I thought I'd start a blog to keep you posted on my next three months here in Toulouse. This way you can stay updated and get some insight on what's going on with me here! I'll try not to bore you or confuse you with my scattered thoughts. :)
I can't believe it's already been a full week since I've arrived; it seems like time flies by here! This past week has mostly just been about getting settled in and getting to know the city and meeting some of the people I'll be working with here. Michael and Emilie Gibbons are the team leaders- I've only spent a small amount of time with them so far but I'm excited to get to know them better and learn much about loving and serving the Lord from them. I've spent most of my time with Becky, a German intern, and Will, an American intern. Will has been awesome showing Becky and I, the newbies, the ropes on how to get around and survive here. And it's been great having Becky to explore and get lost in the city with as we try and get acquainted with everything here. Just in the first week I feel like we've all gotten to come to know quite a bit of each others personalities, similarities, and differences. There have been lots of funny experiences already cause we're all very different! But I'm looking forward to getting to know them a lot more these next 3 months. I've definitely been blessed to meet them.
I've started to get acquainted with the bus, metro, and bike system they have here so I can get around. I love how I can go everywhere via public transportation and walking instead of having to drive myself around everywhere. I've also gotten to explore a lot this last week and have found Toulouse to be a beautiful place!
Aside from the exploring, I've also signed up for my french courses, moved into my dorm at the YMCA residence, and begun learning how to live on my own. My french courses start on the 30th of September- definitely excited about them, but also something y'all can pray about! It's hard to try and speak French all the time and not speak English with the other interns, but it's something we try to do so we can practice our French. I'm looking forward to all the French I'll be learning from the courses, but I'm also hoping and praying that it will be an opportunity to make friends and start building relationships with people I meet through my classes. It's a bit difficult to meet people at the San Francisco (the YMCA) because most of the people staying there are men, but there are a few other girls/women that I'm hoping I can maybe get to meet and hopefully make friends with. I was actually introduced to an Albanian guy who stays there, and I met the cook who is Spanish-- this means that this past week I've been speaking English, French, Spanish, and Albanian so my brain is basically on language-overload and is in total chaos. I love it. My room at our residence is quite small, but it seems to be just the right size and I have a big window that makes it feel a little more spacious which I'm very grateful for. I'm all the way up on the 5th floor, (or the 4th floor- because they have an odd system here in France where they think the 1st floor is actually the 0 floor. PSH.) so I get my exercise going up and down the stairs all day. I've also managed to go grocery shopping a couple times and have made myself sandwiches for lunch almost every day this week. I'm already missing my mom's home-cooked meals! Hopefully I'll get better at cooking within the next 3 months.
There's about a million other things I could write about, but I'll leave it at this for now.
I'll just finish off with some prayer requests I have and a few pictures. :)
Pray Requests would be:
-For determination to speak French and to try and avoid speaking English.
-That I can get to know my way around.
-For my classes that start on the 30th. That I can learn a lot, make friends, and be a light.
-The processes of getting to know all the other team members- that I can be a blessing and be blessed!
-To have the courage to be bold for the Lord.
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| My first coffee in France :) |
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| The view from my room in the afternoon and at sunrise |
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| My room :) |
Thanks for all your support and your prayers. They're such a blessing and a huge encouragement.
Love y'all!
-Mary Andrea
