Jeepers it's June ALREADY?!

Well May is gone now.  That month sure didn't last very long...

The last you heard from me was regarding last Wednesday, the last time I saw Gabi before she went home to the States on Saturday (fyi: she's loving being home, she went to her high school prom this weekend.  Kinda cool).  I also left of with an oh-so-mysterious (or not) hint as to what I would be doing in the meantime before this post: Cannes Film Festival and Vintage Fests in Brussels.  It happened people! Here we go:

So Friday was Louise's 18th birthday party celebration at her house (my second host house) in Wasquehal.  It was a joint party with Phillipine (from Ile de Ré!) that started out as a surprise party planned by the mothers and turned into one the girls ended up planning so they could be in on all the fun little planning details and guest lists and whatnot.  What was the theme you ask? That's right you guessed it: Festival de Cannes.  Aka "let's get chic freaks." (...I'll be honest I only used the word freak in that sentence because it rhymed...) ANYWAY, the general rule was that people had to get themselves all fancied up for the party, and I mean really fancy.  We're talking more-than-the-typical-level-of-french-party-fanciness, which is indeed already rather fancy.  I'm not sure if I've used the word fancy enough times yet in this blog post.  So the Friday I magically only had a half day of school, after which I bussed it over to my old house in Wasquehal, dragging my 2 bags full of soirée and overnight requirements as well as a camera bag, to have lunch with Valentine, Edouard, Louise and Suzanne, then to help prep for the party.  We were lucky because the sun was shining despite rain all week, and since the party was to be held in the yard it was perfect.  The house had been completely transformed I barely recognized it.  No more cozy couches and trademark Derville knicknacks... almost everything had been cleared out creating an empty kind of party room, and the wooden floors had been covered in a kind of felt carpet/mat for protection.  I guess when you invite 80 people to your house for a party you give 100% in preparation and operation "Keep House Intact."  A white sort of tent had been set out above the stone terrace in the yard, and there was even a red carpet!! A mini one in the yard, with a longer one at the front door that people posed at when they first arrived before making their way through the house and out back.  With Philou, her mum, Juliette, Louise, Valentine and I we spent the the rest of the afternoon working on food prep and putting the final finishing touches on the party setup.  I became master in chief of napkin roses (see photo below).

afternoon setting up! 

driveway deco

driveway deco part 2

We were able to relax for about an hour or so before the time came to start getting all fancied (hehe) up for the party.  This always seems to happen, but we were barely finished applying the finishing touches to our Cannes outfits when people started arriving.  I couldn't even stay hidden in Louise's room to finish getting myself ready because I was the designated event photographer.  Safe to say things were a tad bit stressful as we ran around trying to make things perfect for the first arrivals, but soon everyone loosened up and more and more guests arrived.  Frankly, the party was a raging success. And damn people looked good.

Juliette sprained her ankle playing tennis and was honorary fancy cripple of the night 

Birthday girls!

Val&Lou

French people though......

Evening view of the patio as the sun starts to set and the party begins 

PACO!! Paco has a lot of friends in Louise's circle of friends and has joined us for a few soirees by now.  This kid is awesome, favourite Argentinian.

<3 

My 2nd set of host parents and lou :)

Philou and her parents 

Sososososo much fun.  I have to pinch myself during every experience in this French dreamworld!

The Saturday was a Rotary event organized for the French kids leaving on exchange next year.  Got a seriously weird case of déja vu as I acted as advice-giver and mentor to kids whose position I was in exactly one year ago.  It was pretty cool.  I have a good feeling about the two girls who are Canada bound, I think they should settle in pretty well, but then again exchange is the most unpredictable thing in the world so who knows what will happen.

Sunday I went to Brussels with Alix! In my DELF preparation, like I mentioned I read a lot of newspaper, and actually picked up on lots of cool events in the area, like Retrorama for example!! Otherwise known as one big vintage festival held in Brussels over the weekend.  It was the EPITOME of vintage and anyone who likes vintage/thrift shopping combined with flea markets (me.me.me.me.me) would have died and gone to heaven had they gone to it.  

my host sisters are always SUPER pretty

Brussels metro 

woooooh landmarks wooh

dead. salivating. omg.

The day was a blast but man we were EXHAUSTED by the time we got home.  A successful weekend it was!

Allison went back to Nova Scotia Monday which is crazy because our exchanges started together, so it's insane imagining her already home, probably already drinking her Tim Horton's coffee (the lucky duck).  School has been more or less relaxed this week considering it's our last full week, with only 2 hours on Tuesday of next week to share in a petit-déj with the class and give a good farewell.  I don't actually mind school all that much when people aren't giving me a hard time for not working as hard as the next French person ha.  Tomorrow is my LAST FULL OFFICIAL DAY OF FRENCH LYCEE! CUE THE HAPPY DANCE OF THE CENTURY YES YES YES YES YES YES.  Warning, the following sentence contains brutal honesty: I really really really really strongly dislike Lycee.  I am SO happy to be finished.  On the contrary my lycee friends will be seriously missed, and although we do have a few things planned together after school ends and before I leave, it's not going to be the same as causing all sort of shenanigans around the halls of school together and seeing eachother each and every day.  But that's a topic too sad to be talked about for the moment!

Yesterday (Wednesday) was another blast of a day in Lille.  Same old shenanigans.  Kheeran showed up a little later into the afternoon with this random guy, who ended up being SUPER cool! They randomly started talking on the train when they both realized they spoke English better than French.  Turns out this guy (whose name I never got... so shameful...) is from Bolivia, but has been living in DUBLIN (CONNECTION) for the past 6 years.  He had the coolest accent.  He's 21 and as of 3 days ago is doing a solo one month tour of France, surviving on cashews and bottled water (he told us he did his research and this is actually sustainable enough to survive on... however I'm skeptical), and sleeping on trains at nighttime as opposed to paying for lodging.  I admire him for the total YOLO (excuse embarrassing expression) that this trip entails, but at the same time could never imagine being in a similar position.  He told us that 3 days in things were going pretty well, despite having been almost-mugged his first night in Nice.  He said the reason for the trip was his search for writing inspiration, and well I hope that after one almost-mugging and an afternoon with 20 teenage foreigners he may have some wild enough ideas to get his pen scribbling on some paper. Or should I say his fingers tapping away at a keyboard because what writer has the patience to actually stick it with the stylo these days.  

Exchange students and Mr. YOLO Bolivirishman striking a cool pose down in the front.

OH yeah, and today I gave my final ever presentation in my History class for that teacher with which I got along so well... thank god THAT'S over.  My friends made us take a photo together -_- I'll be posting it soon.

That's all for now, I better get going before life get's one step ahead of me again.  Cheerio! Keep smiling! Life is awesome! When in doubt channel spontaneity and adventure like Mr. YOLO Bolivirishman!

Pce&Luv

Siobhan xx