Passports and Other Miscellaneous Subjects

Another week or so has gone by. I still plunder ruthlessly forth, family-less, tired, and jealous of the twenty or so AFS France-ers who have already gotten their host families. I have not been bored, however. I spent the last week in Florida, hanging out by the beach and, best of all, exploring Harry Potter World in Universal Studios. But now I'm back to California, reveling in the last day of spring break, and, yet again, I lay in wait for the day my host family will chose me.

Besides the fact that most people don't get host families this early, I have found another reason to not have a family. You see, as a citizen of the UK and the US, I don't need a visa - for I can use my British passport. This is all fine and good - but in order to use this British passport, I first must renew it. I'm getting emails from AFS all the time asking where my passport is, but it just wont come! I check the mail every day, and it is fairly stressful. Who knew renewing a passport would take months? What if this is preventing me from getting a host family?

In other news, I only have seven more weeks of school left. Though I'm ecstatic for summer, I am unfortunately aware of the sluggish pace time seems to travel at when one is anticipating a year long trip to France. Seven weeks is minute period of time compared to the nine or so months that the school year consists of. But when I'm this close, so painfully near, minutes take hours, hours take days, and my trip to France taunts me from it's comfortable perch in my seemingly distant future.

Maybe I'll make a countdown chart. Anyway, I must go do my online classes. One of the biggest downfalls to preparing for this trip is, without a doubt, is the online classes I must take. Algebra 2 and Health have consumed by every waking minute that is not spent at school or extra-curriculars, taking me well into the early hours of the morning almost every day.

I'm tired of being a freshman.

Au revoir tout le monde.

A Lot About Nothing

Nothing at all has changed since I last posted. This in itself disappoints me, though I guess it's good that I haven't died in a horrendous car accident, or worse yet, been kicked out of AFS France for whatever reason. As I sit here, listening to music and laughing to myself about the mounds of homework I must inevitably overcome, I am at ease knowing that yes, I am 100% definitely going to France next year. As you might guess, I can barely contain myself. But it also brings about a sort of melancholy feeling...

In my English class yesterday, we discussed the final exam, and exciting end-of-year deadlines that will be coming up in the next couple months. I looked around the room, at some of my best friends, and some people that I had only met this year, and was truly blown away by the importance of my exchange. What am I going to do without my best friends, field hockey, my family, neighbors, even my school? All the things and people I rely on every day without thinking about it. What will I do without the comfort and stability that I possess? Living in this town for almost my entire life, I've never been in the position where I had to make new friends when I'm out of my comfort zone. Next year will be so... new. As AFS says "not good, not bad, just different."

Even this cannot phase my excitement, though. Part of the reason that I am so ecstatic is how completely new this experience will be. I'm excited to gain a new sense of independence, to learn a new language, to experience something entirely on my own. I can't wait for this completely unique aspect of life, this experience that no typical high-schooler can relate to. I can't wait to see how making new friends, learning a new language, and being away from all that I know will change me as a person.

Anyways, enough rambling. I need to go find other ways to not do my homework.