Nantes!!!

The train ride lasted about 3 hours and when we arrived in the station, we all took cabs to the IES center. We got a tour of the center and found out theres a student kitchen here to use! The people are all very nice but are no very happy when we speak English in the center. (Right now there are Uncle Sam signs everywhere saying, in french, I WANT YOU to speak French). Its a little intense but good at the same time. At least here we have all had at least 2 semesters of French so its not like italy when some people started out with none.
i dont remember exactly what we did that first day, but in the afternoon our host families came to pick us up. My host mom showed up second to last with my little host brother Paul. She's very sweet and has had 5 host students before so shes very good at being patient and understanding with my fra-talian remabling. I have 4 host siblings in all--Paul is the youngest (10), then Maylis (14), Alex (15) and Clotilde (17). I didnt get to meet my host dad until later that week because he was working in Paris. Our house is in a little neighborhood 20 mins from the center on the bus/walking. Its a pretty big house with 4 bedrooms, a rec room, two bathrooms, and laundry room on the first floor, and offices, kitchen, living/dining room, parents bedroom and breakfast nook on the second floor.
I have my own room which probably used to be the nursery. Unlike my italian host mom, my French host mom just does my sheets every so often and otherwise stays out of my room. I had dinner with them all the first night, which was pizza and an interesting transition from italian pizza. Though we dont have salad with every meal, we still have bread and because I live with kids we have dessert most night too! WOOOOO!
Drawback: I have to ride the bus into town, NOT ride my bike, thus Im not burning off said dessert as easy and will probably gain a lot of weight in France. Am I really all that concerned? Not at all. I have all of July and August until I need to be able to jump more than an inch off the ground and wear spandex...
The next day I rode the bus in with my host mom and Katie, another girl from the program who happens to live a street away. We did a tour of the town and probably some other introduction stuff. I dont remember much from those first coulpe days because I was struggling to take everything in and dealing with the fra-talian problem. more soon...ill bring my journal so i can remember what ive been doing!