Weekend in the Mountains (High Flying and and an Army!)

   This past weekend, I accompanied my host family to a cabin in the mountains, and the winding roads and bizarrely-eroded slopes definitely reminded me of home.  During the weekend was when I missed my books the most.  I’ve been busy and distracted since arriving, but I miss my time reading books.  I always suspected I was addicted to reading stories, but I would never consciously choose to stop to prove the theory. I’d make the joke I would rather remain in the dark about it, but I still need a light to read by.  Backlight on an electronic device, light to see the electricity outlet, something to let me see the words.  Now, there are only so many hours a day I can study my French book.  I had resolved myself to not read in English for the first few months in order to train my brain to think in French.  This advice has been repeated frequently to me by former exchange students.  I believe it does help, because even writing home, this blog, and the fearsome college application essays (let’s have a moment of silence for the amount of Belgian chocolate to be sacrificed during the waiting period) in English sends me off rhythm for a few hours.  Going from Frangais to English makes my diction weird.  However, I wasn’t moping all weekend or even offbeat.  I kept going.  Thankfully, my host sister Lise kept me active.  I am proud to say I introduced her to Harry Potter (via the movie collection belonging to her brother, who is an exchange student in Iowa) and have created a fanatic.  I also discovered the complete Harry Potter series translated in French is hidden like a horocrux somewhere in their home.  This year is not only an amazing journey, but I now have a quest.  It’s officially an adventure!

   As I stated, I wasn’t morose or inactive during the cabin stay.  I took frequent walks on the mountain and went out on excursions.  We explored the entrance chambers of the cave where the Black River in France enters underground.  I made it to the exact geographical center of Europe and saw the grave markers for the old currencies that were replaced by the Euro.  I also found an army!

  They were having a festival in the town that involved a march.  The people were in full costume, each color representing an area village.  They let me take pictures with them.  Yesterday, we went to an Acrobranch place and spent the afternoon climbing high up in the trees.  The view was fantastic! I felt completely safe on the ropes course.  Thank goodness we did the same thing at Outbound Orientation, because the instructions were in French or on a video.  I also got to bungee jump and zip line across the Black River.

  A side-effect of living in a loop of monkey-see-monkey-do and charades is the awareness of idioms I normally use, or phrases that do not make practical sense in other languages.  I am pleased to report the phrase ‘over my head’ is in French.  One motion of my flat hand from about three inches above my forehead to the back of my skull communicates confusion, or at least I’m pretty sure that’s what it does.  Such is the life of an exchange student!

  I am still enthralled with everything! I am very grateful to everyone who has helped me make it to Comines!