End of the first session

Hello all,

I know it's been awhile since I last posted - sorry. I could say that it was because I didn't have the time, but that wouldn't be completely true. It's more true that I did not take the time. So now I've got a bit to catch you all up on :)

Let's see... my last post I believe I talked about getting a chance to see New Gospel Family live, in concert. It was great fun. The day before I had a cumulative exam which was a bit stressful, but at the same time it's really just for me, so... And that same evening I spent a rather enjoyable time with Nicole. We ate dinner, watched TV together, etc. The next day (Saturday), Mimi picked me up at about 10 o'clock am. We went back to her place for a couple of hours and just relaxed and enjoyed each other's company. Then, at 2:30 we left for l'Olympia, the concert hall. Before the concert we helped get the food ready for all the singers, musicians, etc. That was interesting - in that there was lots of commotion in French so it seemed even more intense to me for that reason. Whahhhh! But it was kind of fun all the same. Then, Mimi and I went up to see the concert. We were in the second section back (where the seats were just beginning to rise) right in the middle, so that was pretty cool. It was very fun :)  Afterwards, Mimi took Nicole and I back to Nicole's house. The next day I went to church with Nicole and spent a very relaxing day at her house.

That next week was a bit different. We only had classes on Monday and Tuesday - then break started!!! Wednesday I spent the day at Nicole's. We went to market, ate lunch, had coffee, read, had tea, I took a shower and packed up some of my things, read some more, ate dinner, watched TV and went to bed. Thursday, I went shopping with 4 other women at a mall (not in Paris, persay, but still). That was really nice - just spending the day doing fun things. We ate lunch at the mall as well, which was fun. We all ended up ordering the same thing - a burger. But, it came not on a bun, rather, it was sandwiched between two hash brown patties. Yum!! And we had salad too. After, we got desert - an espresso, a small crème brûlée, and some chocolate cake (which was more like hot chocolate fudge). Double Yum!!

That evening I had raclette with Nicole and helped her with some computer stuff. Friday morning, I finished packing and cleaned downstairs. At about 11 am, Mimi picked me up and we took my stuff to the school (oh, by the way...I moved onto campus for the second session). Then we went out to lunch and I went to her place for the rest of the day. :)

When I got back later, I started to unpack my stuff, then went to bed. Saturday I finished unpacking my things and just relaxed and chilled in my room and with Anna and Annina. We ate dinner together and then watched the second half of the BBC Pride and Prejudice movie. Sunday, we all went to the service at the school, then ate lunch together. They moved to the Wheatons for the week (the Wheatons are a family who study here, but live in an apartment near the school. They are gone over break and offered the apartment to Anna and Annina), and I stayed here. I read, watched some TV shows on my computer (I surprisingly have decent WiFi in my room). Today, well, I slept in till 1. That's a first in I don't know how long. I think I needed it though... The rest of the day consisted of reading, doing laundry, making dinner, etc. Again, a relaxing day. The rest of this week, I don't have much planned, but I would like to go into Paris at some point, and I have some homework that I need to do :p  Oh, well...

Well, I hope I don't leave you all hanging quite as long till next time ;)

My new room

 When you open the door and look directly to your right -- I have a sink :) And wardrobe.

 Past my sink and wardrobe - to the left

Behind the sink area and wardrobe - a bookshelf and my bed.

Thanks to Mimi for some nice things to make my room much more homey :)

Before my post, here are some long-overdue pictures from my day at the Louvre. Just my favorites.

 Not the best picture, but this is of two of the Wheaton kids and Annina

Week 6 (?) I think...

Whew… a bit tired here today. I’m actually writing this ahead of time so that I can hopefully post this tomorrow… (Sunday). It’s been a good week, but long as well. Um, can’t quite remember what I wrote last, so I’m going to start with the previous weekend. The conference/meeting for Les Semailles (which, now the name has changed but I can’t remember the exact phrase, so I’ll update you all on that later) was a really good experience. I heard lots and lots of French that weekend and even though it was difficult to understand at times, I feel like it really helped my learning – perhaps more subconsciously than consciously but, ça marche (it works). Saturday evening we went out for dinner with people from Les Semailles (Edgard too) and that was quite an experience. A fun experience. We had in-restaurant entertainment with singing, a four course meal (entrée, plat principal, fromage, et dessert) and I ate way too much (not doing that again). Sunday we had meetings again, and I got to Nicole’s around 5ish. Mimi came in and we had tea with her, which was really nice. We also told her that I will be moving onto campus for the second session and she said that was fine, but that I could continue to live with her if I wanted to. That was nice to hear. I still want to live on campus because it allows more freedom in interacting with the other students, but I really want to try to visit her when I can… especially while I’m at the school because I know it will be easy then, after I don’t know where I’ll be, so…we shall see. 

The week went well – pretty normal: school, homework, helping with dinner, sleeping and repeat. Wednesday I went around Verrieres with Nicole to put up some posters for the New Gospel Family concert that is happening on the 19^th (and I get to go!!). I have a link to a music video they made in an earlier post – sorry, can’t remember which one. Edgard runs New Gospel Family, so it will be fun to actually see a concert in person after all these years :)

This weekend, I am staying with the Wheatons again. It’s been nice to just relax here after school and not have to worry about taking the bus to get home… it’s amazing what a difference that can make in energy levels and time. Saturday we went into Paris and visited the Louvre – Anna and Annina came as well (two other students). It was lots of fun to be able to go in with other people and just enjoy Paris. Afterwards, I came back to the Wheatons for the evening (they had been invited to dinner with another family) and it is nice to have some time to myself. I called home, took a shower, took a nap, ate dinner, wrote this blog in preparation for tomorrow… yeah. One thing that is not so good is that I have a pretty nasty headache right now. Hoping that I’m not getting sick because there has been this nasty headache/vertigo thing going around the school – have not had vertigo yet, let’s pray it stays that way. That’s part of the reason I took a nap and right afterwards I felt great, but within about 5 minutes the headache was full force again, so I would just ask for prayer that it doesn’t last for days (as it has for others) and that I continue to have good health. There are two colds also going around the school, so I really hope that I don’t get them when I move in or before (again, prayers would be appreciated). Being sick is not something I really want to experience right now.

I do have some pictures from Saturday, but as I’ll just be getting on really quickly to post this, I’ll have to post those another time – not really any of people, just art… 

Anyways, hope everything is going well for you all  :)

Blessings!

P.S. So, my headache abated very soon after typing up this post and has not returned yet today! Yeah :) Hope it continues as such.

Soiree chocolat et mes bottes...

Bonjour everyone, c'est moi encore.

So, this week has been a really good week. Sunday, after church I was walking around Mimi's apartment and I thought "I'm in France, I'm really in France!" This is the first time it's really just hit me out of the blue, so I'm hoping that it's a sign that I'm starting to settle in...  In general, I think I am feeling less stressed and able to enjoy the things around me. I also made the decision to live on campus for the second session, which will be more expensive, but I think it will be good for me. Living with Nicole has been a really good experience and I think it was the best thing to jump start my French skills, but it will be nice to be able to participate in more activities with other students, especially the spontaneous things. And, it will be nice not to have to commute everyday - it's not bad, but it does get a bit tiring and makes the days seem longer.

Tuesday evening we had a soiree chocolat at the school and it was great fun. Because of how things went the last time I stayed for an event in the evening, I asked the Wheatons (a family going to the school who live in an apartment close to the school) if it would be okay for me to spend the night at their place. It was and I had a great time with their family. The soiree chocolat was filled with chocolate, fruit, chocolate, games, oh, and chocolate. (some pictures below)

Wednesday I stayed with the Wheatons most of the day. We went shopping for fun and for food (I bought some boots, which will also be good in the rain - pictures below). Thursday I cooked dinner for Nicole and I think she liked it... she took seconds, so maybe... ;)

Today felt like a long day, not because it was bad but I am just really tired today... At Mimi's right now and tomorrow and Sunday she and I will be going to meetings/conferences for les Semailles. So, I'll get to meet all those people and get a feel for some of what I'll be doing for them. I think it will be a really good experience, but also very tiring... so I don't think that I'll be getting on to post anything more this weekend.

Till next week...

First, some pictures of the beautiful flowers at Les Cedres

Soiree Chocolat

 One activity involved having 3 volunteers taste special chocolate and try to figure out what was in it - one of the volunteers

 Bananas, clementines, apples, mini cake bite things and a big bowl of chocolate.

My Boots

Parce de Sceaux

Just a picture from my walk with Mimi yesterday!

Halfway through the first session of school...

Well, hello again. Going to be a short post this week. Sorry, kind of let time get away from me. But I have pictures!

So, this week has been a good one for the most part. I finally got all the official stuff with the Immigration Office done, after 3 visits... At least everytime I had to go back it got easier and less stressful.

Wednesday morning some of the female students at the school had a tea party - that was really nice and gave us a chance to talk and connect in a different way. I'm thinking that I would like to move onto campus for the second session because I'll be able to participate in more things if I do that. And, I'll have more access to the internet, so maybe I'll be able to post a bit more often :)

Saturday, after lunch, I came to Mimi's for the night. It's always nice to come here and spend time with her... We just relaxed and talked and stuff like that. Today, we went to church and then to market and after that we went for a nice walk at a park. It's been a pretty good day, I think. Anyways, pictures below and till next week!

First, a couple of pictures of the school

And some of the tea party (sorry, not really of people...)

Learning to let things go...

Well, I just finished my 3rd week of classes and have now been in France for 3 and 1/2 weeks. Whew... This week has been one of many great and many stressful things. Monday was Monday as usual. I went to school, went back to Nicole's, did some homework, ate supper, etc. Tuesday was a bit different. It was both stressful and relaxing.

First off, some background info: Because I am in France for more than three months, I have to register with the immigration office (OFII) and pay a tax - which I can pay in a Bureau du Tabac (which, if you didn't catch, is a tobacco store - among other things). Tuesday after school I went to a Bureau du Tabac and they couldn't process the tax for me. I bit later, I went to another one close to the school and they couldn't process it either. I was a bit stressed out because I didn't know where I was going to be able to pay this tax before my appointment on Thursday. Thankfully, I have a wonderful aunt who figured it out for me on Wednesday. After walking around doing that, I had a very enjoyable evening with other students at a potluck we had at the school. It started at 6:30 and I had intended to leave at 8/8:30 but then we played a game (yes, I actually participated and I had no idea what I was getting into - so no pictures of the game, but I do have some pictures of the food...), then had dessert, and then I had a great conversation with Annina. So, I didn't end up leaving till about 9:15. I then had to wait 20 minutes for the first bus, then another 15 for the second, so it took me about an hour to get back to Nicole's... Yeah, probably not the most prudent thing I've done - traveling at night, by myself, in not well lit areas... But, everything was fine - I was very aware of my surroundings and took any precautions that I could.

For those who are interested, for the game, we sat in two lines, facing each other and were numbered off so that our counterpart was the person across from us. There was a tennis ball in the middle of us, along with 4 batons made out of rolled up newspaper. The 'referee' called out two numbers and those four people ran to the middle and tried to get the ball to hit their wall (each line had a specific direction). It was a lot of fun, and apparently I can be quite aggressive, as can Annina, who was my counterpart. Oh, well. I mean, we may have been aggressive, but we were not mean or at any risk of hurting anyone, we just really got into it :)

Wednesday was an interesting day. I was stressed about my appointment with OFII the next day and I was physically carrying that all day. I went to market with Nicole, made lunch, took a nap (well, tried to but my nerves were so on edge that it was more that I just couldn't seem to do anything other than just lie there), did some homework, baked a cake, ate dinner and watched some French TV with Nicole.

Thursday I went to school like normal, but left before lunch to meet Mimi at La Croix de Berny RER (train) stop. She then took me to the OFII office and helped me figure out how I would get home from there. I was so uptight about this (Mimi definitly picked up on it), but once things got started and the people I interacted with were nice to me, I relaxed quite a bit. I do have to go back this Wednesday because I needed another paper which I didn't realized I would need. So hopefully, after Wednesday, I will be done with all the 'official' stuff I need to do to be here. And, as Mimi reminded me, the worst thing that could happen is I have to go home early, which is not what I want, but really isn't all that bad in the long run.

On my way home, I had a bit of trouble finding the RER station I wanted, but that resulted in a very positive experience in asking for direction completely in French!!! I'm sure my French was not very good, but the person I asked was really nice and made sure I knew where I was going. Yeah!

Friday, after school I went home with a couple (two other students in their fifties) for dinner and ended up spending the night. I had a really good time, but it's nice to be at Mimi's relaxing today (even though Mimi and Edgard are in Barcelona - hope they are having a wonderful time!). Tomorrow afternoon I'll go back to Nicole's and the week will start again... It's been an interesting couple of weeks of classes because I am having to learn how to change my mindset about taking classes. All my life I've just gone to school, done my homework, etc... but it never really felt like it was just for me. There were all these expectations and grades and stresses. Here, I have to keep reminding myself that I'm taking the classes for me. That they can be fun and that grades don't matter, there are no other expectations than what I decide I want out of class. It's rather freeing, when I can get there.

Everyday is a day of new stresses and having to learn to just let them go. I've always been one to worry about appearances and about the others around me, so much so that it can hinder my own ability to just be me. I think this year it is going to challenge this quite a bit. It will be interesting to see how exactly it does that.

Anyways, below are some pictures... Enjoy!

First, some pictures from the Bateau Mouche

The Eiffel Tower

The Eiffel Tower and two of the statues garding the Pont Alexander III Bridge

Le Pont des Arts Bridge. Those are all padlocks put on the bridge by couples as a testimony of their everlasting love. Makes for a very unique look.

The Notre Dame

Here are some pictures from the Potluck!

And lastly, here are some pictures of my dessert Friday night! It was delicious. I don't remember what it was called, but we bought it at a local patisserie. Yes, I will admit that I ate the whole thing (minus a couple of bites that the others took to try it).