Bonjour Paris!

Keys to my room (right) and the house (left), so different from keys that you get made at Walmart!
Love the window! It is old-fashioned and makes me feel like rapunzel... i'm sure rapunzel had a window just like this one
It is necessary in France to open your window like so (above) and air out your room once a day. It typically stays open at all times when i'm at home but not at night. No A/C in France, so the cool breeze is nice.
Window when it is open and view! Feel free to imagine me as rapunzel looking out of this window.
The view-- no one to climb my hair though...





Bonjour tout le monde!

It has been three full days in Paris, and it has definitely been the experience of my life thus far! I've been going through culture shock, and I've been having to step outside of my comfort zone to live life in Paris as i face new challenges every day and every hour! If it is true that pictures are worth 1,000 words, I would rather post many pictures. So after this post i will just post pictures and narrate those! Since i forgot to take pics these first three days, below is a written entry. Praises and prayer requests will be at the bottom of every entry in separate paragraphs. Let the story of this summer begin and continue on through the next 10 weeks!

Day 1:

9 hour plane ride to London. 2 hour layover. 1 hour to Paris. 3 hour shuttle ride (i was the last one to get dropped off at my home-stay). I live in a 3 story house. The entrance is on the street level. Up one floor and there is my room. Up another floor is the living room, kitchen, and toilet. Up another floor is the sink shower and where the family lives. I share the bathroom/shower with the family. Pictures are posted below. The head of the household is a woman, Veronique, and she is a single mother with two sons and a daughter. Arnaud is 21 years (never met him, doesn't live at home), Victor is 14 years, and Lauren is 8 years old. They are kind but more reserved. My main interaction with them is during dinnertime. Meals are very important to the french and usually last minimum 1 hour. Dinner is always later in France between 8-9 PM.

Dinner the first night was good. I'm not used to hearing french, so it was difficult to understand a lot of what was being said. It was even more difficult to actually know what i was laughing about when jokes were made! This was discouraging (all a part of culture shock), and my level of french was revealed when the funniest joke and only thing i understood to it's full extent at dinner (which lasted til 10:15) was when the 8 year old girl took the baguette, which is slightly bent, and turned it ends facing upward and said "sourire (smile)" and then faced it down and said "non, sourire (no smile/frown)". I just LOVE children and sometimes i feel like i relate to them better than adults! Lauren (8 yrs) reminded me of how much i miss the children at LHBCB.

Day 2: Orientation

I woke up around 7:15AM, didn't get much sleep the night before due to jet lag and an upset stomach (more culture shock), and took the fastest shower ever with one hand-- the shower heads here are those detached things. Had orientation from 9-NOON and 2-4 PM. Took the metro, and Praise God for my other roommate in this house who has been here since September. Robin Scott is her name, and she is a year long student. It was a blessing to be able to have somebody show me the ropes of the metro. For lunch other girls and I purchased baguettes with ham and cheese, and ate outside at the Luxembourg Garden near the school. Beautiful! but it was very hot today. In the evening we had a welcome dinner at Le Baladin near the Seine river, and it was delicious! Course after course came out and dinner was 3 hours long. There was entertainment which consisted of a man who played the piano and later on in the evening a woman who sang some tunes for us! Lots of slow love songs, but she also sang the french song "Champs-Elysees". I'd learned the song a year ago in my french class at A&M, and still remembered it so i sang along. It was awesome! Before dinner, Laurel (new friend) and I got lost trying to find the metro. It definitely was an experience and lots of laughter.

Day 3:

Today I was able to sleep in because classes don't begin until next week. I met with some other girls around 12:30PM at our program provider's office, and we left there to eat lunch and visit the shops on the Champs-Elysees! Took pictures at the arc de triomphe then came home on the metro because it was raining. Dinner with my family tonight was super! I spoke some french to them and understood more of what they were saying. I am beginning to love the food here! We ate a really delicious quiche and vegetables. We watched the soccer game (france vs. Cuba), and then Veronique gave me a french novel to read while i'm here.

Praise God!

1. Safe trip over here

2. I was nervous about making friends that i could find sweet fellowship with and was in prayer about it, and God answered my prayer!!!

3. Wi-fi at my homestay

Prayer Requests:

1. Relationship with my host family

2. Boldness and courage to proclaim Christ and be the best witness i can be through actions not just words.

3. To be stretched spiritually and growth during my time here

I love and miss y'all!

Grace