mmm, yeah...France-woohoo...

First of all, sorry to everyone whom I told that I would keep this thing updated. It's been so long that I imagine that no one will even discover this entry until weeks from now. Surprise me.

Anyhoo, I know that the title sounds pretty not excited, but while it is uber cool to be in France I still miss home a lot. I'm doing my best to really like it here (not that I hate it or anything), but it's just so hard to get used to being in a new setting. Especially in a new setting when you don't understand what people are saying half of the time...I think really the things I miss the most (aside from people) are hugs and smiles. It's not really in the French culture to smile at people when you pass them on the street, or anywhere for that matter. Actually, if you smile here too much people are distrustful of you and become suspicious. A smile just doesn't mean the same thing here. And the whole bisous thing is cute for a minute (the fake kiss-y thing), and then you just really wish someone would hug you. I hugged someone today because I was so excited that she burned my pictures onto a cd for me, and she said that was the first hug she'd had for like 2 weeks. 2 weeks!!

But really France is pretty cool, and I'm sure I'll miss it after I leave. There's just so much history here, it's amazing! There are so many buildings here that are older than our whole country! Which really isn't surprising because our country isn't that old, but it's still cool to think about.

Most importantly I found a church here that I absolutely love! The people are amazing, and the services are so full of life! I'm actually going to try out the Saturday night service this week after we get back from visiting some chateaux (that is plural). I've missed church the last 2 weeks, because one weekend the university I'm here with went to Normandie (amazing!!!) and then last weekend I went to London with a friend from Slovakia, Martina, during our 4-day break.

Well, I'd better head off to home (I'm in the computer lab of my school right now...no internet for me at my house). It is almost time for dinner with my host family (like at 7:30 or 8), and then around 9 some of us are meeting to go to somewhere that we haven't decided yet. Either a café or a movie.

Blessings!