Revolution!

Wow- today I didn’t make it to the uni for class. The strike is intense today. The streets were recruiting more and more people and it seemed as though there was just a continuous river of protesters flowing through the streets of Nantes.

Some students started a high school on fire this morning. The strike is affecting the post, the petrol, the buses, trams, trains, flights.

Everything is on its way to being affected by the strike in one way or another. It is absolutely crazy.

I was mad today when I paid the rest of my tuition here because I don’t see why I should have to pay when I can’t even get educated because of all this! I told Vanessa that I felt bad she had to live in a place where this happened all the time!

She was telling me about other strikes she can remember and she said it must just be their culture because it is very normal for her.

Apparently after 2:00 today, the uni was shut down.

It is crazy here. There are fires, what sounds like gunshots and screaming people…in the midst of it all I feel perfectly safe in a weird sort of way. I am not worried.

I am not moving to my new place until around November 3 so when I get back from Sweden/Germany. I am HOPING that I will make it to Germany this weekend. Please if you are reading this pray that the leaders of the nations will work things out right now because France has got a lot to figure out…just like the rest of us.

I am loving some new French music that I found…I am learning the words and it makes me feel happy to sing in a different language. Ha. What a cheap thrill.

I think I am getting fat from eating bakery food. Maybe when I get home people will stop telling me I look so skinny... I don't know if this is a good thing or not!?!

I have another test tomorrow and I have missed school and am going to need some major study time tonight and tomorrow morning in order to pull off a good grade!! Ahhhh! I brought my textbook from BYU-I and its helping me a ton for this stuff I am working on. Having explanations in english and french really opens my mind up to understanding it WAY easier and I feel I'm catching on to it quicker as well.

Today, I am thankful for coming to France during a LOT of really interesting things. I am finding that even though I might not be the one going through something hard or something good, I can still learn a lot from watching that person, helping that person, or trying to emulate that person. Sometimes we think that we are living our own life… that our actions don’t matter because they only affect us right? Well, they affect a lot of people! Your family, friends, co-workers, classmates, everyone who knows you and associates with you can be affected, especially the ones that know and love you on a more personal level. I feel like sometimes I need to forget more about Hilary and think of how I can help someone else better deal with their hardships because surely there is someone dealing with something a lot harder than whatever I am dealing with. Instead of always thinking how hard something is I need to focus more on what I can learn from it. Afterall, Nephi said it best in the first chapter of the Book of Mormon when he said, “I Nephi, having been born of goodly parents, therefore I was taught somewhat in all the learning of my father; and having seen many afflictions in the course of my days, nevertheless having been highly favored of the Lord in all my days….” If you look in the footnotes, you will notice it says, Affliction; Blessing; God, gifts of. So the hard things we go through, or the hard things those around us go through – they are opportunities for growth from our Heavenly Father. I am the worst person to remember this. Initially I am the person who gets all frustrated and I start whining. Then I hear my dad say, Hilary, there are 2 kinds of people in the world, Smilers and Whiners. (This is one of those lines you remember for the rest of your life because your mom or dad or whoever said it ALL the time. I am sure anyone reading this can think of some of these lines that have been engrained in their memories as well.)

Well, hearing this from my dad makes me roll my eyes but deep down inside I feel hit hard because I know he is right and I am being prideful instead of humble and teachable. I love my dad to death because he takes every moment to teach me. Just like Nephi, I have been taught somewhat in all the learning of my father.