Aujourd’hui je woke up at 12:35 this afternoon apres going to bed at around 8 o’clock last night. Apres 16 heurs of sleep, I was invited by ma host mother to manger. I accepted and we walked downstairs to la cuisine. She had made pasta! J’aime pasta! I noticed that there was meat in the pasta. I said qu’est-ce et ma host mother said it was le veau. She showed me a book of french/english things and pointed to the one that said le veau. In other words, I took a bite of calf. After I knew what it was, I only ate the noodles. I guess I have a thing about eating baby animals.

After brunch, I went with Marine et Olivier to ride the horses. Marine rode Keat, Olivier rode Axel, et I rode Iris. We walked a little and then started to trot. I was a little nervous because I haven’t rode in a while. After trotting for a min or so, we started galloping. Not cantering. Not loping. Galloping. We galloped up a hill then started walking again. We walked off the street and into a field. Iris was already acting funny because he had beaucoup l’énergie. He started to trot, then I guess he started to gallop. Apres trying to stop him, I was sadly introduced to the ground. I tried taking my feet out of the stirrups so je could jump off, mais je guess je was too late. Luckily it was grass so je was not injured that badly, just a sore hip and probably a good sized bruise tomorrow. I am ok though, I walked Axel back to their field et Marine rode Keat while Olivier walked Ivis. Back at their field, we brushed the horses and let them go graze. We drove to Olivier’s flat, he et Marine changed clothes et then Marine et je drove back to her house.

Maintenant, je am petting Calinou, le chat, et nous are about to manger le dîner.

Again, to let everyone know, I am fine!! No worries! Let’s just say, someone owes me a dollar! 😀

More later,

~Tara

At ma host family’s maison, making home-made crêpes avec Marine and Olivier. Écouter their conversations et trying to comprehend. J’ai my school books et je suis excited!

Je suis arrivé aujourd’hui at 6am et took le train from Paris to Rennes. My host mother, host sister, Marine, and Marine’s boyfriend, Olivier, met me at the airport and took me to la maison. A la maison, I had some yogurt and then listened to the conversation they were having en Français.

Marine’s mother had already bought mes livres pour l’école. L’école is called St. Joseph and Marine and Olivier took me to go see it and to see where the bus stop is so I can take le bus à l’école. Apres we saw the school, Marine asked me if I wanted to go see the horses. Smiling avec excitment, I said “oui.” We drove to where the horses are and Marine and I went to go pet her horses, Axel et Keat, while Olivier went to run an errand. When he came back, he gave me a leg-up and I rode one of the horses around the field area. When it was time to leave, I hoped off the horse et we headed back to la maison.

Now, I am writing my blog, Marine is making crêpes, and Olivier is eating a crêpe. I am really happy to be here, even though I don’t understand most of what I hear. I know it will all get better and I can’t wait until I can read, write, and talk like them!

More later,

~Tara

Here we all are, at Boston Logan Airport, me, Janna, Ikwe, Viva, Sarah, Emma, and Zach. All ready to start a new chapter in our lives. We have our boarding passes, I am sitting in seat 24D, and our seat assignments. We said “goodbye” to Jake (he in in charge of talking to us if we are homesick…) and continued on through security to our gate, gate 8B to Reyjavik, Iceland.

I chatted with my host sister, Marine, this morning and she told me that she, her boyfriend, Olivier, and her mom are going to pick me up at the train station in Rennes. They live 20 min from the station and I am so excited to meet them and become part of their family.

Time to go, it’s almost boarding time!

À toute à l’heure

~Tara

I arrived at the Comfort Inn today around noon with my parents and grandmothers. We walked into the hotel and met the coordinator, Nate Dyer shortly after we entered. He is a very nice man, tall, pretty eyes, and super nice. My family and I talked to him for a little while and then I saw this pretty girl come over. I wondered if she was in the group as well because she looked at me while I was talking to Nate.  She walked over and introduced herself. Her name is Viva and she is very nice and super pretty. She asked me if I had a room and I said no, she then asked me if I wanted to room with her because she had an extra bed. I accepted the invitation and put my bags down in the room.

Nate asked us if we wanted to order pizza. We said yes and a few minutes later my parents and grandmothers left. I was sad to see them leave but I know it wasn’t a goodbye. Viva and I met another girl who was in the group and her name is Sarah. Now, there was me, Viva, and Sarah, all juniors. We met up with two other girls, Janna (a junior) and Ikwe (a senior), moments later and all sat down and ate pizza. When the last girl, Emma (a sophomore), joined us I knew that these girls were going to be some long-term friends of mine! There is one guy in the group and his name is Zach (a senior).

We had half of the orientation today and then all went out for dinner at an Italian restaurant then walked a little bit to get gelato. After dinner, we all came back to the hotel and went up to our rooms. Viva and I invited everyone up to our room for tea. While she was french braiding my hair, we heard a knock on our door, it was Janna and Ikwe. The four of us drank tea and talked about our favorite shows/movies and our favorite music. Turns out we all like One Direction! We talked for a good hour or so.

Now, it’s bedtime. We are getting up early tomorrow for breakfast and at 10 we have the rest of orientation. Then its off to the airport for our flight to France. I can’t believe this day is here already. Time flies!!! I am super excited and Viva and I might even be going to the same school in Rennes, so I’ll know someone!

Tonight, while we were having our little tea party, we realized that that was one of our last conversations to be held in English. I am really ready to go on this adventure and I am really glad I have these friends to share the experience with.

Tomorrow will be my last blog from the USA!!

So until then, à toute à l’heure!

~Tara

Today is the day that I meet up with the rest of the CIEE group, have orientation, and sleepover in another hotel with the rest of the students going to to France.

My mom, dad, and I started from Honolulu, HI about a month ago. We gathered everything we had and packed up our apt. After we moved out of the apt, we moved into a hotel called The Modern. After about 9 days at The Modern, my sister, Emily, and I flew to Anaheim, CA for a going away party with our California friends at Disneyland. Following our Disneyland trip, Emily and I flew up to San Francisco, CA to meet up with our parents. We drove to Arcata, CA and dropped off Emily at college a few days after we arrived. We helped her unpack, said our goodbyes, and then we were off.

This time, with just my parents and me, we boarded a train in San Francisco and we off to Chicago, IL. The train was fun and it was an experience I will never forget. My dad’s mom, Marilyn, met us in Chicago and we spent a few days there until we boarded our next train headed for Boston, MA.

Now, in Boston, my mom and dad, Mimi Marilyn, and Mimi Annette (my mom’s mom), and I are all getting ready to take me to the hotel for orientation. My Dad’s brother, Alan and his two kids, Matthew and Natalie came in yesterday to say bye to me. It was really great seeing them and I am glad they came!

I get two responses from people when they find out that I am going abroad. One is “I did that and it was the best thing I ever did!” and the other one is “The one thing I regret is not going abroad in school.” I know this is a wonderful opportunity for me and I am so happy I get to go. I am nervous and a little scared of that will come, but I know everything will work out!

I have cried some tears in the past two days because I will miss my parents. They tell me that they are so proud of me and that this is a great thing I am doing. I believe that this will be good for me and I will learn a lot.

I will be writing this blog once more from the United States and then it will be from France. It started off all in English, and will hopefully end all in French. I will be strong and brave on this new adventure!!! I will make new friends. I will study and learn a lot. And I will become fluent in french, writing, reading, and speaking.

This isn’t forever, I’ll be back. So, for those who are reading this, these are for you!

A hui hou. Hasta luego. Á toute à l’heure. See you later!

~Tara

I received my flight itinerary the other day and I was surprised to find out that there is a stopover in Iceland before we arrive in Paris. I will be the first person in my family to ever go to Iceland. I am so excited! Even though we don’t get to go out of the airport during our 5 hour layover, it will still be cool to tell people I have been there.

It is getting closer and closer to departure day and I am a little nervous, but I know I will have fun. My parents and I are working on getting some gifts together for my host family and I think Hawaiian gifts are going to be pretty cool in France.

Anyway, that’s all for now. More later.

~Tara