Un jour libre à la Paris (A Free Day in Paris)

After staying up until 2am last night, getting to know the students here in my program from BGSU, I was looking forward to a nice slow day... and it really was a great day!

My routine of breakfast and quiet time with God on the terrace of the Foyer where I live has become one of my favorite times of the day. While other people are sleeping, I like hiking up seven flights of stairs and plopping down on a green plastic chair, breathing hard and gazing at the Eiffel Tower and Le Sacre Coeur... and beginning my day with my Savior. I hope this routine can continue. I hope the weather continues to be this nice!

Later, Abbey and I went in search for food, but many of the sandwicheries are closed on Sundays, so we had to look for a while. We came upon a Croissanterie, which also had sandwiches in addition to yummy pastries :) We bought lunch and walked back and ate lunch on the terrace. Then, we hung out in the room until church. My friend from Colorado Springs and church sent me the address of an international church that she visited with our church a while ago, so the three Taylorites set out to visit the church, which turned out to be about 10 minutes by foot from where we live. It was such a great experience to worship God in English surrounded by people from all over the world. We talked to a couple of people after the service... Someone from the Ivory Coast, the Philippines, and El Salvador. Talk about all over! We might meet with the lady from El Salvador later this week! :) PTL!

We then went to a French restaurant that was tucked into a small street called "Pomidor" and it was fantastic! Even though it broke the bank a little, it was well worth it. I decided that living on a tight of a budget as I have right now can be stretched once or twice while in Paris. We had to wait for it to open though, so we killed time in a bookstore called "San Fransisco Books" because we needed "Le Guide Vert" for the personal excursions we're required to go on while in Paris. Kevin M. found one on sale... PERFECT! I was also able to buy some French comic books... hooray for my future French students! :)

With classes starting tomorrow, we (the Taylorites) decided that we should get to bed at a decent hour but that we should start a routine of meeting for prayer and encouragement at least three times a week. Tomorrow, we'll do it during breakfast and it will be a great send off for the first day of classes. We hope to continue this through out the semester, so we'll see how that works, especially when we're with our host families in Tours.

I'm really enjoying Paris and starting to think and talk in French, but I'm also starting to miss home and Taylor. It hit me today that while I have been blessed with a great group of people to surround me, I miss that accountability and familiarity that home and Taylor provide. I'm not mopey by any means, it's just all nostalgic.

I love you all!