Silent gratitude isn't much use to anyone. ~G.B. Stern

So, anyone who’e been paying attention to this blog may have noticed that last Saturday was my OFFICIAL One-Month Anniversary here in Dinan, France.  That’s correct, folks, I have survived one full month on my own in a foreign continent with no loss of life or limb; give it up!!

Alright, self-praise aside, I admit that the phrase “on my own” is not totally true.  Therefore I dedicate this post to paying my dues to the people who made this trip happen, as well as those who’re making it happen still.

Thank-you, first and foremost: Mom and Pappa.  For shelling out the big bucks for the plane ticket after devoting 16 years of your lives shaping me into Exchange Student material, and for possessing the great courage and love to let me go.

Chris and Corrina:  You’re two of the wisest and funnest people I’ve ever met.  Corrina, I wear your necklace often.  Chris, I love the book.  Thank-you both for knowing me so well.

Brothers:  Thanks for the laughs, I hold them close.  Can’t wait to return, set up the Wii, and kick all your @$$es at Super Smash Bros Brawl.  It will be epic.

Friends:  We’ve shared so much: stories about stupid classes, aimless walks through Chilliwack, cupcake-decorating parties, hilarious Youtube vids (Avenue Q comes to mind) and awful movies (Vampires Suck comes to mind) that were only worth the ticket price cause they brought us together.  Thanks for sticking with me and being the kind I people I love to be stuck on!!

Rotary:  Thanks for giving me the chance of a lifetime. I’m doing my best to make you proud.

Host Families (present and future): It takes guts to allow a stranger into you house and lives.  Thanks for having ‘em.  I wouldn’t be here without you.

The makers of Skype, Hotmail and Facebook:  I shake you all warmly by the metaphorical hand.  You’ve made the world a closer place; I thank you for that.

Have you ever stopped to wonder what makes you who you are;  what elements evolve you from day to day?  Me, I am a firm believer in the concept that every human interaction one makes influences one’s character.  So thanks to everyone I love for making me who I am today.  I don’t know where I’d be without you. (I really don’t!!)

Welcome! Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts! - Albus Dumbledore

My first day of school at Les Cordeliers had me relating to Mr Harry Potter and his first entering Hogwart’s School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.  Les Cordeliers was once a monastery built in the 1200s, and it still retains many castle-like features: stone walls, spiral staircases, courtyards and towers, ect, ect...

This magic-school setting is enhanced by the characters present; the teachers are called “professors” here, and command a lot more respect from the students than the ones back home, I’m finding.  I’m just waiting for a grumpy janitor to turn up with a cat!

And then there is of course the sensation of having stepped into a different world; a hidden realm, if you will.  Everyone is speaking a foreign language, wearing different clothes, and they all seem to have an internal GPS installed to navigate around the baffling school grounds (while I stand with my mouth open and totally lost until someone takes pity on me and leads me to class *merci, Jean-Baptiste!*  Seriously, how did anyone make it to class on time in the HP books?!?)  Even the atmosphere seems changed, as if the very air is charged with some alien energy!

I know most of it is all in my head.  I really don’t care, cause starting my new year of school here is such a rush and this is going to be great!  And when Marina told me I could leave school for the village during lunch hour, my newly-formed Hogwarts half was squealing “Hogsmead trip. Every.  Day.”

"All the windows of my heart, I open to the day!" -John Greenleaf Whittier

One of the reasons I like to wake up early here is due to the spectacular sky-views from my bedroom window.  My host-family finds it odd that I sleep with my blinds open at night, but to wake up to a sight like this...  

or this...

and especially this..!

I wouldn't miss it for the world!

Mont St Michel - Sept 1

 I love the sea.  There’s something about it; the way it looks, the way it smells, the way the wind feels coming off the waves; that has always appeared magical to me.  Understandably, Mont St Michel, the ancient fairytale castle on the ocean, ranked very high on my Wish List of Things to See and Do in France.  I got the chance to visit this 1000-year-old landmark last Wednesday, along with fellow ES (exchange student) Cassandra, her host sister Stephanie, and my host brother Alessandro.

I will say this: the view did not disappoint.  From within the castle walls, it was difficult to tell where the ocean ended and the sky began; everything was just breathtakingly blue.  The gardens within the Mont St Michel, bursting full of flowers, statues and fountains that looked like they hadn’t been touched since the castle was built in the 700’s, were also very beautiful.

However, it sharing the experience with Stephanie, Cassandra and Alessandro that really made the trip for me.  We visited a busy morning market together, sampled various cheeses and meats, shot goofy pictures of one another and bought galettes et saucisses ( sausages wrapped up in a kind of black-flour crepe; they are delicious) for lunch.  And despite the 2 and a half hour car ride there and back, I was never bored - we passed the time laughing at the language gap between us and singing loudly (and largely off-key) to Lady Gaga and Britney Spears.  (“Pokerface” has been playing on repeat in my head since then.)

It was a great day, but it was not so much the event as it was the people I shared it with that made it special.  It doesn’t really matter upon the setting - for a good time, all you really need is good company!