The morning, I had to say good bye to my new YFU friends. Most of the YFU students took a bus, to a train station, to go to the city of their host families. I was one of the un/lucky few that stayed behind, since our host families were picking us up later. We exchanged e-mails, Facebooks, and Skypes, and hugged and waved each other good-bye.
The rest of us were sent to work to clean up the dorms. Nothing harsh, no scrubbing nor mopping, just go around with plastic trash bags to pick up the pillow cases and blanket cases (? the pretty cover that goes around the fluffy white warmth inside - so like a massive pillow) for laundry. Easy enough, took like five minutes.
Then we FINALLY got the chance to go to a supermarket. We all wanted to buy shampoo and snacks since, assuming that we'd go to a hotel and not a school, we didn't have any. I spent my 20 minutes at the supermarket (think Walmart meets Aldi) gawking at the colored toilet paper (they have blue and pink toilet paper) and the prices of hair conditioner (which is aptly named "après-shampooing"). None of it was as expensive as the €20 (oh I found the $ sign. Haha, whoops) towel my friend got though. It was a fairly big towel, but still €20???
We were then sent to a park to eat lunch. Sandwiches that were promised to us on the first day of the orientation, Evian water, some waffles (think cookie coated in sugar in waffle form), FRENCH potato chips (think Lays, but not "Lays"), and a green apple.
The coordinators told us to pretend to have a conversation with host family members with our neighbors, but I completely gave up on pretending and just chatted with my neighbors about their home countries and good introductory French phrases.
After a while, the coordinators decided that we needed to loosen up or something so we played a game. I actually really, really like this game! I'll describe it elsewhere because otherwise it'll detract from the major point of this post.
Which is, meeting our host families.
Due to drinking all that Evian water, some people had to go to the bathroom. The coordinators tried to find a public bathroom so we wouldn't have to go back to the school (where, I later found out, other coordinators were holding an orientation for the host families) (and therefore, see our host families before we were supposed to), but they gave up.
(I actually know a perfect transitional word in French, but not in English) Donc, one of the YFU students did see a host family member and told the others. We must've seemed like rampaging monkeys! We literally ran, screaming, and poked our heads around the corner to try to get a glimpse of, not even our, any host family member. It was as if someone spotted an exotic animal, the way we reacted! "A parakeet (ahaha I just asked my host brother for an example of an exotic animal)??? Where???"
We all took some mock calming breaths.
Well, after an agonizingly long wait, we still weren't allowed to see our host families (I know, I was disappointed too), but sent back to the clearing/park. I didn't feel too bad about it. Certainly, I wanted to meet my family, but I was glad I got to eat my green apple first. Also pretty excited that I finally had conditioner.
We walked back to the school anxiously/nervously. Talking with my YFU friends certainly helped. We were talking about the wonderful green apples to distract ourselves.
It felt like the coordinators were doing everything to delay us from meeting the host families. Or maybe it just felt that way, "go throw away your apple, not in the cigarette disposal place, nooo (that should've been common sense on my part ahaha), take your luggage and put it here, go to this area, whoops, actually this one."
So we were there, impatiently standing around. I wanted to see them immediately, I wanted to put it off, to stay in the safe haven of the YFU Orientation. I knew that as soon as I met my family, that it was for real. I was actually going to stay in France for a year, with some strangers.
One person stepped outside the building. Then, the whole group. It took a few moments to register, but I realized that it was the host family group. Other YFU students happily stepped forward to meet their families.
I didn't. I couldn't see them! I was a bit terrified in that moment, honestly, 'did they decide to not pick me up? Will I be the last student that has no host family' 'THAT'S SO AWKWARD'.
Then I saw them. My host family, or at least a part of it. I didn't meet my entire family at the same time (which was probably better since I could slowly meet each person one by one) because not all of them could go to the (very long) host family orientation. My tiny bit of relief of having a family after all was extinguished by my anxiety of having a conversation in French.
I became a babbling mess of suicidal, somewhat intelligible French words. I think they got the general meaning of my gibberish (hello, I you thank for me take in). I'm sure my French teachers would have failed me if I ever said that mess in class. You must realize though, that the classroom is NOTHING like the real thing. I didn't have time to think, raise my hand, wait for someone to call on me, and then elucidate a piece of Shakespeare.
I resorted to primitive French words and created elaborate phrases like, "How goes it?" I made a wonderful first impression, beautiful start to my year in France.
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