Home IS France

Recently, as life here carries on as usual, people have been asking me, "Are you excited to go back home ?" To most people's surprise my response is no. Reason being ? Home for me is no longer JUST New Zealand. 'Home' for me is also Angers, France, here with my 3 mums, 3 dads and 7 siblings. I couldn't imagine a life for myself any different. It's funny to think that 8 months ago I was thrown into this new world feeling a stranger, now I wake up every morning knowing that I belong, that this IS my world.
Reading through my journal and reflecting to when it all began I have come to realise that there are things that originally shocked, or seemed 'different' to me which have now become apart of my everyday life.

- starting at 8h and finishing at 18h
- on that same note, 24hour time
- being able to come home for lunch
- a hot lunch everday
- finishing before miday on a wenesday
- dinner, at the earliest at 20h
- walking to school, and everywhere else for that matter
- riding a bike really, really far and not having to worry about a bike helmet
- people telling me they are going to Paris for the weekend
- being able to take the train anywhere and everywhere
- strikes every second week meaning no school
- teachers not turning up to class, and as a result, we can all go home
- the accent French people have when they speak English (infact, I am so used to this accent, I have even taken it on for some words)
- teachers dictating and not writing on th whiteboard
- 2,3 and even 4 hour end of topic tests
- square pillows and rectangular ones not even existing
- girls wearing heels to school
- a castle every half an hour or so
- an enormous cathedral in every city
- wine to go with both lunch and dinner
- golf being the high school 'sport' for the trimester
- fountain pens + french calligraphy
- looking down every road and seeing doors in a line, behind every door is a different house with a garden separted by a brick wall
- all the rooves being the same colour (le quernon d'ardoise)
- boys who care a lot about their image
- the school year starting in september with yearly planners that also start in september
- PDA at school
- smoking infront of the school gate
- stripey clothing
- french rap
- people saying words in the reverse for example the word "chaud" (hot) becomes "auch" and "fête" (party) becomes "teuf"
- blackboards
- water in a wine glass and also, wine in a water glass

I could actually go on all night with this list. With things that to me, now, are apart of my normal everyday life. But it was not so long ago that this was all seen by me as being completely foreign. I am now scared to come home to find that I will once again have to adapt to a strange way of life and to leave this comfortable life I have here. To me, New Zealanders are the foreigners, so what does that make me you may be asking... Well, me ?? I'm an Angevine !! ( An Angevin(e) is someone who comes from Angers. Someone who comes from Paris will be known as a Parisien(ne).)
Here in France, I am at home, and I know for a fact that I will be back here in the near future to continue with this life.