Eating Hamburgers with a Fork

Yes. We ate hamburgers - with a fork. Oh, French culture!

It has been a beautiful day today – warmer than usual and sunny. Last night there was a huge storm; it was the kind of storm that rattles the windows and keeps you up late at night. What always amazes me is how beautiful the day AFTER a storm can be. Today was one of those days.

Anyhow, I have had a pretty good week thus far. Thursday night I went to AGAPE – a college youth group of sorts that I absolutely loved. AGAPE is the European form of Campus Crusades. Evidently, Campus Crusades sends teams from the United States to different countries and cities all over Europe. The leaders are generally just graduated from college and taking a year off. So the leaders of AGAPE are American and are learning French just like we are! Because they are unable to speak fluently like us, it makes for a fun atmosphere. AGAPE’s ultimate goal is to have the meetings be led solely by French students. But until then, the Americans lead the meetings and spend their days witnessing at the university. Everyone there was incredibly welcoming. We ate dinner and socialized (the diversity in this meeting was phenomenal – American, French, English, and German)! Then we sang worship songs which I absolutely loved. We sang some songs I didn’t know in French but then we sang “Grace like Rain” in English. They played it twice as slow as I’m used to singing it, but I didn’t care because it felt glorious to sing in English. We finished by singing some well-known worship songs like “Blessed Be Your Name” in French – it was more than incredible to worship God in another language. One of the native French students gave a lesson and then we closed with dessert and more milling around. I enjoyed myself immensely and am looking forward to going again this Thursday.

Friday night I spent the evening with my host family (well, actually only half of them). The three girls were out of town this past weekend on various trips. So for dinner Friday it was just the parents, Thibault, and me. After dinner that night, I realized that I can actually carry a conversation in French! When there are 7 of us sitting at the dinner table, I rarely get a word in. Madame Robert is always very considerate and asks me about my day so that I get a little practice talking. But as soon as a topic of conversation arrives, they’re off and my brain runs like crazy trying to keep up. They usually pause to explain things to me, for which I am forever grateful. However, on Friday, when it was just the four of us, I got much more floor time. And it gave me a small boost of confidence, so that was nice.

Saturday was a really fun day. We decided to head to the more suburbs-y part of Nantes. The area where we went (called Atlantis) was more commercialized with an IKEA, a mall, and two cinemas. But the area was gorgeous and it felt good to get away from the city. Sometimes walking in the dirty city gets tiresome. It felt more familiar to be in a commercialized area. Anyway, we had a nice time eating at this really cute restaurant in the mall (a new favorite) and doing some shopping. Afterward, three of us went over to another friend’s house to make dinner and watch Grey’s Anatomy. We had a fantastic time, the four of us and it felt good to just relax and hang out. My friend Alyssa and I rode the night bus home which was more than a terrifying experience. Drunken French men are really not my cup of tea. However, I made it home safely and that’s what is important!

I spent Sunday with my host family and it was very relaxing. I had a very productive day and my host family kindly took me on a little tour of an older part of Nantes. We drove to this old fisher’s village across the Loire River that directly faces the heart of the city. It was this tiny little village right on the water; apparently many artists live there now. In other words, it’s not a fisherman’s port anymore. But it was fun walking around even though it was drizzling. Afterwards, they drove me a little bit around Nantes pointing out various sights to see. We then picked up Thibault from his Scouts trip; the poor thing was soaked to the bone from biking in the rain. But he was much happier after a shower, dinner, and his PJs.

Classes have been cancelled at the university for the past week because the students are “on strike.” This whole strike business confuses me but it seems pointless sometimes. Apparently, these strikes can last weeks and it seemingly gets the students nowhere but further behind in their classes. I’m having a slightly difficult time enjoying some of my classes because the tendency here seems to be professors who lecture sans power point, outlines, activities, discussions, etc… And I’m a very visual learner, so when professors just talk at me, I don’t do well. I’m certainly missing some of my classes and professors at Hope!

Because classes were cancelled, I went over to a friend’s house yesterday with two other girls and we had the best time drinking tea and watching French movies. I’ve been really blessed thus far with good friends here. It’s been an easy transition and I’m thankful for that.

Well, I’ll go ahead and sign off here. Our winter break begins Friday afternoon and I’m getting excited. We leave for London on Saturday and then halfway through the week we leave for Dublin. It should be a fun experience. Pray for health and safe travel! If I don’t update before then, I’ll update at the end of next week when I get back.

Love to all,
Madelyn

P.S. – I’m attaching pictures from Mont St. Michel and St. Malo (our weekend trip a few weeks ago). Enjoy!

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