The last couple of weeks have been pretty busy....but I think this is probably the case for everyone in the world. Who ever came up with the idea of final exams and research papers? Probably the same group that thought acrobats should have to "stick" the landing at the end of a gymnastics routine! Why make it so difficult? Oh well, c'est comme ça! Anyway, after finals are over then it's Christmas which equals seester time.
Well, things are going much better here in Tours. I think I'm through the rough patch thanks to your prayers and emails. After all the drama here, I will be moving out of my apartment after Christmas and back into my host parents house from the last time I was here! I couldn't be happier really. To live with a family(not just any family but the best of the best) and just be in a calm, warm environment,where I'll be able to sleep and study.... not to mention the soup that Sylvie makes!!!! Ah, what a blessing. The last few weeks were quite busy tring to figure out the ligistics of it all with my university, but it all came together and....yep!
Oh, and last week I bought some new boots! That's fun right? They're leather so I just finished giving them a second coat of waterproofing spray and will probably where them tomorrow to break them in!
I hope you all had a wonderful thanksgiving. Talk to you soon....probably after finals:)
Monday, November 29, 2010
Saturday, November 13, 2010
Rollercosters are fun...for a couple of minutes.
I'm not even sure what to write today...but something. We'll just start with last weekend and just see where we end up. Okay? Saturday morning, I woke up early and meet mom and dad at the train station! Not a bad start, right? I was so glad to see them and tried so hard not to cry...I didn't make it very long. The weather in Tours was on the chilly and rainy side, but I didn't mind. I was just so glad the strikes didn't cause mom and dad to be stuck elsewhere. During their two days in Tours, we went to the markets, took a tour of town, rode a train to a chateau, went to chuch together, and of course had some delicious food! Sadly, I was more than emotional the entire time they were here. Things haven't been a piece of cake lately and they just happened to see all the pent up tears. Sorry. Seeing them go wasn't easy either Monday morning...I so felt like buying a ticket home. BUT I know things have to get better and I LOVE France, so I stayed....obviously. Ha
The next day, I pulled myself together and told myself I was just going to work as hard as possible to make things better here. Well, that worked well until my best friend here, Jenna, told me she was going home on Thursday. Shock...! I knew she was considering leaving the program at the end of the semester, but I had no idea it would be that very week. Well, such is life and I know she had her reasons for leaving. Best of luck Jenna.
I just have to say...through every little trail, God is really showing me how much He cares. I've never felt alone here, probably because I'm not! His Word and Spirit guide and comfort me even when I'm being tested. And the Church...I couldn't be more grateful for the bond we share in Christ. In fact, Wednesday night our Bible study group got together and just laughed and had the best conversations about being joyful. Then Thurdsday, I got to "tutor" one of the undergrads who goes to my church. Did I mention I'm tutoring this year? Well, I am! Anyway, she's such a great girl and we really just went out and got hot chocolate in a nearby cafe and practed our French together. And Friday, I had a double dose of fun with friends from church. First, after my test in the morning at school, Kate (a really sweet English girl) and I went out for coffee. Acutally, she had tea...go figure:) We speak in French together most of the time, but near the end of our time together we spoke in English a bit. Her accent is FANTASTIC! And she was teaching me some of their cute little British idioms...so funny.
Since I was freezing after being out all day (and i kind of left my coat chez moi!) I hopped in the bus and got home, took a quick shower, turned around twice and headed out again! This time I was headed over to Nelly's house to hang out with some of the "young adults" from my church. It's weird not saying teens anymore. She met me at the bus stop that's not far from her house and then we walked to her place. In the end, I think I was there til about 2 in the morning just chatting, eating pizza, singing, and having a movie night complete with popcorn!!!! What a relaxing time.
So as you can see, this week has been a rollercoster and I think I'm starting to get a little woosie. Maybe it's time to hop off for a while and try another ride that's a little less crazy...maybe the carousel? All I know is that in 5 weeks, my seester will be here!!!! Better get my homework done...have a great weekend everybody!
The next day, I pulled myself together and told myself I was just going to work as hard as possible to make things better here. Well, that worked well until my best friend here, Jenna, told me she was going home on Thursday. Shock...! I knew she was considering leaving the program at the end of the semester, but I had no idea it would be that very week. Well, such is life and I know she had her reasons for leaving. Best of luck Jenna.
I just have to say...through every little trail, God is really showing me how much He cares. I've never felt alone here, probably because I'm not! His Word and Spirit guide and comfort me even when I'm being tested. And the Church...I couldn't be more grateful for the bond we share in Christ. In fact, Wednesday night our Bible study group got together and just laughed and had the best conversations about being joyful. Then Thurdsday, I got to "tutor" one of the undergrads who goes to my church. Did I mention I'm tutoring this year? Well, I am! Anyway, she's such a great girl and we really just went out and got hot chocolate in a nearby cafe and practed our French together. And Friday, I had a double dose of fun with friends from church. First, after my test in the morning at school, Kate (a really sweet English girl) and I went out for coffee. Acutally, she had tea...go figure:) We speak in French together most of the time, but near the end of our time together we spoke in English a bit. Her accent is FANTASTIC! And she was teaching me some of their cute little British idioms...so funny.
Since I was freezing after being out all day (and i kind of left my coat chez moi!) I hopped in the bus and got home, took a quick shower, turned around twice and headed out again! This time I was headed over to Nelly's house to hang out with some of the "young adults" from my church. It's weird not saying teens anymore. She met me at the bus stop that's not far from her house and then we walked to her place. In the end, I think I was there til about 2 in the morning just chatting, eating pizza, singing, and having a movie night complete with popcorn!!!! What a relaxing time.
So as you can see, this week has been a rollercoster and I think I'm starting to get a little woosie. Maybe it's time to hop off for a while and try another ride that's a little less crazy...maybe the carousel? All I know is that in 5 weeks, my seester will be here!!!! Better get my homework done...have a great weekend everybody!
Thursday, November 4, 2010
Mountain Madness
Last week was fall break...oh how I miss you already. As most of you probably know, France decided to go on strike pretty much every day, so that was a story in itself. Jenna and I left early in the morning on Wednesday with the intentions of going to the Alps for a few days. We knew when we climbed into the taxi that we might be coming right back home, but we wanted to give it a go anyway. Our trains were mostly functioning that first day so that was a relief. Eventually, we made it to our destination...Chamonix.
It was completely dark at this point, but we knew there had to be some amazing mountains all around us, so we were anxious to wake up in the morning and see where we were. That night, we found our gite which was the coolest little bunk house for hikers...one night we even got to share our room with a French couple that was vacationing/hiking in the mountains..ha! We got settled in our little room and put our sleeping bags out on our bunks, and went out and just kind of wandered around the cute little town. Most everything was closed at this point, but it was still enjoyable to window shop.
The next morning we woke up to the most beautiful picture outside our window...snow capped mountains! We hurried around and ran outside to see what we had missed the night before. Incredible. There were mountains completely surrounding us...north, south, east, and west....not that I knew which way I was facing!
The weather was perfect...at least after the sun came up over Mont Blanc! We spent our time in Chamonix just relaxing, eating wonderful pastries, taking pictures, eating pastries, and of course going up the mountain. Jenna and I ventured out on Friday morning on two different tours. First, we went up the side of a mountain in a train (that lost power on the way up....scary right?) to see a glacier. So cool.
Later that day we put our fears aside and took a cable car to the second highest peak in the alps to get a better view of Mont Blanc (right next to it.) The scariest momoent of my life no doubt...but i'll never forget it! The cable car was packed with tourists and took a total of 30 minutes to get to the top...including switching in the middle. To really understand the thrill, you just need to take the ride yourself. I can't really explain why my heart felt like it was going to pop....other than the fact that I was in a tiny car hanging by a cable that could fall to it's doom at any moment! Ha.
We survived, obviously, and that was for sure the highlight of our trip....at least for me. Jenna is super afraid of heights so I can't speak for her! Ha. Well, once back on the ground we had to go to the train station once again to make sure that our trains were running for the next day...nope. Of course not. So, the lady told us we would just have to come to the station and ask the controllers if there was any extra space the next day. Yeah right?!
We came back the next morning and asked a different woman, and she printed us new tickets to get where we needed to go with. The strikes endend up in our favor because we got to take a double decker TGV instead of a normal slow train across the country(we didn't even have to pay any extra)! We did, however, have to take a two hour bus ride through the mountains to get to the departure point! That was trilling to say the least.
All that, and we made it to Paris....got a quick view of Notre Dame while running to switch train stations, and then we made it home. Couldn't have been a better day or trip.
It was completely dark at this point, but we knew there had to be some amazing mountains all around us, so we were anxious to wake up in the morning and see where we were. That night, we found our gite which was the coolest little bunk house for hikers...one night we even got to share our room with a French couple that was vacationing/hiking in the mountains..ha! We got settled in our little room and put our sleeping bags out on our bunks, and went out and just kind of wandered around the cute little town. Most everything was closed at this point, but it was still enjoyable to window shop.
The next morning we woke up to the most beautiful picture outside our window...snow capped mountains! We hurried around and ran outside to see what we had missed the night before. Incredible. There were mountains completely surrounding us...north, south, east, and west....not that I knew which way I was facing!
The weather was perfect...at least after the sun came up over Mont Blanc! We spent our time in Chamonix just relaxing, eating wonderful pastries, taking pictures, eating pastries, and of course going up the mountain. Jenna and I ventured out on Friday morning on two different tours. First, we went up the side of a mountain in a train (that lost power on the way up....scary right?) to see a glacier. So cool.
Later that day we put our fears aside and took a cable car to the second highest peak in the alps to get a better view of Mont Blanc (right next to it.) The scariest momoent of my life no doubt...but i'll never forget it! The cable car was packed with tourists and took a total of 30 minutes to get to the top...including switching in the middle. To really understand the thrill, you just need to take the ride yourself. I can't really explain why my heart felt like it was going to pop....other than the fact that I was in a tiny car hanging by a cable that could fall to it's doom at any moment! Ha.
We survived, obviously, and that was for sure the highlight of our trip....at least for me. Jenna is super afraid of heights so I can't speak for her! Ha. Well, once back on the ground we had to go to the train station once again to make sure that our trains were running for the next day...nope. Of course not. So, the lady told us we would just have to come to the station and ask the controllers if there was any extra space the next day. Yeah right?!
We came back the next morning and asked a different woman, and she printed us new tickets to get where we needed to go with. The strikes endend up in our favor because we got to take a double decker TGV instead of a normal slow train across the country(we didn't even have to pay any extra)! We did, however, have to take a two hour bus ride through the mountains to get to the departure point! That was trilling to say the least.
All that, and we made it to Paris....got a quick view of Notre Dame while running to switch train stations, and then we made it home. Couldn't have been a better day or trip.
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