Luis is having a great time in France!

January 26, 2005

Hello everybody!!!

First of all I want to wish you all a wonderful year 2005 !!!

I am sorry I haven't written before due to my Internet problem, but so many
things have happened...In the last month of last year it  was quite
difficult having to know that I wouldn’t be with my family for Christmas and
New Years, knowing that I wouldn’t be able to see their faces and share that
special family moment that I have done for years and years, never actually
realizing how meaningful and important it is for me; only now when I’m
thousand of miles away from home...  It’s quite strange that you only
realize how special those moments mean to you, when you are not living them
!!!
On the other hand I might add that I had a beautiful time with my host
family and we shared a wonderful time together. They are really nice.

December 8th we just had our second Rotary meeting, I can’t believe that,
when I look at Rotary ( RYE6990)  site and I see how much stuff you guys do
together...but nonetheless, after the meeting, there was a traditional festival that
the city does, called the Fete des Lumieres, where everyone turns off the
lights, and begins putting candles outside their windows to have the same
ambiance as it once used to be.  This festival lasts for 4 days, and is
really amazing.
I got lost 5 min after all of us students left, and I had to find my way
home....
On the third night me and my friends went again, but with a larger group.
Quite fun.

For the last 2 days of school I rented a Santa Claus costume .
I took the metro with my brother wishing everyone Merry Christmas (In French
of course!).  Everyone looking at us a bit surprised .  When I got to
school, everybody said how cool I looked, and when it was time to go to
class, the director was smiling but stopped me saying I couldn’t. go in
dressed like that.  It’s really funny because that was the first time I had
ever seen the director standing in front of the entrance, just really bad
luck, I guess.
I also went to the  Aliance Fraincais, where I’m taking some French
courses, and it  was pretty cool, also the next day there was a party there
and  I wore the costume almost the whole night, giving chocolate and stuff
like that to everyone, and then I went up on stage and started dancing,
DANCING SANTA!!! That is one thing I will never forget, it was so much fun.

Christmas came and it reminded me a lot of the Christmas I used to have in
Brazil, where the whole family comes to celebrate this special day. I
basically just stayed with my brothers the whole night, since there was no
one else of our age, but it was really great! I even got to talk to some of
my friends in Florida.

Couple of days after Christmas it snowed!  My friends and I went to the
movies and when we walked out it was all white, so you can probably guess
what we did ;). For New Year's I went to one of my friend’s party,  we
stayed up the whole night, had tons of fun and we had chocolate fondue with
fruit and that was quite good. We even played a game sort of like truth or
dare, except it was always dare, and I had to wear a skirt.

I also went skiing with my parents which was the best! And I will also go
skiing with our Rotary Club in the weekend of Jan 21-23. I am looking
forward to it!

Last Saturday  my counselor invited me to a Rotary with dinner, similar to
the ones I used to have in Florida, except  that those were breakfasts ( and
I could miss some of my classes :)

The  people there were truly nice, very good food and even a jazz band.
Many came to talk to me and wanted to know how I was doing and all that
stuff...

When I look back to when I first got here, it’s quite funny, everywhere I
went, I kept practicing what I had and wanted to say in my head, but now it
just comes out normal, which is a really cool thing.

This past week has probably been the hardest for me, I’m not sure if it’s
because I miss my family and friends so much, but I couldn’t think straight,
I would sit in the corner where no one could bother me, and all my friends
wondering what was wrong, I knew that I should speak, but the words wouldn’t
come out right, it felt like I was drowning. I was feeling weak, I murmured
vows of silence and I couldn’t even hear when I thought aloud, but now I’m
creeping back to life, starting to come around…

I would like to thank every one who made this trip possible, and are still
helping me, because if it weren’t for these people, I wouldn’t be having the
best time of my life. I want to make this time to last forever ... even it
is going to be only in my heart and in my memories...

Thanks so much  to: Roy, Jeffrey, Alba, my parents, and everyone else from
the Rotary Club of Weston.

I hope everyone had a great Christmas and New Years, Especially my friends
that I didn’t get to talk to!
Love,
Luis