This weekend started out as a bit of a surprise, other than Saturday because I knew my plan since the beginning of the week. But, nonetheless, to start out Friday..
Friday started out a little different than normal. My friend, Côme, invited me to his house to have lunch. So instead of ditching out of class early for some food, I decided to wake up a little earlier and attend the other group's morning class rather than my group's afternoon class [essentially they are both the same class, but because there are so many of us there are two groups within my group and each of the two groups have flip-flopped schedules]. So I finished and headed over to the Fac de Droit [here you say which faculty you study in rather than the school in general. In other words, it's just a little bit more precise as to where/what you study on campus] where I met up with Côme and his girlfriend Justine. We headed to his house which wasn't far away and of course, was beautiful like always and we walked down through his backyard to the Loiret [a part of the Loire river] and we all talked down there for a bit. Then, we headed back up and I met his mother - who just got home - and she made us a fantastic lunch! So, as normal, we spent lunch time talking about the differences between our two countries and things we like and things we don't like. So after we finished, I headed for home and was trying to figure out my plans for the night. I ended up playing a little game of cricket with my brother and then I worked up enough courage to ask some random guys if I could play pétanque with them. So of course they were more than happy for me to join and I had a lot of beginner's luck. But I loved the game, and eventually some more of their friends showed up so we had a 3v3 game going. I helped out a bit but a few of the guys on the other team were really good. But I did win one game for our team so I was pumped about that! I think now I will try and play a little more if I have the chance. Then we all ate dinner together and then made sure everything was ready to go for tomorrow..
Saturday morning I woke up and got ready because my host mom, Virginie, my host sister, Mathilde, my host brother, Axel, and myself were leaving early to go to their grand-parents house to help prepare for the family reunion. So we left and my host dad, Antoine, and my other host brothers, Adrien and Pierrot, would arrive later. We got to the house and it was a beautiful house with a large yard. Slowly but surely, other family members showed up and I was introduced to all as "the american" in some form or another. Every wore name badges to help make recognizing a little more easy. On my badge I wrote, "Grant Bingham/Gilliot" and everyone got a kick out of that. Once everyone arrived, we all jumped in our cars and drove over to a restaurant that wasn't too far, but was set back in a beautiful part of the woods. So after spending a few hours there, we headed back to grandma's house and spent the rest of the evening talking but mainly all the kids playing sports. We played a little bit a cricket, I showed everyone how to throw a football [granted it was with a rugby ball, but eh, it worked], then we even got a little rugby game going. Then, just before everyone called it a night, the family gathered for a photo
and just when I thought we were gonna head out, everyone waved me over to join in on the family photo, so one more was taken..
and I think my face says it all in this picture. I was very grateful to be given the invitation not only to come, but to also be included in the family photo. So after this, I was really in the photography mood and wanted to take one more except with just my host family..
Finally, on Sunday, I went to messe [mass; but in French it's pronounced "mess" which I find kinda funny] and then afterwards we went back to grandma's house to enjoy a lunch before everyone left for their different cities. This, of course, also meant a little more extra time getting to play frisbee - which I absolutely enjoyed! Then finally, we headed back home and everyone completely crashed! But once again, a great weekend which a truly amazing family. Merci encore!
No comments:
Post a Comment