Trains, Airplanes....

My train was in fact running today! Thank goodness! As we were getting close to the airport, I started to get worried because I was noticing that the train was becoming more and more late. They were behind schedule! I decided to get my suitcase and stand by the door so as soon as the train stopped I could just run out and try to catch my flight. So I stood up to do that, and my right knee felt like it was going to just give way on me. Every bit of pressure I put on it hurt sooo bad. It was all seized up. I have no idea why! So I was like oh my gosh. I have to catch a flight right now and my knee is broken. So I stopped and said a silent prayer that the flight would be late so I could manage to get there okay. Then I asked that my knee would just be okay to get me there. As I was standing there waiting for the train to stop I kept bending my knee back and forth and the pain wasn’t going away. So I said well Hil…let’s do this! And I jumped off the train and headed up the escalator that wasn’t working (just to my delight!) ha. Then I grabbed my nerdy glasses, put them on and tried to see where the heck I needed to go! I have never been to this airport before so I took a stab in the dark and headed up some more stairs and just started looking for anything that matched my ticket…and seriously somehow I found the desk for Air France, got my boarding pass, he noticed the time and was typing really fast and then he pointed and said hurry! So I ran through all the people and lined up for the security check and walked through the detector…and it beeps!! I’m like no!!! I have never had it beep on me ever…not once in my life and this is also the only time I have been rushing like this to get to my flight. Anyone who knows me knows I always like to be early for this kind of stuff! Haha. So I’m just laughing in my head at this point and I kept praying that I would be able to get through and get there in time! I was searched, of course they found nothing and then I grabbed my belt, coat and bags and I was considering running through without my belt on and my stuff all shoved in my arms but I was like ok I think I can take 1o seconds and put on my belt so my pants don’t fall off. Ha. So I did. Probably a good thing. I was wearing a cute toque earlier and had to take it off through security so my hair is all messy and I am wearing dorky classes and sweating as I run through trying to make it… I’m pretty sure some of the people were like I think that girl just woke up or something. It was kinda funny and I made it to the desk and gave them my boarding pass and passport and was laughing because it was quite the experience. The coolest part…my knee didn’t have one bit of pain! I thanked Heavenly Father for that because I know there is no way it just went away on its own. My mom told me a story the other day about the principle of “asking” Heavenly Father for the desires of our hearts…even if they are simple or small. Well today, I asked and he came through for me with not just one request but two. My flight was late! The boarding took a lot longer than usual and so I sat on the plane awhile as things got sorted out. I was pretty happy. The sun was setting during takeoff…and I just felt so incredibly happy and content. I think I get joy out of really little things. This is probably something weird about me, but it’s just me. I was thinking about my life, my experiences, my family, my friends, my upcoming trip and of course about Dane and I just felt so incredibly content. I feel really good about this trip and about being with my friend Abbey. I am getting really used to traveling alone, spending time alone and experiencing all these European things on my own and it is going to be great to spend some time with a friend!! So, the adventure begins…

BON VOYAGE!

The strike continues…

I walked by another nice bonfire today on the way to uni.

Today the school was boarded up. No one around. A bunch of my classmates and I went around to the back to see if we could get in and there were about 5 guys standing there blocking the only open entrance. They looked at all of us and said no one goes in. What is the password. I was standing there like are you serious? I didn’t know how to say open sesame in French except for the “open” so I just continued to stare at them until a lady in my class said we were with the IRRFLE group and he was like that’s the password and let us in. I was laughing so hard. We now have guards at our university. Well no one was there as we all thought, so we all caught the tram, walked for awhile and then caught another tram back to the city center where we all split our ways and said bon voyage to those of us that were leaving!

I got on the tram to come back to my flat and there must have been an elementary school trip going on because there were small children everywhere! I went and stood over by a group of them and the 4 boys sitting there all squished on 2 seats and then motioned for me to take the seat and I was like wow- so cute! They just stared at me and kept whispering things until their stop. The father who must have been helping with the supervision kept giving me looks of “this is too much to handle” and I thought it was really funny. Haha.

I am all packed and ready to catch my train for PARIS and then will be leaving straight to GERMANY tonight. I am already feeling like I might fall asleep so I hope I can make it! I am not one to sleep on the train or a flight. No matter how hard I try it just seems impossible for me to do so.

BON VOYAGE!!

en gréve!!

Thursday – Official Strike Day! Let’s see, where do I start. The teachers didn’t show up for classes today…so that was a waste of time…the school entrances were blocked…and there were bonfires throughout the city with people standing around them doing nothing. Not sure what that is accomplishing. From what I was told, there were a bunch of students around this bonfire earlier at the entrance of my building at the uni. No one was really around when I took this picture. The trams are only running some of their normal routes. I can never make it completely to the uni. Yesterday, there was a group of 200 uni students that all layed on the ground in the city center outside of FNAC (a French store) and laid there for 1 hour to protest the strike! (en greve). It is really crazy. I was going to jump in the group of protesters by the fire and see if I could get a group picture, but I don’t know if that would have been okay. Haha. Ya right!

So because school wasn’t going down, Tina and Chloe and I decided to go eat in the city center and then just walk around. After a hearty brunch of crepes and apple juice we walked around and tried on some clothes at stores that were WAY too expensive to buy. I could never afford any of them. Like 200 euros for a shirt. Yeah right.

Anyways, I felt like a scrub today because I didn’t really get ready, as you can see in my lovely picture with the strikers. Haha. Sorry! I know I should be looking like a model because I am in France and everything, but today was just not one of those days!! It was funny because today I threw on my BYU-Idaho t-shirt because a lot of my stuff is packed and I just couldn’t be bothered to put on something really nice today…and while we were shopping, Tina and Chloe saw my shirt and were like NO WAY- you go to a mormon uni? you are a mormon!! And then they kept saying, it makes sense now why you don’t do anything! Haha. So the cat is out of the bag! Hil is mormon! Haha. They just stared at me really weird after that and I was like so what you aren’t going to be my friend now? And then it was all fine after. Ha.

Let’s see, on the tram on the way back a guy started to speak to me and could hear I wasn’t French…and then he was REALLY interested in talking to me, so he sat down by me and started talking all about Sarkozy and the government and why the strike was so great. He asked what I thought about it, and I told him I thought it was really different and I told him it frustrated me a bit because I couldn’t go to school. He was trying to explain to me how it was such a good thing, and I told him that our opinions were a little different because our cultures were different but that I really respected that they were standing up for what they believed and wanted to change in their country. He wouldn’t stop talking and so when my stop came I felt a bit rude but I pretty much just stood up and walked away while saying, “It was nice to meet you!” and then I took off for home hoping he wasn’t hoping on continuing the conversation by following me.

Tomorrow I hope that uni is on! Right after my class ends, I am going to the train station and I’m off to Paris to catch my flight to Germany and then Sweden Saturday morning. After 5 days in Sweden, Germany is next and then I am back in Paris and then Nantes by the 1^st of November. This might be the last blog post for a few days. Not sure when I will have a chance to post some new stuff. I will try to update this as often as I can with my Sweden and Germany stuff!

My greatest hope is that I can GET to Paris tomorrow with all this strike business and then when I get home it will be settling down. Tonight, I believe the government is responding to the protests. We shall see if all hell breaks loose! Kinda crazy that I am here when history is being made!

Leprechauns, Rainbows and Lucky Charms

Walking to school today felt nice. It was a beautiful day. When I got the uni after a little extra walking because the trams won't take us to the uni anymore, the students blocked off the entrances...me and another girl were like um whatever so we pushed through, opened the door where they had just tried to block it and crawled under some boys and under some desks and chairs in order to get through so we could take our test. I was annoyed that they are doing that and trying to make it so we can't even get our education. I sometimes want to punch them and be like - hey guess what...this isn't helping!

I took my test, and after we did an exercise in groups of 2 to write in French. Our teacher matches us up with someone that doesn’t speak our language. I was put with Yung. He is from China and really nice. I was trying to explain what Ireland was to him in French but he didn’t understand. Suprisingly, the word “leprechaun” wasn’t in my trustworthy French/English dictionary either. Haha. First I tried to explain it by talking about eating lucky charms cereal…then I decided to draw a picture of a rainbow and pot of gold. Nope- nothing. I was telling him in French the whole time it was a little man who gave you a wish if you found his pot of gold. It was not getting through and then I realized wow- I must look like an idiot right now trying to get a Chinese person to understand what a leprechaun is. Haha. Kinda funny.

After class, we were walking through the uni and there is this homeless man who somehow manages to live at the uni. He has bags of his stuff and it’s really sad and he really smells so whenever you walk by him it’s hard to not gag. Anyways, today we noticed he moved!! This is a big deal! Ha, so I took a picture of him. I think he found a lot of new things in the garbage because the garbage men have not been picking up the garbage because of the strike. It has been pretty gross because you walk through the streets and there is just a ton of rubbish EVERYWHERE. It’s like heaven on earth for the homeless people though. I haven’t seen so many happy homeless people in a long time! So maybe that is one positive thing about the strike? Haha.

Tomorrow the government is going to make a decision about whether or not they are changing the retirement age. That is what the whole strike is about. The government changed the retirement from age 60 to age 62 and people are not happy. It seems like more and more is adding to the seriousness of the strike daily.

Something kinda funny – today on the tram, I was standing and there was a man sitting down off to the right of me and apparently I was blocking the sun, so when I moved closer to the door I noticed he immediately was blinded by the sun and put his hand up to guard his eyes. I felt bad so I jumped back over to where I was blocking the sun’s rays from him, him being in my shadow. Then he looked up at me and I just smiled at him. He was a really heavy guy with piercings and spiky hair and I could smell alcohol on him but I was trying to be nice. He smiled back and then I noticed his face just seemed a little brighter. It was kinda funny. But then my kindness ended because my stop came and I wasn’t going to continue providing shelter service for the rest of his tram ride… I didn’t want him to think I was crushing on him or something!

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.

The Sweetest Experience

What a long day! Mondays seem to be long days at uni because I start early and end late. I have a lot of things on my mind at the moment.

First, this morning I realized again how grateful I am to never have to deal with strikes like they have to deal with here. This morning it took me way longer than usual to get to the uni and I had to walk awhile of the way because the tram wouldn’t even go near the uni. The strike has been crazier and crazier as time passes. I was surprised to pass a huge bonfire this morning with a bunch of workers just standing around it…and it was a really weird feeling walking down the tramway with tons of other uni students. All of us, trying to find our way to the uni even though we were all extremely late for our courses. Luckily, the teachers are patient and understand it can be quite a journey to get there. My knee started aching pretty bad as I walked and I just kept thinking, if I can tract with worse pain than this, I can definitely get to the uni with the pain now. And I did!

Class was good…about half of the students weren’t able to come! Tomorrow the strike is supposed to get worse and I have been told it may be nearly impossible for me to make it to the uni. It would take ages for me to walk.

As I was walking down the street with all the other uni students feeling somewhat like I should be holding up a protest sign and shouting out my rage against the French Government ( haha not really ), I was listening to my i-pod and some French music and just felt this overwhelming feeling of wow…hil… you are in the middle of strike. This kind of stuff makes history! Then is got me thinking about my history and where I am today…even how much I have improved in my speaking since I arrived! The other students in my class have even commented to me on how much better I speak compared to the first weeks of class. There are soooo many things I still do not know…and things I cannot expect to learn before my time her finishes, but I am grateful for the time I have been able to be here, experience the culture, and learn as much as I can with the language. I am constantly feeling like my best isn’t good enough and that if I could only just be better…but I realize that during the time I am doing my best. I can’t look back now and say I could have, or should have. Instead its best to look forward with new anticipation and hope for something better. The best part about this whole thing is that the only person that I need to work to impress is my Heavenly Father.

I love the quote from Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin. “Prayer is a private matter between you and Heavenly Father. Both He and you know when you have done what you can. Do not give a thought as to whether or not your best compares with others. In the eyes of Heavenly Father, that doesn’t matter.”

I can remember sitting on the airplane coming home from my mission and thinking…its over. I have finished the mission I was sent to accomplish. And this thought really hurt me inside because I really loved serving. I had so many things running through my mind about the future and how I was feeling completely unprepared for it, but I also remember feeling really peaceful about the way I served those 18 months of my life. Even though I had many weaknesses, and others probably could have done a way better job than me, Heavenly Father was pleased because I gave him my best.

Now- I feel like I am in a similar situation. I am far from home, dealing with a lot of new things, new challenges, experiencing a new culture and trying to learn a language, and sometimes I feel like others could be doing way better than me, but I don’t need to worry or think this way because Heavenly Father isn’t grading on the curve. He’s just pleased if I do my best. And as long as I know I am giving my best, even if come home and am not the greatest French speaker, its okay, because I did my best, and I can always still work on it. Learning never stops.

I listened to talk by Sheri Dew yesterday and she was talking about how we have to learn the language of the spirit. Learning the language of the Spirit is like learning any language. It takes practice, effort, mistakes, repetition…the list goes on. So if any out there wants to learn a new language but doesn’t know where to start…I think that is a great place to start. I am now working on learning 2 languages. The Spirit, and French. And its not going to matter how many languages we speak if we cannot even recognize and hearken to the voice of the spirit. President Monson has said,

"The sweetest experience I know in life is to feel a prompting and act upon it and later find out that it was the fulfillment of someone's prayer or someone's need. And I always want the Lord to know that if He needs an errand run, Tom Monson will run that errand for Him."

I think of this quote a lot. I hope that the Lord can count on more than just Tom Monson to run his errands. I know he can count on me.

Something New

Mosiah 7:33 “But if ye will turn to the Lord with full purpose of heart, and put your trust in him, and serve him with all diligence of mind, if ye do this, according to his own will and pleasure, deliver you out of bondage.”

I read this today and was thinking a lot about it. I feel it is really applicable to me, but I think anyone who reads it and thinks about it will feel that it is also applicable to them, because really, we all need the Savior so much.

Without getting too personal, I just feel like this experience I am having in France is the way Heavenly Father really needed to teach me a few things. Sometimes he needs to take us to other side of the world to teach us something because we aren’t being receptive where we normally live. Or should I rephrase that to say, sometimes he needs to take Hilary to the other side of the world to teach her something because she isn’t being receptive where she usually lives.

Usually when I study the scriptures, I end up writing down a lot of questions that I ask myself in my head. Today, after reading the scripture above, I thought to myself… who do I turn to when I am in need? Who should I be turning to in times of need? What can I do to help myself remember who I need to turn to in times of need? Then I made a short list of a few things I feel will help keep my thoughts focused on my Heavenly Father.

Something I have been really blessed with throughout my life is a constant feeling that I can talk to my Heavenly Father wherever I am, no matter what I am doing. I could be driving, walking to class, sitting in a crowded room, or simply standing in line at the grocery store. I have this continuous conversation with Him. I don’t constantly feel this outpouring of the spirit or anything, but it has really helped me in more way than I can list. It especially has helped me to feel connected to him…that he really is my Father, and I am his daughter, and we have a relationship. Just some thoughts.

I am almost entirely packed. I will soon be moving into the home of a kind family in the ward here in Nantes. It is Saturday, and I figured that since I have school all next week I will make good use of my time and do it now so I can focus on my studies next week. I am really looking forward to the move because it will give me a fresh start that I am needing right now. I will miss Vanessa and Melanie a lot. Vanessa (my old mission companion) is moving to La Reunion to be with her family. I will always be grateful for her and Melanie welcoming me into their home and helping me with the language! But, as always, we move on and new things come our way. I wish Vanessa the best of luck in her new place and Melanie and I will continue to see each other as often as we can here in Nantes.

This upcoming Friday I am heading to Sweden and Germany to continue my adventure in Europe! I am really looking forward to it! Sweden is the country where my great great grandfather Johannes Anderson was born. He joined the church and immigrated to Utah, only to be pushed on to help settle Southern Alberta, Canada. So glad he did. It will be a neat experience to see the place of my ancestors and feel that I am connected in a small way!