Thursday I had an appointment at the OFII Office to get a medical exam so that I could get some sort of Visa to be able to get a Social Security number in France... ya it was weird but I had to miss my first day of class for it. Ugh! This class moves so fast that I cannot afford to miss a day. Dumb French office... Now to play catch up!
On Friday, my host mom twisted her ankle pretty bad so I went down to the pharmacy and bought her some crutches. A French success to add to the books!
Saturday morning, I woke up at the crack of dawn (literally before the sun rose) to make a long trek out to St. Nom-la-Bretech where my new piano teacher lives! A sweet lady from my ward has agreed to take me on as a student and I am so grateful! More than happy to make an early morning adventure out of developing a talent (although I don't know if it's considered a talent that I have yet). We shall see. I'm so excited to learn, though! It wasn't until I got to France that I really ever had a desire to learn an instrument. Maybe some of it came from the fact that I may not be in college learning like the rest of my friends but I am in a foreign country learning so much more about life that I just wanted to add another dimension to that. French classes and piano classes- this is awesome.
Then Saturday night, I made another trek across Paris to Champigny where my friend, Emily lives. Hannah, Emily, and I were lucky enough to be able to watch the first session of General Conference together (somewhat) live! General Conference is a semi-annual broadcast that my church directs across the entire world over the TV, Internet, and radio where we have the opportunity to hear messages from our Prophet and Apostles. They deliver inspired talks that are so uplifting and soul-stirring that it might as well be Christmas for me. I love General Conference! While it is aired live in Salt Lake City Saturday morning and afternoon, and Sunday morning and afternoon, we wanted to watch it live in the evening since we are quite a few hours ahead of Utah.
There are a lot of traditions that families have for General Conference mornings; certain foods to eat, activities to do before-hand, pajamas to wear... You name it. Us girls were missing our family traditions so we all brought a little bit of our own together and made some new ones. Hannah has a fabulous "mug-cake" tradition that she started last year which I will probably keep alive. I was missing my family's biscuits and gravy with Pillsbury Grands Flaky biscuits that pop out of a can but they don't sell those in France so I opted for some can-popping croissants and a homemade quiche! Yum! Emily got some crepes to share and we stuffed ourselves with cookies, chips, and M&Ms. I was feeling pretty sick by the end of the night hahaha.
We got to watch the first and second session and by the end of the night, we were exhausted, loopy, and full of sugar. It was near 1 am so me and Hannah headed back to her place in Paris where I stayed the night because I missed the last train to Sevres. So a night on an air mattress and talking until 4 am (!!!??) led to a trashed Julia. But that's okay! I love having such awesome friends here, especially friends in the church who love the gospel as much as I do. Gosh, I truly believe we are all brothers and sisters in the Lord because I sometimes get glimpses and feelings of "home" even half a world away.
Sunday morning was nuts. I think I got like 5 hours of non-continuous sleep but, you know what? I'm young and just had a flippin' amazing night of conference so I am happy as a clam. Hannah and I took advantage of the beautiful morning and we went and found the cutest street in Paris: Rue Cremieux. It is, as I described it, the "San Francisco of Paris".
A picture of me (extremely trashed and tired looking) finding a "Public Toilette" sign which blew my mind. Public bathrooms in Paris? Unheard of. It might have been the lack of sleep talking but I was so happy to make this discovery...
In desperate need of a shower and brushing of the teeth, I went back home and watched the Priesthood session of conference and took a nice long nap. After making a banana walnut mug cake, of course! Good Sunday:) Even better sessions of conference!
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