Youth Exchange
 Each year my next door neighbours make a huge Christmas display on their front veranda. This year, they invited my host family and I to come over for dinner, and 'illuminate' the display with them. They have a tradition that each year, the youngest person present gets to plug in the display, and this year that was me, so I got to do the honours. It was really cool! As you can see, it's very detailed and intricate, and clearly took a lot of time and effort. They told us that they worked on it for most of every, and many days during the week in November and the beginning of December. |
 Our Christmas tree! |
 Christmas Eve dinner setting. Traditionally, the French eat their Christmas dinner on the 24th, rather than the 25th. We ate huitre (oysters), saumon cru (raw salmon) and foie gras for appetizers - all very traditional French Christmas cuisine, and the main course was turkey with chestnuts (cooked and slightly mashed) and a potato-carrot dish - all very good! And of course, finished with cheese! After this, we opened presents - I thought it was cool opening presents in the evening, rather than in the morning/throughout the day as is common in Canada. |
 First snowfall of the year! I took this picture walking to the bus - it's just before you reach the centre of Villecresnes. It snowed for a few days (Thursday-Sunday on and off) but all the snow had melted by early last week. Although it caused many traffic problems, it was quite pretty while it lasted and definitely made it seem more like Christmas! |
 Last year, my friend Sophie (on the left) had an Australian exchange student, Scarlett (right) stay with her family for 2 months. This year, she came back to visit for a few days, and came to school with us. She was very nice, and it was great to meet another English-speaking person! |
 My (old) host brothers and I - Paul (21) on the left, and Louis (23) on the right |
 My little host cousin, Rose (7) and I. She was very sweet. |
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My new host sisters and I. I moved host families yesterday - Jan. 2. A big part of exchange is changing host families, in order to better experience the culture of your host country, as living with each family is very different. This family is good friends with my previous family, and live in a town closeby which is great cause I can go back and visit lots. They have twin 14 year old daughters, Chloé (on the left) and Margaux (on the right) and they are very sweet. |
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