Joyeux Noel et Bonne Année mes amis ! I hope I haven’t kept you all waiting too long for an update on things here in France ! I’m just going to jump right into things.
School is going fantastically well, and I am so surprised at how fast the first semester seems to have gone by. The classes themselves are going fine, and I am still progressing so much. It’s hard for me to figure out how much I’ve progressed, but I can just tell that listening is so much easier than before, and I speak with a lot more ease too. The teachers here are so great, and you can tell they genuinely care about the students. Whenever I see them, they will stop and have ten-minute conversations and are always curious about how we are doing. Last week, I participated in the soirée internationale a tour school, where foreign students do some kind of performance to display their culture a little. I decided to sing, and it was a really fun experience. I sang ‘Reflection’ from Mulan, and it was really fun. Some kids even sang along, and I met a lot of really nice people after performing who had only the nicest things to say. On the last day before break, we had a little lunch party with my class and everyone brought in something to share with the class. There was so much food, but it was a really great time with all of my friends before the break.
I celebrated Thanksgiving by having dinner with my friends Brandy and Marie. They came over to my house and we made potatoes, chicken, salad, and cookies. Not exactly a traditional Thanksgiving, but it was a really special meal. After dinner, we all decided to go out, and we met my friends Viviana, Lutpulla, and Kai at a bar to have a drink and just relax on our wonderful American holiday.
I went to the home of the Bouget family for the weekend before my birthday, and what a weekend it was. It started out wonderfully with Timon, the 5 year old, running to me and jumping into my arms all the while shouting ‘Lauren!’ On the Saturday, I went to Timon’s soccer practice and Laurane’s gymnastics practice, and then later on we went to a farm that is close by and I learned how to milk cows! It was amazing, and when I did it, my first instinct was to say ‘Oh my gosh!’ And of course everyone laughed. For dinner that night we had a raclette, which consists of cheese that you melt and then eat with meat and/or potatoes. After the kids went to bed, the parents, their friend Vincent, and I played wii bowling, and that was fun! Sunday morning, we made chocolate chip cookies, and that was such a great thing to do with the kids. For lunch we had oysters, escargots, and frog legs, all of which were pretty good. After this we went to the kid’s Christmas spectacular at their school, and it was so funny! It started with a show for the kids by a magician who ended up going on a voyage to the USA (because the children are learning about the American culture this year). After that all of the kids got up and sang Christmas songs they have been practicing. I left that weekend just feeling so incredibly blessed and filled with great joy.
My birthday was December 14, and I had such a lovely day. My friends gave me cards and gifts, all of which were really special and meant a lot to me. I got to take a translation test on my birthday, but I am feeling pretty good about my performance on it. That night I came home, and Béatrice and Yilan made dinner and a cake for me. There were even twenty candles on the cake! Everything about that day was so unexpected and so so magnificent. My first birthday that I spent without the people back home was a birthday that I will never forget, and I don’t want to ever forget either.
I went on a couple little excursions in the past month. I went to Paris for a day with my friend Lutpulla in the beginning of December, and that was a really fun day. We had to give one of his friends something, so we were only in Paris for perhaps six hours, but we trekked around an area called Chatelêt, and then made out way on the metro to Notre Dame. By the time we got there, it was dark, but it was incredible! The lighting was very soft and the cathedral had such a pristine appearance, and in front of it was a giant Christmas tree decorated with blue Christmas lights. Then that weekend, I went with a group of about 35 students from my school to Lyon for the fête des lumières. While in Lyon, we went to the marchés de Noel (Christmas markets), a couple interesting parks, a gallo-roman theater, and of course the festival of lights. It was a ton of fun, and I met some really awesome people on the trip. Also, I have a friend who lives in Lyon who I’d like to visit, so hopefully in the next month or two I’ll venture back down there.
A few nights ago, I went to Isabelle’s for a soirée that she was holding for her boyfriend who has been working abroad for a year and is now back in France. There were nine of us there, and it was so insanely fun. The night started with us just talking, and a couple French girls from the chorale I am in talked to me and were asking me a lot of questions about France and the States. We then ate dinner, which was a raclette (as I explained earlier), and it was a great time to socialize and try and absorb as much French as possible. After the raclette, we had ice cream, and then played a game where you had to do gestures with your hands that matched the cards as fast as you could. It was so much fun, and we were laughing so much. There were even a couple French boys there too who were quite amusing…haha. Overall, it was a good night, and I am so glad I went to the soirée.
And onto the inevitable topic of boys, I regret to inform all of you at home that I have not been swept off my feet by some charming and romantic French boy. The boys here are handsome and impeccably dressed, but that isn’t everything. Not that I’m mocking them by any means, but I think boys here are a little more forward and perhaps have a little more confidence in their flirtatiousness. And I am not about to compromise my standards and ideals for a romance in this love-crazed country.
December was a little hard for me for about a week. I realized that this is the first time in my life that I have spent my birthday and the holidays away from my family and friends, and I fell into this depressive funk that I couldn’t shake. Eventually I ended up talking to my mom about it, and then proceeded to cry to her on Skype. Since then, I have felt insanely better, and the fact that my birthday was so wonderful is a reassurance that Christmas will be just as wonderful! God has blessed me in so many ways, and all I can do is smile at how amazing He is.
Yesterday and today were really difficult emotionally though, for I said my farewells to some amazing friends that I have made here in France. My friends Marie, Brandy, Elizabeth, and Viviana are the ones that truly influenced my time here in Angers, and I can’t begin to imagine how things will be without them here. I tried my absolute hardest to refrain from crying, but it was inevitable. However, I know that I will see these wonderful girls again, and that there are new friendships to be made and more fun to be had.
As I am writing now, I am on the train headed to la petite ville de Caussade with my host mom, Béatrice. We are going for ten days to stay with her daughter and son-in-law and their baby boy. I am so excited to pass Christmas with them, and it is going to be great to see and experience a new part of France.
Songs I like right now: Sweet Disposition by The Temper Trap, Vivre à en Crever from Mozart Opéra Rock, and Blessed by Elton John.
To continue with my journey through the Psalms, here are a few verses that I really liked.
--Psalm 40:5 “Many, O Lord my God, are the wonders you have done. The things you planned for us no one can recount to you; were I to speak and tell of them, they would be too many to declare.”
--Psalm 52:8-9 “But I am like an olive tree flourishing in the house of God; I trust in God’s unfailing love for ever and ever. I will praise you forever for what you have done; in your name I will hope, for your name is good. “
--Psalm 63:7-8 “Because you are my help, I sing in the shadow of your wings. My soul clings to you; your right hand upholds me.
