En France

So much to tell, and this keyboard is so hard to use!!

Yes I visited Abbey Road, Big Ben both at night and Trafalgar Square. We went to the Tower of London during the day. It was really cool. I really didn't know much about it until then. It was so weird to actually be there in London, after seeing all those places on TV and so forth. It was really pretty. Too bad the pound is really expensive

I really loved London :) even though I was getting over jet lag.

So then I arrived in France through the chunnel train. We rushed under Paris to connect to a different train to take us to Angers. That is where I am now. The first day was so overwhelming because of all the french. But I was so excited when I purchashed my ticket from the lady only speaking french. All those years of french paid off!! But I realized that was nothing. All the people I met in my dorm spoke french all the time, besides the American's I knew.

Once I got to my dorm I found my room all to my self. It's tiny. So I'll be living in my own room all semester in a dorm with lot of other international students. So far I've met people from Spain, Germany, Italy, Greece, Venezuala, England, Austrailia, and America. My french is slowly coming back; each day is a little easier. I'm learning to think in French, instead of translating everything I want to say.

We haven't started classes yet. Well everyone else did on Monday, but I still don't know what to take yet. I haven't had internet to look at the classes and I was only briefed on the classes on Saturday morning. Apparently we just choose what classes we want to go to. As long as they are in french and I have 12 hours. The thing is, all the classes are maybe 1 hour, and they only meet once a week. So I'll end up taking maybe 11 or 12 classes? I might find out more today, at a meeting we have with all the international students.

Story Time: so yesterday I set off to get ma cate d'indité which is like my student card, except it includes social security. We had to pay this social security fee, even though everyone had already been forced to pay for some other insurance before we got in the states. So I go to some ladies office and she gives me a sheet that I have to take downtown to pay, and the come back with the reciept to finally recieve my card, and get some internet. I took the bus all the way downtown and realized I left that piece of paper in that ladies office. So needless to say, I spent a few euro on the bus yesterday. But finally i got my card, and I even ate lunch at the cafeteria downtown. It was really packed! There were tons of people there. And then during lunch, it starting pouring down rain outside, and like 30 minutes ago it was sunny! That was fun. but in the midst of my crazy long adventure yesterday, the sun came back out and God reminded me of his love through a rainbow in the sky. It was beautiful.

I love France though. I've been meeting lots of people and I can't wait to be fluent in french and be able to travel around Europe. The food is wonderful. I love the baguettes, the pain au chocolate (a croissant with chocolate in it), cheese, fruit, and pasta. I've sorta been eating from a grocery store without the use of pots, until last night when I finally got some cooking stuff, that other studnets left for us. But one of my first real meals was sunday night when we went out to go ice skating the students from spain, but it was closed. so we went to get Kababs. They have a huge piece of meat with a pole stuck through it, and they shave off lots of meat (i think it was lamb) and the they shove it all into a sandwhich like bun with which ever sauce you choose and some lettuce. I had barbeque. It tasted just like american barbeque sauce. It was really good. Although when I order i was expecting meat and veggies on a skewer, but I was surprised to find something else. Last night I cooked dinner with some other people. We made pasta with pesta sauce. Some tomatoes and/or onions would have complemented the meal very well, but we weren't sure what all we had availble to cook with. it seems that most people cook dinner together in the dorms. But other than dinner there is no student life. It was weird. Everyone came out of their rooms to cook dinner, and as soon as they finished eating, they cleaned up the kitchen and left. We never heard them again.

On Sunday we went for a walk around a lake. It was very pretty and then we walked back while the sun was setting. I met a girl last night who went to a church on Sunday. I asked her about it, and she said it was a baptist church that some Americans from California started. I told her to let me know the next time she goes to church, that I'd like to go.