My name is Elodie Buguel, I am the Rotary Student Exchange hosted by the Rotary club of St John's North west this year. I come from France, from one of the biggest city : Lille (in the north, it is really close from Vimy ridge and Beaumont-Hamel!!)

I am sponsored by the Rotary club of Lesquin, district 1520.

I've been here for quite a while now, and I must say what I've done so far is just unforgettable. I guess, I'm now realizing what being a student exchange means and how great it is... probably because, I am realizing that I've got only few months left... my year is almost over... too bad... everything went so fast.

So, I'll try, here, to explain what my life in Newfoundland looks like.

MY FIRST WEEKS IN CANADA :

I leaved France on the 17th of August.

And, as I arrived at the airport of Toronto, I was really excited...Then, I more or less understood that I had to wait few hours in Toronto because... because of what? I let you guess... the weather of course... so just few minutes after having my first steps in Canada, I already had to get used to the famous Newfoundland weather... at least, I had time to walk around Toronto's airport and I must say : now, I know it really well...

I arrived late in St John's... and I was welcomed by Jane Simmons, and the fog...

The day after, I slept... and met Jane's family... we went to her cabin and for the first time of my life, I saw wales... I was a bit scared... even if we were in the car, really far from them...

The next few days, I discovered St John's and its area : downtown, Signal Hill (by the time we went there, it was the end of the day so I had the chance to have a view of St John's from Cabot Tower by the day light, and five minutes later by night... it was beautiful.), I saw a moos for the first time at the national Park, and I went to my first lunch time meeting of the Rotary club of St John's north west, tried to learn "O Canada" and the last verse of "The Ode to Newfoundland" (however, it took me a while to finally know them... right now, the Ode to Newfoundland is almost good)

I spent the last week end of August (I believe), in Windsor, Nova Scotia where all the students exchange of the district 7820 had an orientation week end. We went to Halifax, Peggy's Cove... That was a lot of fun. Meeting all those new friend from all around the round was great. The weather, once again, was surprising : I was getting use to the rain and the fog of Newfoundland but the weather in Nova Scotia was complete different : we had three days of sun, it was so hot that we were able to swim in a pond... but I still liked Newfoundland... When I came back, this time I was welcomed by my first host mother, Kim and we went to my new home!

I am really lucky because I got the chance to meet my first host family, Dave & Kim, Daniel, Liam and Kelly Robbins, in France while they were in vacations there... my parents (especially my mum) were really happy. I am probably the only student exchange who had this chance. So on monday, I saw everybody again (and met Ginger and Marmelade) and we walked a bit in the neighbourhood. Tueday, after th Rotary meeting, Jane and I went to my school (Holy Heart) for a meeting with the principal, Mr Cooper, in order to pick my courses. And finally, on Wednesday, school started.