Saturday, April 24, 2010

Happy Holidays in Port Barcares

Well i had one weekend in Villefranche after my trip to Spain before i headed of to Port le Barcares in the south of France for two weeks of holidays. I went with my host brother Aymeric and my host grandparents who are my next host family.

We left early monday morning and it wasn't a very nice day so once we arrived we unpacked the car, made my bed and then went for a bike ride around the town. They actually bought another bike for me to use so i was very keen to ride often to make it worth it. I really enjoyed riding a bike there because it gave me a sense of freedom that i've been missing. I even rode around a roundabout for the first time!

For the first week the weather wasn't very nice but we ate lunch outside each day and usually we had fish for lunch which we bought from the port. We stayed in a unit that is owned by Bernard and Jaquie and it's directly opposite the beach. Each afternoon we went and saw some things around the town. We went and saw where they used to make dynamite, collected shells, went on some huge hikes, saw some beaches, walked through some gorges, saw some huge rocks etc

Aymeric and i spent most of the time together and he's a pretty funny kid. He got pretty attached to me during the two weeks and barely ever left me alone. I went from being the nicest person in the world when i did something with him or bought something for him, to being the meanest person in the world when i took the time to write in my diary or read a book for awhile. It was pretty intense actually and it took a lot of self-control for me not to get annoyed when he constantly pestered me but i guess it proves we have a pretty normal brother-sister relationship.

Some other mentionable things of my holiday...I got up the nerve to go swimming once during the two weeks. The water wasn't that much colder than at home although the weather wasn't as nice and the lack of waves is disappointing.

I bought a phone card while i was away and decided i would surprise call my grandparents because i hadn't actually talked to them since i've been here. My grandma was so excited when she picked up the phone and it was so nice to talk to both of them even though we didn't really get to talk for that long.

I also bought a new pair of swimmers and found a book store that had a couple of second-hand english books. I've really been missing english books and i found two really great mystery books so i now have something to read.

Barcares really reminded me of Port Macquarie so i spent quite a lot of my week reflecting on old family holidays, my childhood and my gym days. It was quite nice thinking about all the things i used to do and all the fun i used to have. I'm so appreciative of all the opportunities i've had in my life so far and i will never be able to thank my family for all they have given me.

On the way back from Port Barcares we stopped at Carcassonne which is a fortified town and the biggest medieval city in Europe. It was so cool and there was a really nice church which was made in both roman and gothic styles and we went on a tour of the castle.

It's now the weekend and i'm still pretty tired after my busy holidays...i may come back to this post at some point and add some more details because this is quite short. I found out yesterday that i have two more weeks with my current host family before i more to Bernard and Jaquie. I was supposed to change this weekend but because i spent the last two weeks with Bernard and Jaquie i'm staying here for two more weeks. I'm in two minds about changing but it's something that has to happen because my exchange is moving on. Three months have already passed and i have exciting things coming up in my exchange.

I have another rotary weekend coming up in the next couple of weeks so i'm looking foward to that.

p.s I played some mastermind with Aymeric while we were away and i was lucky enough to win one game in two goes....i was stoked and we took a picture to prove it.


The Port

Collecting shells

Hiking....man it killed my feet

Some cool rocks...but i got prickled quite a bit sitting there

Some landscape that's supposed to be typically American

Exploring the gorges..in super sexy helmets haha

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