January 4, 2002 - May 11, 2002

I arrived in Paris from Madrid on the evening of January 3, 2002. It was like a weight being lifted when I realized that I was in a country where most of the population did not know what it was like to live under a dictatorship. I spent my first evening in France in a youth hostel in Paris. Surprisingly, my roommate who was Polish asked me to speak Spanish since she did not speak English or French well. In the morning, I took a taxi back to the airport where I meet the program director. We waited for the two other spring semester students to arrive. It was difficult since neither of us knew what they looked like. When all of the spring students were together, we got in a van and were driven through many villages to the city of Rouen.

When we arrived at Place Boulingrin in Rouen, we were greeted by Mme. Pigache, who arranged our host families, taught us literature, and oral and written expression. We also met her husband who was the doctor for our group. He was the only one who understood me since I was speaking in a mixture of French and Spanish.

My host mother came to pick me up. I liked her from the moment I first saw her. I walked with her to my host family's home which was just around the corner. My host brother, who lived in Paris, came out of the house to help with my suitcase. I really enjoyed living with my French host family.