a bit of meandering

I have been blessed with both many more adventures and more wonderful new friends since I updated last. When we got back from our trip we were met with four more girls who were going to be in our program for the month of July.

Two weekends ago the girls who were with me during the month of June and I went to a charming small French town laden with tourists shops called Annecy, which is know as the “Venice of the Alps”. After visiting the must see hot spots (certain buildings, churches, etc…) we were able to escape the swarms of visitors by renting a paddle boat and going out on the lake. The four of us enjoyed the fine and weather, and two of us worked up the nerve to go into the glacier lake! Getting to swim there was one of the most tranquil and surreal experiences as I could hardly imagine anything else that would make the environment more enchanting. Pictures and words can not do the refreshing swim in a clear lake surrounded by mountains justice.

Also, I was able to go on a trip to Dijon, France with just one of the other girls in our group. Dijon was like a mini Paris, without the dirty streets and city stereotypes that make people not want to live in Paris. It was towards the top of our favorite cities in France list, and it was good for Caroline and me to be able to get away and have quality time together.

I went to Avignon last weekend with a girl in our group named Chloe (Avignon is where the papacy was located in France for about 100 years). It was wonderful, but I unfortunately realized that I have become a self proclaimed museum critic. The palace there was rather unique in construction which was fun to spend time in, but after all the museums I have been to I now have very strong feelings towards good set ups, arrangements, information given, etc.... After being there a while I found myself critiquing the museum rather than trying to read the French history. Chloe and I laughed hard towards the end as we made it through the museum because its audio guide was like an audio version of someone’s dissertation. All that to say, I will be eager to give free consultations to those looking to construct a museum exhibit.

Also to our enjoyment, there was a theatre festival going on in Avignon while we there. This resulted in numerous people walking around in all sorts of costumes all of the city, advertising to go to their play while street performers were putting on acts almost anywhere there was free space. Chloe and I also visited the city of Orange before stopping in Avignon, getting to see the best preserved Roman theatre in Europe. Chloe is getting her masters in theatre history and absolutely loves being on stage, so it was wonderful to get to experience these things with a theatre enthusiast. It is always a treat to get to see people do and experience what they love, so I am so thankful I was able to share all those things with Chloe.

It was initially hard transitioning back to classes after we had the week off, especially when it would be 98 degrees outside with no air conditioning anywhere. But I found that things like a day of for Bastille helped break up the week as I watched the most beautiful firework show I have ever seen. We had one professor for two weeks, and then he went on vacation and so we have another professor for the last two weeks, whose first day was this past Monday. I think the change up, in both structure and teaching style, helped kick a bit of enthusiasm back into classes. I leave in about two weeks, and getting to speak the language and have it all around me is one of the things that I will mist the most. Other things that top my “to miss” list are the mountains, the walking culture, and general French life. When I was showing the July group of girls around when they first got here, we ran into a Tunisian friend of our who owns a Kebab shop (Kebabs are a Tunisian thing- imagine good Pita bread and mystery meat inside). He is a quirky man who has always been very nice to our group as he stops to talk to us almost every time we pass by, consistently inviting us in for a drink or a Kebab. Often time when he stops us to talk we are headed to go somewhere or do something, never really taking him up on his offer. It was same on this one particular day... As he asked us sit down with him and I declined he responded to the other girls in his broken English, “I always invite Claire to sit with me, but she is always headed somewhere”. I was reminder that I am not French. Rarely do I leave the dorm merely to meander around, or take time to enjoy where I am in the midst of a task. I was speaking to another American student while waiting outside the room for class to start, and he asked why he had beat me to the class room when we were on the same tram. I responded with the confession that I meandered my way to class, talking to different people and what not. He sternly responded that he never meandered. If he had a destination, he went straight there... we continued to talk about that being a stereotypical American thing to do. Not that this is good, bad, or always true, simply different. I appreciate the French’s meandering, and I am looking forward to trying bring a bit of French-ness into my life back in the states.

Comparing the cultures is a frequent conversation among international students. For example one day I met a lady who taught French in Philadelphia while I was waiting in line for something (in France, there is a lot of waiting in long lines), and she was awful deterred that day about the French. She found them all particularly rude for some reason or another. I find it intriguing that what some see as rude, other see as respectful; and what some see as hospitable, others see as offensive. Thinking on what is “right” verses what is simply cultural; I began to see a lot of things I do just to strive to look good in an American Christian Culture. A wonderful reminder for me that holiness is not found in comparing myself to those around me, but I am to strive toward a standard of holiness- a standard that transcends culture. As an obedient child, to not be conformed to the evil desires I had when I lived in ignorance, but just as He is holy, I am to be holy in all I do. For it is written, ‘be holy because I am holy’.

A rock skipping session of the past few weeks…

The week before I left I had the opportunity to spend a lot of time with a French family from the church I have been going to. The man and his wife had been missionaries for two years in Africa, because of that they understood that it was hard to be in a different culture and were eager take me in and explain several cultural things to me. It was an eye opening time to both French culture and to the French Believers worldview.

Last week I had my very own “tour de France” as I went to Paris, Loire Valley, Bordeaux, and Nice with the other girls in the program. The time was filled with a whirlwind of museums, old churches, and tours- though on the last stop we were able to catch our breath a bit on the beache
Just a few highlights from all of our stops:
-Paris we hit all the major monuments; my favorite museums there were the Louvre, the WWI/WWII museum (it was so interesting to see it presented from a French point of view!!!), and a small museum called the Marmottan Monet Museum that had lots of wonderful Monet pieces. It was also a treat to get to spend some time with a frined of mine from the states who is a Beliver serving in Paris for the summer.
-Loire Valley we saw a couple of châteaux’s and admired a lot of the medieval architecture in Tours, and I loved the Leonardo da Vinci museum that was in the house where he spent the last few years of his life
-During our one day in Bordeaux we all loved the atmosphere of the town and enjoyed lots of fun things like an area that you could play in where it looked like you were walking on water.
- By the time we got to Nice, we were all pooped. It was a treat to lay on the beach and relax, but it was also a treat to visit the Picasso museum our second day there. We finished our very own “tour de France” by getting to see the actual Tour de France go through Nice.

Please feel free to ask me more questions about places or specifics about the trip… I just didn’t want to type a thorough ten page report, and didn’t think people would enjoy reading one

I love going on walks, and wonderful for me our trip involved a lot of walking. The combination of walking and getting to admire old architecture provided lots of time to let my mind rest and also to chew. This provided a great place of looking forward to things when I get home and enjoying where I am at. The things I am looking forward to are a blend of silly and serious, entailing things like missing having a cup of coffee with flavored creamer while sitting in a home, to worshiping, conversing and studying the Word with those who speak the same language as I do. But I am also very thankful that the Lord, who is the giver of all good things, has allowed my heart to fall in love with the town of Grenoble and with the French culture here. My heart is at a wonderfully complex state of a healthy longing and content enjoyment. For this I am thankful, and pray that in a similar way I will have a consistent holy longing for my heavenly home yet still striving to serve the Lord with my vapor of a time here.

I was excited about getting to spend a lot of time within close proximity with the girls and praying that I would be able to serve and love them as we spent almost every moment together. A verse that I read the other day seemed to describe the time well, as well as now being my prayer for the people I interact with: “But thanks be to God who in Christ always leads us in the triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere” 2 Corinthians 2:14-15. Your prayers were felt as, by His grace, I was able to live in my identity as the aroma of Christ and still praying that the Lord will draw those in my group to himself.


Thank you for all your prayers and support, would love to hear updates from each of you! Pictures of the trip to come soon!