World Cup today, so along the streets where there's a bar or a pub, we can see people watching The World Cup altogether. Then we went to lua fête de foraine nearby. People drove their card, honking, some even with the French flag because France won at the World Cup today I supposed. 

It was a great visit at Bourges. 

Paris Day Trip 2014.06.19

I went to Paris with my friend today. And it's amazing. 

Paris is a great city to visit just by walking, and there's also metro stations everywhere, so no worries of getting lost. 

First we gathered at Gare d'Austerliz. And then we started our trip by visiting Versailles first. We bought the Mobilis ticket for unlimited metros, trams (RER) and buses just for one day, took the RER C line to go to Château de Versailles. 

Well unfortunately, we didn't know that Versailles is such a big place to visit, so we just walked around the gardens of the château (because there's a damn long queue to enter the château). It took us around 2-3 hours, which is not really enough. Then we head back to Paris. 

Our first stop in Paris was La Tour Eiffel. It's amazing to see the tower again. I can't help but to feel amazed whenever I saw the tower. We took photos at Champ de Mars. Tons of photos. And then find the metro station and head to l'Arc de Triomph. 

From l'Arc de Triomph, we started walking towards Le Louvre via Champs-Élysées. There are tons of shops at l'Avenue de Champs-Élysées. It was actually a really long way to walk to Le Louvre from l'Arc de Triomph. Around 30-40 mins ? 

We stopped at Place de la Concorde to take a few pictures. The foutains are beautiful too. We continued to walk until Jardin de Tuileries.

 Passing the garden, we reached Le Lourve. We didn't went inside Le Lourve though (there's a long queue!). Passing Le Lourve we went to see le Pont des Arts. 

Le Pont des Arts is famous for the locks. Couples came here, put a lock on the bridge, hoping they'll always be together, and throw the key into La Seine. 

We continued walk to Shakespeare and Company bookstore. There are a lot of foreigners there, mostly from America I supposed. It's two storeys and a really antique bookstore. On the second level, there's a library where books are not for sale and people can read it there. I'm in love with that place. I just wanna stay there forever. 

After the bookstore, we went to Quartier Latin, just to stroll around and do a bit of sightseeing, take some photos. Headed to the nearest metro station and we're off to the train station to head to Bourges. 

This one day trip in Paris is great! In just one day and we've already went to so many places. La vie est belle. 

Every separation is inevitable.

Today's the last night my japanese host sister is staying in this house. She's leaving for Japan tomorrow. 

I just helped her with her luggage. It still doesn't seem real to me. She's actually leaving. 

We've been together for 3 months now. It's not a very long time and it's not very short either. I still can't believe that she's really leaving tomorrow. 

After tomorrow night, there will be one person less on the dinner table. There will be no one sharing the bathroom and toilet with me. The lights in the room opposite mine will not be switch on again.... This is really sad. 

I know that she's leaving sooner or later. I will too. But it is still unbelievable that we are going in separate paths now. We won't be able to meet for a very long time after this separation. When will I go to Japan? When will she come to Malaysia? It is still unknown. 

After spending so much time together, I'm not ready to let her leave yet. Where will I get another japanese host sister like her ? There's no way. I'm not l ready for this separation at all. I really don't want her to leave, but unfortunately, separation is inevitable. One day, I will leave too and continune my path. 

Movie Day

Just finished packing my stuffs to send back home to Malaysia. And it costs me 51,50€ !
I am so tired right now ........... Dropping by the post office to send my stuffs tomorrow. I sincerely hope that the package will reach my family safe and sound, with nothing lost. 

In the evening, I watched X-Men : Days of Future Past in the cinema with my Turkish friend. The movie was awesome ! It is definitely worth to watch. I think this was actually the first time I really watched an X-Men movie. I only remember the cartoon version of X-Men, but I'm gonna start watching the movies it from the beginning.

Ate a lot of unhealthy food today ( well, I've never really eat any healthy food either. ) Glaces, popcorn, burger, fries, 2 cups of coke .....

And I received the email from AFS to tell me about my last AFS weekend and what should I do :

• Prepare a sweet dish ( What should I prepare ?? )
• Prepare something for Talent Show ( AGAIN ?! )
• Bring my own tent and sleeping bag ( Yes we're going camping )
• Prepare a video presentation of the town I'm staying in France, which is Tours.

With so many stuffs to do and yet so little time. And tomorrow I have to really finish my yearbook thingy.

Off to bed now, it's already 00h35 in France and I am so goddamn tired right now. 

Yearbook thingy.

/ Okay, here's the article I've wrote for my yearbook thingy. It's in 2 different languages, English and French, but they're not exactly the same. Just thought that I could keep a copy as an article published in my blog. /

English Version :

            Less than a month and I’ll be going back to my own country, Malaysia.

            I never regret to make the decision to come here, even though I knew nothing about the country. It was a courageous decision.

            I still remember the first day when I came. I was feeling so excited about everything. We did the Paris bus tour with all the other students from all over the world. We had an orientation so that we could learn more about the country we’re going to stay for the next few months. And we also met students who had already finished their 2 months exchange programme.

            I lived in Tours. Tours is a beautiful place to visit, it is old and modern at the same time. There’s Rue Nationale where people can do their shopping, and also Place Plumereau where people gather around just to enjoy the nice weather, have a cup of coffee or some beer.

            My host family is like a second family to me. They help me out all the time, telling me histories and cultures of France. I am really happy to stay with them. Thanks to them, I stayed with students from different countries too. Chihiro from Japan, Mariela from Bulgaria, Paula and Paula from Spain …

            I go to school every day in France. School in France is totally different from Malaysia. I needed some time to get used to it. My classmates are really nice and kind, even though we didn’t talk much in school. For me, it was really hard at the beginning since I could not speak any French at all. But when school’s over, I feel sad that I couldn’t say goodbye to them.

            And now, my life in France is about to end soon, and I am really sad about leaving this country that I have stayed for the past few months. Coming to France had been a dream come true to me. I am happy to have this amazing experience in France. 

Version Française : 

            Moins d’un mois et je vais retourner dans mon pays, la Malaisie.

            Je ne regrette pas la décision de venir en France, bien que je ne savais rien de ce pays. C’était une décision courageuse.

            Je me souviens encore du premier jour quand je suis arrivée à France. J’étais excitée par tout. Nous avons fait le bus tour de Paris avec des étudiants de partout dans le monde. Nous avons eu le réunion d’orientation pour en savoir le plus possible sur le pays dans lequel nous allons rester pendant les prochains mois. Nous avons aussi rencontré des étudiants qui ont déjà terminé leur programme d’échange.

            J’ai habité à Tours. Tours est une belle ville à visiter, elle est vieux et moderne en même temps. Il y a la Rue Nationale où les gens peuvent faire leur shopping, et la Place Plumereau qui est la partie ancienne de la ville, où les gens se rassemblent juste pour profiter du beau temps, prendre une tasse de café ou quelques bières.

            Ma famille d’accueil, c’est comme une deuxième famille pour moi. Ils m’aident beaucoup, surtout avec mon français, ils me parlent de la cultures en France. Je suis vraiment heureuse de rester avec eux. Merci à eux, dans la famille il y a eu des étudiants de différents pays, comme la Bulgarie, le Japon, l’Espagne, la Suisse, l’Autriche.

            En France, je suis allée à l’école chaque jour. L’école en France est totalement différente de l’école en Malaise. J’ai besoin de temps pour m’habituer à l’école en France. Mes amis de classe sont très gentils avec moi, même si nous n’avons pas beaucoup parlé en classe. Je suis triste de n’avoir pas pu dire au revoir à mes amis de classe quand l’école s’est terminé.

            Maintenant, ma vie en France va bientôt terminer, et je suis vraiment triste de partir bientôt. J’ai beaucoup de bonnes souvenirs en France, et je n’oublierai jamais cette expérience française.  

VOILA ! 

  

First day of my holiday.

Today's a public holiday in France. Even though it's not I've already finished school, hahaha.
So I went to Langeais, all alone because my friend who was going with me had other things to do.

At first, I reached Langeais successfully, not like the last time when I went to Chenonceau. I can't get off the train in time so I had to stop at the next station, Montrichard, and take a taxi to Chenonceau, which cost me 25€ /:

Then, I started walking from the train station to centre ville to find the château. Well it's quite near to the train station so I didn't have a hard time finding it. So I began my château visiting.  Because I'm under 18, so it only costs me 5€ ^ ^

Well Château de Langeais isn't a pretty château, but it's quite interesting. Now they are having an exhibition of costumes during the Renaissance period. Took a lot of photos, went to the small park, climbed the tall treehouse ......... It was nice.

And the weather is hot like crazy ! I thought it would be raining so I brought another jacket and an umbrella, but instead, I sweat a lot because of the hot weather. After my château visiting I drank cidre and ate an éclair at a salon de thé which is just outside the château.

~~~~

When I start to plan where I wanna visit, it always feels like I don't have enough time to do what I want. Probably because I finally wanna do something interesting while I'm still here. But sadly to say, time seems to be not sufficient. And there's still so many things I should and have to do.

What had I've been doing the past few months ? I start to wonder.

Had éclair and cidre after château visiting.

 

Château de Langeais

Langeais

My Japanese Host Sister's Birthday!

Today's the birthday of my host sister from Japan. Yes I'm in France but thanks to my host parents, I have a host sister from Japan who is now studying in France as a pâtissier.

It's her birthday today and we made crêpes for her. Even her birthday cake is made from crêpes. We had a really great evening together with her friends from Japan too. It was so funny to see her being shy around my host mum's nephew, hahaha. "Vitamins" hmmm ... And her friend performed Karate, we took photos altogether and had a little chit chat. It was great. I will miss her a lot when she go back, and I will definitely go and see her in Japan.
 
In the afternoon, I went to a town near Nantes with my host parents to attend her family reunion. It was really great, even though I didn't speak a lot with the others, but it was still an experience.

I met my host mum's cousin who did all  the handmade necklaces, earrings, bracelet and rings etc etc with designs of french pastries and bonbons. It was so cute! I bought a pair of earrings with chocolate bars design for my japanese host sister's birthday. My host mum gave me as a present too, I chose the cookie design long necklace.

"Je suis à CROQUER" http://jesuisacroquer.com 

Aucard de Tours 2014

Just came back from Aucard de Tours and it was amazing !

There are bands that played music, people dancing around, drinking beers, smoking...
I got 2 beers and felt a little bit too high, so I cheered for nothing until I lost my voice a bit.

The Aucard de Tours is set at Plaine de la Gloriette. Paid 8€ for the ticket to enter. Bought the ticket earlier cause its cheaper than buying it at Aucard de Tours, which is 10€. Two big tents was set up for performances and there are also small tents for selling foods or temporary tattoos etc etc.

Tonight, I saw 2 bands playing, one from France and one from California, America, and also a rapper. There are a lot of people, especially teenagers at the place, drinking beers, enjoying music, smoking, hanging around doing nothing ..

It was a great experience, though I was almost deaf because of the loud music from the bands. But still, it was fun to be there.

Greetings from France.

I've deleted my old blog and start a new one. It's like starting a new phase in my life.

Here I am, a girl from Malaysia in France, on my exchange program.
I've been here for 135 days, which is around 4 months and 15 days.
I live in Tours, France with my host family. And in less than one month I'll be flying back to my country.

I never regretted my decision to go to another country as an exchange student. Yes it seems terrifying at first but still, it's like a whole new world to me. A different life in another  country, a country that I always dreamed of going to, not just to visit but to experience, to learn new things, to wander, to discover things that other people don't see in this country. And coming to France, it's like a dream come true to me.

I've met lots of people from different countries here, made new friends, learn new things, experience a totally different life I had in Malaysia. I needed time to get used to this new life I'm having right now. And I am really happy to meet people from all over the world. Thanks to my host family, I even get to live with some of them. My host parents love hosting students, so during my stay here, I lived with other students from different countries too.

I am happy to be here.