and finally...

so there you have it- an official tour of my flat in Nantes!

Bisou! xx.

cont . . .

THE TOILET ROOM!

Bonjour!

The past few days I have sorta been out of commission with “la grippe” which is a chest cold/flu illness. I have been sleeping a lot, enjoying a lot of soup and crackers and wishing I could go outside and be in school! I missed the 2^nd day and the 3^rd day because the doctor said I needed to stay home and rest! So, I have some catching up to do already and university just started! This is the waiting room at the doctor’s office. I was waiting for awhile so I figured taking a picture or two would help pass the time…ya it only passed about 20 seconds. Ha.

It has been requested from my sister Becca that I post where I am living and also some more French cuisine, so I have posted some pictures of my flat. You might be wondering why there are so many little drawings…Well, in the toilet in our flat, there is a red marker and you can write whatever you want on the walls. It’s a free territory. So here are some of the things drawn and then a full view of our toilet room. It’s great isn’t it! I bet you all are dying to come and use it so you can have the honour of writing on the wall! Well come visit anytime! It’s kinda cool though, you gotta admit right? Oh and by the way- I didn't draw the Canadian Flag...so I guess that means someone was thinking about me while on the toilet. Charming, really.

The bathroom has a little bidet (if you need an explanation, please don’t ask me!). The rest of the flat is self explanatory I think. The little bed on the ground belongs to yours truly. So, if there are any really really rich famous people reading this blog right now, it would be such a nice thing for you to let me borrow your flat or something in France so I can have a bed! Any takers?

The colorful round treats in the bag are called macaroons. They are little cookie sandwiches with icing. The ones here are okay, but they look better than they taste. If you go to a little bakery on a street corner they taste so much better than the ones bought in a fancy store (which are the ones I have here). I just ate one and it tasted like perfume....ewwwwww. Or maybe it kinda tasted like soap. Whatever it was, it reminded me of getting my mouth washed out with soap as a child!!

I love these flowers. I see them a lot as I am walking home each day and I remember seeing them everywhere while I was in England on my mission. I think they are beautiful.

I experienced something today that I thought was interesting- no matter what mood you are in or whatever you may be feeling, if you start to listen to Owl City, it’s like an immediate high. Try it sometime! They make me so happy!

Bisou! xx.

Sick in Nantes! :(

It has been a long few days…

Yesterday we were in the city center before my university started and were eating some really amazing paninis- and this crazy guy was sitting next to us - screaming and randomly making weird comments. He was a good looking guy! Too bad he ended up being a crazy!! Doesn't he look charming?? I have been trying to take pictures of things that make me happy because my dad suggested that this would be fun. I am enjoying it, but I don't always post the pictures because they might seem weird to others! A picture is a great way to capture a memory. For me, I love the smell and the feel of a memory too, which unfortunately a camera cannot capture. So one thing I try to always do, is close my eyes, take a deep breathe in and take a picture with every one of my senses that I can. Try it sometime! It actually helps you find and realize the beauty in everything- not just in the obvious things in life!

I have been really ill with whatever I have- a runny nose, sneezing like crazy, coughing and feeling like a truck ran over my body multiple times just to make sure I was feeling destroyed. I had my first day of classes and the entire 3 hrs the teacher didn’t speak one word of English. It was pretty sweet, but it was a challenge some of the time to understand it all. However, I was happy I could at least know what we were talking about. I have a lot to learn that is for sure!! It was nice to be back at school and to be on the campus and just feel like I have a purpose being here. Then, I came home and I started to feel extremely worse and all through the night I was waking up and then finally couldn’t sleep for about 3 hours. I lost my voice and everything. So this morning, I was supposed to have class from 8:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. straight…and Vanessa emailed the head my program to notify them of my absence due to illness. On the second day of school!! My first class was called CONVERSATION, and I figured that without a voice this wouldn’t be the greatest morning for me! Ha. So off we went to the doctor and he gave me some medicine for a runny nose, he gave me cough syrup and some paracetamol. At the end of the appointment, he told me it was 23 euros, so I paid him and he reaches into his coat pocket, gets out his wallet, and thumbs through it for my change. I was like what is going on?! So I asked Vanessa afterwards and she proceeds to inform me that here in France that is how things work. You just pay the doctor directly. And I had to go to a pharmacie with my prescription to get cough syrup and the other stuff that we can usually just buy over the counter… soo interesting I must say! It’s not wrong, just a very different way of doing things than in Canada. Anyways, after that we bought a few little treats at the bakery – mirangue and macaroon cookies… The mirangue was like hardened but kinda chewy and its sweet and they sell it in these huge lumps. It was something really new to me. I liked it a lot. The macaroon cookies are like two cookies with this special icing in the middle, making a little sandwhich.MMMMM….they have all sorts of flavours and I got a vanilla one (cause I’m so original!) and it was really really good. I think I could eat a thousand of them! I love that on every street corner you can usually find a little bakery. Something I wish was at home for sure!

I am starting to feel frustrated because of everything happening around me that feels like is preventing me, instead of assisting me to learn this language. I want to improve and I want to feel like I can do this, but now that I have been ill and cannot even attend my classes I am feeling a little down. It is hard to watch a movie in French and not understand it all, or try and read a novel but have to look up every 5^th word, or sit in the city center and only hear French and its all so fast that I really don’t have time for translating in my head! It’s weird though, because usually when I feel frustrated about something I feel so overwhelmed by it…but here, I just am like oh well, this really isn’t what I planned or thought, and it basically really bites, but it is what it is. I guess it will work out right? So, despite my frustrations, I feel pretty calm and know that I will learn something. I may not come home speaking that great, but at least I learned more than just a few words in French during my time here. It is a beautiful country with many beautiful things. I am happy to be here.

Rue Du Chapeau Rouge

My first day of school!

I got my schedule and everything today and classes start officially tomorrow. I am going to work extremely hard so that I can learn quickly. It was so nice to be in the university. It is really old (at least the section that I will be in) and I just felt so right being there! Can you sense my excitement! As we were walking back to the tramway, I was looking around and said to Vanessa and Melanie, I have wanted to come to France to study for a long time and now I am actually here doing it! It can’t be real! It’s so great that I have been blessed with this opportunity!

As we were on the tram coming back from the Uni, I put my i-pod on and a love song came on and I started smiling so big and thought can I be in love with Europe? Haha. I must be because it was the first thing that came to my mind!!

We ate at this really really good place today and then I had this amazing cream raspberry tart – if you ever come to Fance this is a MUST! As we were walking we came across this street called Rue Du Chapeau Rouge – The RED HAT STREET. Interesting. Why don’t we give our streets these wonderful unique names! I really think this is cool and it made me smile. We were thinking we should go back to this street and wear red hats and take pictures. Maybe we could do some dancing or singing and make some money! ha riiiight.

Then we shopped in the afternoon and now I am back at home all worn out and tired and about to make some soup because I have a cold! I bought what appears to be similar to chicken noodle soup. Everything is different.

It really is an amazing experience to be here. I just feel so overwhelmed with the fact that I am really here and doing something so hard but so amazing and wonderful. I hope that everyone reading this blog takes advantage of opportunities and goes after what they really want! You might have to be persistent and patient, but let me tell you, it really is worth it!! I am here because I had a goal, and because I was able to serve in my mission with a really cool girl from France, and now I am here living with her and attending a university! If you look in your life, Heavenly Father is always putting people, thoughts and desires in our lives. What better way to show His love for us – always providing learning experiences and the desires of our hearts.

Next month I have one week off school and I wanted to do something new and visit a place I’ve never been…. And after a lot of thinking, I am leaning towards SWEDEN. I would love to visit the city my family history comes from! I will keep you posted!

Without the rain, there would be no rainbow.

Rain. How does one express something that they love with more than just words. It's more like a feeling of emotion mixed with memories, thoughts and faith. All together it becomes something you can almost taste because you have made it tangible in your memory.

For the first time since being in France it rained, and it was wonderful. Since serving my mission in England, I have become quite fond of the rain. As I was looking out the window today, I thought to myself, how on earth did I manage to go out every single day it was blustering and pouring rain and do missionary work!? I remember so many of my companions hating the fact that it rained all the time, and even before I left for my mission, people from home would comment to me saying, "I hope you don't get depressed over there with all the rain and the dreary weather!" Well, I am proud to say, that just as Jeffrey R. Holland quoted whilst visiting my mission, "I loved the rain....the dreariness of it all" (paraphrased). I remember walking down streets in the rain wearing my boots, my scarf wrapped tightly around my neck and tucked snug in my wool coat, my tracting bag secured at my side and my hands trying to keep warm in my coat pockets...I would look around me and see all the green and just think to myself wow- I am in England, on a mission to share what I love most. Feelings of gratitude for such a wonderful opportunity would overwhelm me and then a few of my companions would wonder why Sister Anderson was just so happy to go out and work in the rain. Maybe I am a crazy person, but I felt ever single drop of rain as more than just a storm, but as an experience of a lifetime. Today- I was reminded of all these things as I walked in the city centre here and thought wow- I am in France. What am I going to learn here that I can take away with me?

Tomorrow is my first official day at the University of Nantes. Tomorrow is also the day I have decided I will turn off english all together and immerse myself whole heartedly into the french culture and language! So, no more speaking in english for me. Even if I am struggling to express myself, I will pull out my pocket sized dictionary that has now become a constant companion of mine, and I will find what i need to say! I know that I can do this...with time!

Where Shall I Visit Next?

Ok- so I have one week off school from Oct 22 to Nov 2 and I want to visit someplace in Europe I have not been before! Mostly, because why not when I am here anyways!! And...flying in Europe between countries is fairly cheap!

So my question is this - Between Ireland, Scotland and Sweden where should I go?

I have already served my mission in England and Wales and also visited London. I don't really have any desire to visit Germany or Spain at the moment. My sister Becca and I are planning the Greece trip after her mission, and I visited Italy 2 weeks ago...but am saving Rome and Venice for either a trip with a cute boy or my sister Becca when we go to Greece...those just aren't places I really want to visit on my own ya know!?!

After school ends here I am going to visit some of the main cities in France because by then the Christmas lights will all be up everywhere and it will be really pretty everywhere to see!! And I should have about 1 week to do that before I head back to Canada and then USA. So....France will be taken care of... so got any suggestions?? Please post any suggestions!