Bonjour!

Hello!
This is my first blog post, very exciting!! :) I hope everyone is doing well!
So, the flights here (Portland to Seattle, Seattle to Paris, Paris to Nantes) was soooo exhausting! When my parents and I went to the Portland airport and I checked in to get my boarding passes and check my luggage, there was a problem with my flight at first, but luckily, it was only because of a flight time delay/change, so it all got sorted out. The flight from Seattle to Paris was soooo long, which is even less fun when you can't fall asleep, there is not much space to move, and there are two babies on the flight who basically cried the entire time. So that was great. But, on a positive note, the older man I sat next to was French and I asked him a question in English at first because I wasn't positive if he was French or not, and he looked sort of panicked when I was speaking English. So, then I asked the same question in French and then we started talking and we had a very long conversation, all in French of course, and he was very nice and it was great practice for me. I then navigated the Charles de Gaulle airport, which is HUGE!! So I am proud of myself for figuring it all out by myself. Anyways, then I arrived in Nantes and I got my suitcase (I was so happy it didn't get lost, that would have sucked) and I had to ask a woman (who was one of the flight attendants on my flight) how to get a taxi (in French). My taxi driver didn't talk to me once I was in the taxi until I arrived at IES and he needed to be paid. Haha. But it was ok because I was exhausted. Carrying around a heavy carry-on and running around airports in a wool coat on no sleep and not very excellent nutrition. Haha. I got up 4:30 am in Bend, OR and went to sleep at 9:15 pm in Nantes, FR. There is a 9 hour time difference, so I was awake for almost 32 hours. So that was awesome.
I got a quick tour of the IES center and then I sent an email to my parents and my sister to let them know I was alive and got there safely, and then updated facebook so all of my friends would know I arrived safely! I then went to the IES library and talked with the other IES students (we spoke in English, which is a big no-no, but we were all so tired, and it was so comforting to speak English). Then my host mom and host sister came to pick me up and they brought me to their adorable French home and had some tea and later my host dad arrived and we had dinner. And luckily, my host family has WiFi so I have internet access here. I went to sleep at 9:15 and fell asleep really quickly because I was so tired. Did I mention I was tired? Haha. I got up at 4:15 am, and was able to fall asleep after that until, oh you know, like 11:00 am. Haha. The reason I knew the time was because I had to turn on my laptop and look at the time and add 9 hours. I forgot to bring an alarm clock with me.... and I didn't have an adapter, just a converter for plug ins and my batteries, so that was lame, but my host dad figured one out for me just a little bit ago, which was so nice of him!
Today, I had two meetings at IES, which started at 1:30 pm (or 13:30 because they use military time here) so we could have plenty of time to sleep. That's why waking up at 11 was ok. Haha. Anyways, my host dad (Renaud) drove me to IES after Hermine (my host sister) and I had lunch together (which was delicious). My host mom's name is Aude. Then Renaud drove me to IES. The meetings were about information on getting along with our host families and the activities we'll go on throughout the semester, how to get a cell phone, etc. My host mom met me at IES and walked with me to their home (it's about a 10 minute walk). Then she did some paperwork and made some phone calls (she said she is like a secretary for her family, haha) and I looked up words in my dictionary and read over some papers from IES meetings. Then we had dinner, which was wonderful! And today is the Fete des Rois, which is the Epiphanie and celebrates the three kings and such. Anways, there is a pastry that is traditional to eat and there is a little figurine of some sort in the pastry and the person who has the slice with the figurine is "king" for the day. Renaud insisted that Aude give me a specific slice, so I got the figurine (which is a little glass figure that is painted and it's of Le theatre de Nantes, and I got to wear a sweet crown! Haha. Then my host dad solved my adapter problems so now I am charging my laptop in my room, which is quite spatious! So, I feel like there are so many details to share, but I am getting carried away here. This weekend I will go with the IES staff and students to Tours to visit the castles! We leave Friday afternoon and come back Sunday! I am so excited! Also, random thing, there are a lot of UP students from my French class last semester here in Nantes, so that has been really nice. Speaking French all of the time is so crazy, at time frustrating because I don't know a certain word or I can't explain something, or I get tripped up on saying something. But I didn't realize that I am actually not that bad at speaking! Aude and Hermine told me that I speak French pretty well! And dress like a French person! Double score!
So, to sum up, I could go on and on and on with the details, but I have learned a lot so far and have TONS more to learn (like public transportation, getting a cell phone, a bus pass, etc) but it's been good so far and can't wait to go to Tours this weekend!!! I miss you all! I will update again, sometime soon after this weekend I hope. :)
Au revoir!