The City of Comics

Bonjour!

After last post I've got so much more information so let's get into it!

16.5.

I sent an e-mail to one Rotary person in my district in France and in the evening when I checked my phone, he had answered. He told me I will be spending my year in Angoulême! It's a city of about 45,000 inhabitants and it's in the department of Charente. I found out that it's the city of comics, there are many big wall paintings on the walls of buildings and the world's third biggest comics festival, Angoulême International Comics Festival, is held there every January. I was so excited (and still am) and can't wait to explore the city! Here you can see some pictures from Angoulême!

23.5.

In the morning, I got an e-mail from my Finnish correspondent saying that she had got my Guarantee Form. She told me she will send it to me and also that I had been accepted to Lycée Saint-Paul! I looked it from the map and it seems that it's quite in the centre of the city!

24.5.

When I came home from school, I saw that my Guarantee Form had arrived! It had a lot of papers, but very quickly I found the information of my first host family! There were names of the host parents and one sister. I sent an email to my hostdad and told about myself and so on. In the evening, I found a girl that I thought could be my host sister, on facebook and sent her a message. She answered and told that yes, she really is going to be my host sister and that she's on exchange in the USA at the moment. She also told me more about her family and I got to know I'm going to have five host siblings! Later I also talked with the dad and it seems that my first host family is as excited as I am!

On Saturday started our summer holiday, and first year in Finnish high school is over! When the school starts again in the autumn, I will be there for four days seeing my friends and then my adventure in France begins! Today it marks only 78 days until my departure! But now, it's time to enjoy the summer and spend as much time as possible with my friends and loved ones!

Nea

One Hundred Days

It has been over a month since I wrote last time so I thought I would come and tell what has happened and what's going on!

In the beginning of April my team took part in the Finnish Championships of Ringette and WE WON!! It was an amazing weekend and I got so many wonderful memories from there. Our Finnish Baseball season has also started and it feels good to be back after the long winter!

On the 16th of April we had the National Rotary Outbound training in Lahti. It took the whole day and it was divided in many parts. During the day we got a lot of important information and for the first time special information especially for the students heading to France. We also got to know the departure day, which makes the exchange even more concrete. From there I bought some Rotary clothes and pins and we tried our Rotary blazers on.

On the first weekend of May I celebrated Vappu with some of my friends. It was an awesome weekend: lots of donuts, sima (it's a drink) and of course a lot of laughing and having fun!

Last weekend we had a 4-day mini holiday from school. I had a Lord of the Rings -marathon with my friend and we were in Turku watching the newest Kung-Fu Panda movie with two of my friends. It was a nice weekend!

I haven't got the city nor the family information yet but school year has been and will be very busy so I don't have so much time to wait for them before the summer holiday (which is by the way in 20 days!)

This week I have done a lot of things for the exchange: signed some papers, sent files to France, designed my exchange pins and so on. On Wednesday we even booked the flights! Now I have an exact time for my flight which makes the exchange so much more real!

Day by day the departure is coming closer and closer and at the moment I have 100 days left here in Finland! I think they will go by so fast! I'm working in the summer and I have a lot of matches and training. And of course, I have to try to be with my friends and family as much as I can before my year in France starts!

Nea