Bonjour, folks!

Hello from France! Right now I am on my homestay, and it is pretty interesting. I am staying with a family of three (though we haven't met their daughter yet) and with two other people from my delegation, one of whom speaks French and is therefore helping with the language barrier.
It feels very strange to be in someone else's home here, but I'm sure it will turn out to be a great experience. Of course, they will never replace my real family, but at least they are nice and have computers!

I have experienced a ton of stuff so far and couldn't possibly tell you everything in one post, but I will try to hit some of the highlights.
One of my favorite places so far was the Vatican in Italy. It was so beautiful! I can't even imagine creating that kind of amazing art. We were also able to visit the Sistine Chapel about fifteen minutes after Obama left, which was equally mind-blowing. Unfortunately, we couldn't take pictures there.
Another experience that I truly loved was our Full-On day, when we propelled down the castle wall. It was scary at first, but after the initial nervousness it was so much fun and the view was amazing up there! Afterwards we broke some boards with our hands (or feet, but I used my hand) and learned some things about keeping positive and how to get the most out of life.

Both Italy and France are very different from the US. For one thing, everything seems smaller. I haven't seen any automatic toilets and very few automatic sinks too, and sometimes you even have to pay to use the bathroom, especially here in France! There seem to be less road rules as well...European drivers are crazy! There are a lot more mopeds and bikes here too, and the driving age is only fourteen I think. I really want a moped, they are so adorable!
The keyboard is also different as I am discovering now. The a, z, q, w, and m are in different places and you have to shift to use numbers and some punctuation like periods.
It is also EXTREMELY hot here, as I think everyone in our delegation has noticed. I can't believe that the European people are still wearing pants!

Anyways, I suppose I should be going now. I think we are going to go shopping and to the beach. Hopefully I will be able to update this later on. I'm still very excited for Paris but I am really missing home too. See you guys later, au revoir!