CAMP NEWFOUND~

i'm here! at camp! after a 10 hour drive and 2 hours at the border...i made it to camp...alive! yippee! I ended up driving 2 people about half way which made it nice...i think i would have cried if I would have been alone in the car-I miss my Chicoutimi family - ma mere, ma soeur et ma coloc!
Precamp was fun-lots of activities and work...and of course, some flat bread! I love their delicious pizza. The campers are here now and it's busy. I leave on a trip on Tuesday-base camping and hiking up to little mountains :D It's 9 PM and I'm exhausted...down the hill I go to go to sleep...
I hope everyone is well...sorry for this short post.

To my Senators

I haven`t posted in a while...life has been plugging along up in Chicoutimi! I had a test an oral and a presentation, all of which went well enough :D
Last night the Senators played game 5 of the Stanley Cup finals and lost, ending the series and giving the Cup to the Ducks...It was hard to watch and what made it worse is that you can probably count the number of Southern Californian`s who care about hockey on one hand. I thought about wearing black in mourning today, but I decided not too ;)
In better news, I got my VISA to the US today-after much seeming disaster, it has all worked out in the end. A week from Saturday I will be making my long long drive down to Harrison, Maine, for a summer a second Newf summer!!! Once again I learn about TRUST!
Tomorrow night there is a big party at school where we will get to dance the Quebec-folk songs we`ve been learning. I think it should be fun...hopefully I can remember the steps because normally I forget them right after she tells us what to do!
Sunday we go to Tadousac to go whale watching!
I really can`t think of too much to say-I saw `Les Invasions Barbares`(spelling is wrong...sorry!) and found it really good...sad though.
Alright, I`m off to a few more hours of class...take care :D

Quebec City

Friday after two hours of class we took a bus down to Quebec City-it`s so pretty there! It was boiling hot so we walked around for a bit, until we found somewhere to eat that wasn`t a million dollars.We were on the patio with a view of the St. LAwrence AND the Chateau Frontenac, which is HUGE. it took forever, but once we had our ice cold water, it didn`t really matter...after dinner we walked around more...
The sleeping conditions left something to be desired. We were housed in Laval University dorms-but they had put an extra bed in each room (usually the rooms were singles!) and there was only about one foot between beds. Also, people were coming in at all hours of the night, and it was really hard to sleep. Nevertheless, I got up early to go on a tour of the Citadel to try to learn some more about it and the history. It was interesting and we got to see the Governer General`s 2nd Canada house. After lunch I slit off from my group and went for a long hike through the Plains of Abraham-the park is HUGE and there are lots of little trails.
Sunday is a day off for us, no school!!
The Senators play Game 1 tomorrow night against the ducks!!! I`m so excited!!!

Lac Saint Jean and week 2

SUNDAY-Lac Saint Jean was super interesting and FREEZING cold. We went to a wild animal zoo and saw lots of animals and walked around in the COLD. The park was good, but on the way home we saw two HUGE moose crossing the street and personally I think that was cooler than the park! We also visited a ghost village and saw some waterfalls which were really nice.
MONDAY-conge! with an accent on the e it`s a french word...it means holiday! they don`t call it Victoria Day up here though. It`s been interesting to observe the separatist sub-feelings of some in the community. Anyway, I hung out with my host family (mum and daughter) plus their cousin and cousin`s gf and my friendhousemate Jenni! The weather was beautiful and I took some great pictures of the river. Sadly, the water is FREEZING cold and the current is too strong so you can`t swim in it...
The week at school was fine-learning more about using past tenses-it`s so hard to know which one to use!!! We had a traditional french dancing class which was SO fun! and I also had gigue (gig in english I think) classes which was SUPER fun too! There is going to be a performance at the end of the 5 weeks! EKKS! My host family and I watched a movie-it`s crazy how much harder it is to watch a movie in french! AND when it`s been dubbed!!! It`s hard to look at their faces bc they aren`t moving how in the same way as the sounds are sounding...haha.
Tomorrow we go to Quebec City- I`m excited :D
Things are going well...3 weeks left! CRAZY.
Ottawa plays Monday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I hope they do well! That`s all, I have to go do my homework :(

THE SENS MADE IT TO THE FINALS!

I have to write quickly to say how excited I am that the Senators are in the final round of the playoffs. I bet it must be absolutely crazy in Ottawa! Apparently people are still randomly honking and yelling (according to Amber!)...Friday night there was a party at school with a live band playing traditional french music...it was super fun! Today we slept in and watched the game...tomorrow I go to Lac Saint Jean...it`s suppost to rain but it should still be fun! I have to be at school at 8:30 AM so I better hit the hay...
I leave you with...GO SENS GO!!!

Let it snowÉ

I have a few minutes, it`s our mid-afternoon break. Class this morning was good...the grammar is REALLY hard even though I feel really comfortable saying things and talking...but I guess it is important to know WHY I am saying what I`m saying...rightÉ ohh, the question mark doesn`t work...
Last night we had chicken quesadillas with fake chicken...but it really tasted like chicken. WEIRD and trippy. It reminded me of my friend Stephanie who I lived next door to in Stratford, she ate pretend chicken drumsticks. Last night I was really tired so I had some chai and did some yoga and read my book. Today we have class until late-both lunch and dinner are eaten at school...
We got to pick activities and I got my two top choices! So, Wednesday afternoons I will be learning about developîng photographs and Monday afternoons I will be learning to do the gig (french style!)...how crazy is thatÉ
ok, game 4 of round 3 is tonight...we have to miss part of it though because of evening activities, but i`ll be cheering!!!
take care everyone.

Arrived and well...in Chicoutimi!

Bonjour! I am in Chicoutimi and I love it so far! The drive from Ottawa wasn`t bad at all!!! I had a mini-sing-a-long and ate celery and carrot sticks :D I arrived and then my host family came to get me, there is a mum and a daughter who is 19. They are both super friendly and kind. AND, the mum works in a health food place and the food is amazing. YUM!!! There is another student who lives with me, excecpt she didn`t arrive until today...she`s awesome too! And she`s from Ottawa and a huge SENS fan too! We watched the game-woot woot for sure. We`re leading the series 3-0. Sweet. We were going to go watch the game with other people but we were SO tired that we didn`t...but we`ve made plans to go on Wednesday evening to watch the game. The thought of Ottawa in Round 4 makes me smile SO big...but I`m trying to take it one game at a time and stay chill style. so for now I say "GO SENS GO!!!"
Back to my day...in the morning I walked to school and then we took a placement test which I found super hard, I didn`t have a clue what any of the answers were...next we had an oral interview which was a lot more comfortable. We find out tomorrow what group we`re in, but I really don`t mind...In the afternoon we took a walk around the main street in town which is right on the river and quite beautiful.
Well, I am exhausted...speaking french makes me tired but everyone is nice! Tomorrow I sign a contract not to speak english! Hopefully this will get easier...I`m sure I`m making tons and tons of mistakes...and sometimes I get to the middle of a sentence and have no idea what the next word is. It`s kinda funny.
Ok, I better go...I`d love to hear from you who ever is reading this!
I am wondering how all the marathon runners did and whether mum`s flowers arrived!!
Bonne nuit!
P.S the internet connection is dial-up. I`m kicking it old school... :D

Ahhh, refreshing!

Today was such a fun day! In the morning I worked away at my myriad (is that the right way to use that word??? I'm no english major...) of tasks that must be completed before I leave Sunday morning. I also skyped my parents - it is great to talk to them!!
This afternoon I went to Kim's house to walk her dog for her which was nice bc it's beautiful out, but I don't know her neighbourhood too well and I walked around the same streets a few times...and her puppy was so excited to see me that it took about 5 minutes to get his harness/leash type thing on!
Next, I met Amber for some HOT yoga. Holy smokes, was it ever hot. I have never had such a HOT hot yoga class. My clothes and hair were dripping with sweat ten times more than normal! It was so wonderful though-I was definitely enjoying myself. After class, we spontaneously decided that the only thing we could do after such a FUN and HOT class would be to swing by her place, grab a popsicle and drive up to my cottage for a late night dip!!! I love random ideas :D Anyways, the water was freezing cold, since the ice just melted but definitely worth it.
I'm now quite tired and I'm off to bed. Goodnight all!

This is pretty fun :D

Hello!!!
Wow! I have a blog. I wonder if I will keep up with it. Since I'll be gone over the summer, I thought this would be a good way to keep in touch with everyone! It's Monday night and my mum is flying back to Toulouse, France, right now :S Having all my family around this past month has been so encredible and the house feels way too big for me right now...I miss them so much.
I leave on Sunday morning to drive up to Chicoutimi, QC, to take part in the Explore Bursary Program. I can't believe I'll be spending five weeks speaking nothing but French!! I have a ton to do though before I take that trip.
That's all I have to say about that right now.