An Update from Ashleight Moat
Ashleigh Moat is one of our outbound RI Exchange students (and also our member David Botting's granddaughter), who flew to France last month for the remainder of this year and her record of her first month in a new country, home and school is interesting reading.
Hello
I have now been here for just over a month. This month has already been a rollercoaster ride. I have felt so many emotions that I never knew were possible. A week after I arrived in France I read something about being an exchange student that was very powerful and inspirational to me. It said that exchange is change; rapid, brutal, beautiful, hurtful, colourful, amazing, unexpected and most of all, constant change. In this month of being here I have found this to be very true. I have experienced a change in lifestyle, country, language, friends, parents, houses, school, and simply everything else that I have come across. I have moved 20,000 kms away from what I knew life to be - my home, my family and my friends. I have had to make a new life here in France. I have got a new family, I started a new school and I have made new friends. Once I had settled into the routines of my new life in my first host family’s house I then had another change. It was time for me to pack up and move to my second host family. The reason for this change was because my first host family lived quite rural and was very far away from school so they thought it would be better to stay with them for a month and then come back in the summer holidays for another 2 months. So my month with them finished a few days ago and my second family picked me up from my house and took me to their house. I have only been here a few days, but in these past few days they have already made me feel like part of the family. I have gained 3 new brothers and new parents as well. It is currently school holidays so I have been at home with my family. They already have taken me to Calais, as they had to go get a suitcase fixed. We had lunch at a restaurant and then headed home again. I have spent the mornings baking with my host mum and we made chocolate mousse and Madeleines. They are more helpful in with helping me with my language as they speak little English so I am pushing myself so I am able to communicate with them.
Another thing that I have to be very true from this thing I read is that exchange is about thinking all the time, about everything. There have been moments when I have thought that I can no longer do this, that I miss my sister too much or my family too much, where I have thought that the language is to hard, the food is weird and that school is just stupid. When I am constantly thinking I am becoming more aware of how France is different back to home. Sometimes this is a good thing and sometimes it is a bad thing and I start to feel homesick. Homesickness is something that I feel whenever I am not really doing anything to occupy myself. I have only just realized that that is when I feel most homesick only because I start to think ‘oh what would I be doing in New Zealand right now’ and then I start missing my family and friends. I have now decided to buy some puzzle books so I can occupy myself whether it is in class or at home or wherever I am so I avoid feeling homesick.
I think one of the biggest things that I have enjoyed so far is the French food. Breakfast is usually cereal or toast, which isn’t that exciting. Lunch is like their main meal of the day. Adults will come home from work and cook a proper meal, whether it is pasta or pizza or stew or whatever. We all sit at the table and it is rather formal. After we have eaten lunch we usually eat a dessert, like a fruit yoghurt, chocolate mousse, cake or anything else sweet. Dinner is much the same as lunch however the meal is usually lighter like bread and soup or meat and cheese. We also have a dessert after dinner. The French people don’t usually snack during the day but I like to have some chocolate or a treat from the bakery occasionally.
I think one of the biggest differences, for me, is the amount of flat land and the waste of farmland. All the land I live around is flat; there are no hills to walk up when going outside. I live in a little town and have to drive through the countryside to get to school. All the land is flat and bare. There are no farm animals, which is strange for me. In New Zealand, if you drive through the country you are bound to see some kind of farm animal like cows, sheep or horses. I am not sure if it is because it is winter but they there are no crops, just big fields of muddy land.
School is also very different. I have at least a 2-hour lunch break each day. Classes are rather spread out and not consecutive. This annoys me because there are many hours during the day that are just wasted. When you have free time you are either able to go home or stay in one of the supervised classrooms that aren’t always open. The front door of school is locked and only open during breaks or at the beginning of each hour. This means if you start school at 9am you cant get into the school building into 8:55am. I catch the school bus to school and will usually get to school and have to wait outside in the freezing cold until the door is unlocked. School finishes at various times during the week. I usually finish at 4pm but on Tuesday I don’t finish until 6pm, which makes it a very long day.
I have found that I have made friends easily. I was put into a class with 2 other Rotary Exchange Students, Bia from Brazil and Will from Canada. In a way I have found this both lucky and unlucky. It was lucky because they knew what I was going to experience as they had already been there for 5 months and they were instantly friends with me, they helped me settle into school and I became friends with their friends easily. It was also unlucky because now I feel like I rely on them for things and I am not confident to do something myself. They are lovely people and I am glad I have become friends with them. I have 2 really good French friends but I want to make some more but it is hard because of the language barrier.
Overall this month has been fantastic. I have settled in really well, I am enjoying my time and I already feel like I am part of 2 amazing families. My language is slowly getting there. I am starting to understand more and more however in the mornings the last thing I like to do is try speak and understand French. I think the next thing that is really important for me is to limit the amount of time I spend on Facebook and Snapchat and just talking to people back in New Zealand. I am constantly waiting for someone from home to message me, I am on my phone a lot of the time and I am not experiencing as much of the culture as I could. It is going to be hard for me but it is a goal that I am going to set myself.
I honestly can’t believe that I have already spent 36 days away from home and I am looking forward to the rest of my exchange and seeing where my adventures lead.
Kind Regards, Ashleigh Moat