Blois, Chambord, and Paris take 2...but first, another Monday...

Dude.

I have so much to write about.

Let's get today out of the way, shall we?

I got my grades back from Thursdays "evaluation" and got my lowest grade yet--a B! like a 12 or something...I can't even remember anymore, must not have been too traumatizing--on the written part but still got my usual A on the reading comprehension. Ca va.

We had a discussion about text talk which was fun and interesting and since it's still the sub I got out in time to eat lunch (kebabs!) with Emily and Charles. It was my first real kebab and it was delicious.

But then it made my stomach just off enough that I didn't feel like doing much this afternoon, so I sat around and talked to Hannah and Kelsey and got some of my craziness about getting a major haircut out of my system while talking to Kelsey which was good because she's beast at getting a feel for what someone likes and then finding it for them. Picture-wise, and all.

Then, perhaps (definitely) I felt guilty for doing nothing for so long and in a grand rush of productivity organized and stuff which was absolutely necessary because this place was a DISASTER AREA. The only problem is now it's back to its usual lack of order (but with clear spaces in between) and I've run out of steam. Maybe it'll come back. I've decided my favorite way of doing things is doing whatever's at hand (that is, when nothing is more urgent nor more disagreeable than everything else) and then it all gets done and I never have to unpleasantly force myself to do something (unless something's more urgent or more disagreeable...like finishing cleaning and doing a bit of my homework, but I have a lot to write and I'd at least like to get a start before dinner so that I'm not up till 12. Now that you've gotten way more mixed up in my head than you ever wanted to be involved, let's resume the thread of the journey...)--only it ended there for today. Besides seeing Isabelle for the first time in a week and talking over details and whatnot. =D

Oh geez. Yesterday.

let's skip back to Saturday, shall we?

It was the usual excursion, get on the bus, drive 45 minutes, look at a castle, wander around and eat lunch, get on the bus, drive 30 mins, look at another castle, get back on the bus and go home.

I really liked both Blois and Chambord, wandered around with Laura for most of Blois and Hannah and Emily for most of Chambord.

Laura and I ate lunch together and we were in quite a pickle because the gift shop had spit us out of the castle (and we had been going to eat on a bench or something in a covered area) and we couldn't get back in because it was closed for lunch. So we're wandering around this open market getting hungrier and hungrier as we looked at all the food wondering where the heck we're going to find a dry, covered place to sit that hadn't already been drizzled on and didn't run the risk of getting poured on suddenly. But Jesus was awesome and we happened upon a covered gallery kind of area with a nice, large windowsill to sit on...and a couple of drunk homeless guys at the far end, but we're good at ignoring and they wandered away before we had finished our sandwiches. =D

We wandered across the bridge and checked out a really old, anticlimactic church and then found a patisserie which was quite an experience because she boxed up our pastries with a little ribbon and everything! We sat on the wall by the river and ate them with the wind blowing our hair into the whipped cream/mousse/custard and took pictures and greatly enjoyed ourselves. I got a millefeuille which was cool because it was Laura who had told me that you have to get one and I got to get it with her! It's like three layers of really flaky pastry (hence the "thousand leaves" in the name) with custard in the middle and frosting on top. REALLY GOOD. I ate half of it on the wall there and snuck the other half on the bus on the way home (we're not supposed to eat, which we all know means we're just in big trouble if there are crumbs ;).

Chambord was enormous and confusing but the sun came out and the design and the history were really interesting.

I had the perfect amount of time to shower and chow down on dinner before the 2.5 hour train ride to Paris!

Paige met me at the station. Considering I had only met her the one time at church, we did an excellent job of making conversation--I guess it was easier because we didn't know much about each other but the little we had talked had been in French which made it perfectly acceptable to review EVERYTHING. haha! She's here for a whole year and has been going to church with the brothers and sisters since her first week here, despite not knowing any French at first! She does really well know but sometimes forgets to use past tense.... haha :) She was SO SUPER HOSPITABLE--like, it's the mark of a good hostess that you have no idea how much, if at all, you're upsetting the usual order of things. True Southern/brother&sister hospitality (she's from Louisiana :).

I got into Paris at 11:30 and I think we were in bed by 12:30 --metros just take awhile, y'know.

The next morning I got up at about 7:40

told her to go back to sleep

got to the Musée d'Orsay stop by about 8:50 I think --didn't open till 9:30 so I decided to set out for the Musée de l'Orangerie, where Monet's Nymphéas (water lilies) are--like, the big ones on the wall.

God decided it would be better for me to get disoriented and be forced to wander around in the Jardin des Tuileries for awhile instead of finding the l'Orangerie right away. It was lovely because it was early and sort of sunny and there were only like, hard core pairs of Asian tourists and runners out. =D

But dude.

When I got to the Musée at last.

I saw Monet's water lilies.

In person!

It's really cool--two big oval rooms with four long paintings on each wall and a place to sit in the middle. I've decided (I decided there) that one of the reasons I love Impressionism so much is that it's not realistic, obvious, voilà there it is no questions to ask like older art (or newer for that matter), but it's not "My two year old could've done this" modern art. Don't get me wrong, sometimes I really love modern art. But Impressionism strikes that perfect balance where up close, it's a bunch of scribbly colors blended beautifully together, and then you step back 5 feet and realize that those lighter spots are actually clouds reflected in water. It's amazing. I wish I could do that--I'd love to paint some of the things I've seen here--but it's just so --magnifique. =)

After taking my sweet time there, I was starving because if you'll notice I haven't mentioned breakfast. So I just went all out and got a sandwich. Why not.

I got to Orsay at 10 or 10:30 and it was already pretty busy! The line wasn't horrendous though. First things first: found the Impressionist galerie again.

Dude.

*shakes head slowly*

...Dude.

It was so nice to just take my time and look longer at what I wanted to (pointillism) and shorter at what I didn't (Whistler's mother) without worrying about how famous and important it was or not.

Memorable moment: I saw Renoir's Bal au moulin de la galette--it was kind of down the hallway and therefore out of order, but I couldn't help it: I got this huge grin on my face and went to look at it anyway. It (used to?) hang in our schoolroom and I used to look at it and imagine all the personalities and relationships of all the people and it was fun to remember that and see the real, big, real thing.

In the room next to it there was, by Monet, a Japanese bridge, a haystack, a poplars-in-the-wind, four Rouen cathedrals, that woman with her back to the wind and a parasol, and, last but not least, a Parlement/Londres/sun. That one was my favorite of the whole museum, I'm pretty sure. He canned the uncannable color! You know, that sunrise/sunset orangey pink that cameras pretty much never ever get. And the blending and the colors were just excellent. I looked at that for an inordinately long time. :) And the others too. They deserved to be duly appreciated as well. :)

I also saw some Manet, Degas, Van Gogh's self portrait, --so many. And a bunch of new favorites. Maybe sometime I'll write a separate art post with links and pictures and stuff. :) I wrote them all down. I felt super blessed to 1. be in France, at that museum, just me and God as tour guide/companion and 2. have the background from Mom and Pops to 3. be sort of familiar with Impressionism in the first place/know to write your favorites down as you go along, respectively!

I took a couple breaks for my poor old feet and shoulders, but I think I saw most of the museum. (Y).

I had just time to grab a snack and get to church --so it was like, 1:45 by this time. I really wanted a banana/nutella crepe like last time I was in Paris, but they were out of banana, so instead of just cancelling the whole idea I got one with jam which was just not as good and still expensive.

Got to church without difficulty where they were all very surprised to see me! =D I felt like a celebrity. :) They're SO--so. Just so. So welcoming, so fervent, so loving, such servants, so strange sometimes in their lack of caring how they seem... It's so excellent. And we sang some of my favorite songs ("Jesus, all for Jesus" "Knowing you" "In Christ alone") and I got to really really sing, like loudly, with harmonies (not that I wasn't singing a lot home alone last week). It was so encouraging.

And the food and conversation afterwards was really good too! We had this like meat/veggies/lasagne thing with cheese and bread (camembert et chevre) and JuJu had made cookies and there was a cake too! I figured out how we get so spoiled with cakes and tons of bread and stuff--one of the girls works at Paul, which is like the French fancy version of Panera, and gets extra stuff. I'm glad--I was worried someone was spending exorbitant amounts on us: I got sent home with two half loaves of bread, one "salty" and one "sweet." I had a cappuccino with my cookie and there were even bananas!

After church, Paige suggested going to Sacre Coeur (a cathedral/church that I should really read up on) and one of the guys came along too--Roberto, I think. No, Rudolfo. He's from Peru and he's working on his masters but I think he's older than his 20's. It was the fastest trip ever but it was an excellent adventure as well =D We got back to the dorm with just time for me to organize a bit, eat my bananas that had gotten sent along with the bread so that they wouldn't get smashed in my bag, and head to the station. I spent so much time on the metro on Sunday, but, well, welcome to Paris. I'm glad I get to walk in the open air (even if it's cloudy more than sunny) for 15 minutes instead of riding the metro for 45 to get to school every day.

I had the perfect amount of time to give Paige a good American hug, run the mile down the TGV to my compartment (Ok, so I exaggerate, but I sort of started running to make sure I got there in time. Had plenty of time, as usual, but that's only because Karlien trained me well). There was a bit of a mixup with the numbering that's too confusing and trivial to explain, but no one could tell where they were supposed to be sitting (there are two of each number in each compartment and half are supposed to be lit up...but nothing was lit up)...but no one made me move and it was all good.

After the two and a half hours there, 1hr back was SUPERFAST (hypervite). The shuttle to Tours was PACKED --like, think sardines, but with luggage-- and mercifully short. When I got back to the house, there was a note from Isabelle but they had already gone to bed. I ate a bit of pasta (one last hurrah, you know) and decided to just try to go to bed ASAP because I was EXhausted but oh-so-happy. Well, that didn't quite work...first of all I got distracted searching short haircuts online, and second of all, as I was laying there trying to go to sleep I thought, "This is weird. Mom must've said 'You'll be able to sleep better if you get all cleaned up first!' so many times that I'm incapable of falling asleep when I feel gross..." But then I remembered: the cappuccino. Whoops. But I just rearranged and showered last night and slept in this morning, which ended up working out quite nicely because I woke up when the sun was already up and out (which freaked me out for a second!) and made for a calmer morning.

And now I think you're all caught up!

For the sake of doing my homework, I'm going to have to forgo reading over this, so you'll have to let me know if there's anything that doesn't make sense/there are errors. Thanks for reading! Hope it didn't wear you out! =D until later :)

PS: I made my own excellent quart bag of trail mix today to ward off the munchies every day in class =D Lots of raisins and peanuts with some "real" trail mix mixed in that includes almonds and walnuts. =) I'm pretty pumped.

PPS: I feel like the word "excellent" got sadly overused in this post...*sigh* poor thing...