The Five

1. Today was the ideal summer day: hot and sunny and with me by the pool. Some people don't like lying out in the sun doing nothing for hours on end, not me. I love it! After lunch today, I put on my bathing suit, got through that terrible moment when you see yourself in a suit after all those months and all those French meals, applied Sunscreen and joined my host mom by the pool. We painted our toe nails until we couldn't stand the heat any longer and jumped in the pool. First swim of 2012: success ! 


2. Fathers day in France was last weekend. My host sisters bought Asterix comic books and I redeemed myself for all of the cookies I've made since I got here. My host dad is allergic to eggs and everything I make seems call for at least one egg! I feel guilty for indulging everyone except him in American cuisine. So I found a eggless chocolate cake recipe and for the first time, he was able to eat my cooking!


3. Two weeks after I get home, one of my best friends from France is taking a plane for the first time and coming to visit me! I'm super excited and talk with her on the phone or on skype often, making plans for the three weeks that she'll be in the U.S. I think it will make the transition between countries easier for me, and I won't be in complete withdrawal from speaking French. 


4. It's that time of the year: BAC time. Well not for me, but for my class back in Tournon, for my host sister, and for a lot of other French teenagers! It's on the news every night, which seems weird to me since schools are not all cohesive in the U.S and therefore the national news can't report on them. My host sister is taking it for the second time and is stressed. Reasonably so, since in France, the Bac really is the key to the door to your futur, and without it that door will pretty much remain shut.


5. My host mom came into my room last night and saw that I had taken my clothes off of my closet rack. The look on her face was so sad when she said "you've already started packing?" I don't think I'll be the only one in tears at the train station, in two weeks.