For Christmas Break, I went with my host mom to a little French town called Caussade to stay with her daughter and son-in-law. After two hours of delays at various train stations, and a ride from a crazy taxi driver, we finally made it to Caussade. It was such a nice escape from the hustle and bustle of Angers. Caroline and Jean Gabriel (Béa’s daughter and son-in-law) live in the country, and there were rolling hills and farms all around us. Every evening I saw a beautiful sunset, and I could see the stars at night…it was really great. Caroline and Jean Gabriel are patissiers (bakers), and their baked goods are all made with BIO products, which is to say all ingredients that are eco-friendly. And oh my gosh, I had some amazing chocolate and cakes while we were with them! They also have a three-month-old son named Thomas Mael, and he was the cutest thing! I would talk to him in both French and English, and by the end of the week, everyone started saying “hey babe”or “awww sweetheart” in their French accents, haha. Christmas Eve and Christmas Day were both spectacular, and I will never forget my holidays spent here. We had a lot of food, such as foie gras (duck liver), which is actually quite good, and some amazing Moroccan meals. I tried some wonderful cheeses and wines, and we all told fun Christmas stories and traditions. I got to explore some cities and towns in the area, and it was really interesting.
While I was in Caussade, I got to sleep a ton, and I think because of this, I had some rather bizarre dreams. I feel like sharing the most bizarre with you. I dreamt that we lived in a city that had a space station kind of attached, but for some reason it was being destroyed. While we were trying to evacuate the space station, I saw my love running inside to accomplish some grandiose feat, and he told me to keep going on and that he would make it. Well, the door ended up shutting like right behind me, and then the ship went away and blew up in the sky. I went back to my life but cried at losing my one true love. Then, it turns out he had escaped, and the dream ended with him finding me. How romantic, now if only I would find this boy outside of my subconscious, haha.
Béatrice and I returned to Angers on the 29th, and of course it was raining when we stepped out of the train stations. Surprise, surprise. I got home and I had packages waiting for me from my family with Christmas gifts, and that was fun! The next day, I met my friend Claudia in the centre-ville and we went shopping for New Years outfits and whatever else we felt like we needed. I found some fantastic outfits, and I’m very excited to find occasions to wear what I bought. And from what I heard, there are huge sales in the middle of January, so that shall be grand.
And of course New Years happened, and what a good night! Claudia came over to my house to eat a New Years dinner with Béatrice, Yilan, and I, and after that we took a bunch of crazy pictures before meeting our friends downtown to ring in the New Year. We ended up meeting a bunch of friends at a bar called Klypso, which is perhaps frequented more by students from other countries than French people, which makes for a really fun atmosphere. There was music and a little dancing, and a French guy tried to dance with me, but I gracefully spun out of his arms, told him I didn’t like the song, and sat down. It was true, but it was also true that he was a little awkward. Other than that, we had fun with our fluorescent necklaces and sunglasses, and I was there with my friends til 4 in the morning. After that we went to my friend César’s house to chill a bit while we waited for buses to start up again. We eventually all got home, and now my sleep schedule is all screwed up. It was worth it though; I had such a fun time with my friends.
Since then, I have been lazy in my apartment, watching Christmas movies, doing homework, writing, and reading. Today I went walking around downtown for two hours or so, and that was a good time to reflect on things here. I have made it through December, and it was perhaps the best December of my life. Yes, it was lacking in some very important people from home, but the experiences I had were once in a lifetime and so much better than I ever would have imagined. God is so amazing, and my faith in him is growing stronger and stronger. I have 5 months left. Or you could say 23 weeks. Or 161 days. However you look at it, my time is going by so incredibly fast, and I’m totally living it up!
Love you all so much, and I can’t wait to hug you all when I come home! Can’t guarantee I’ll be able to write anytime soon, because exams are here in a few weeks. Until then, adieu!!
Psalm 73:28 “But as for me, it is good to be near God.” Simple, but could not be more true.
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