Dieu est Gracieux!

I’m tired! As I’ve said before, speaking this language makes me very tired! But that’s a good thing! This means that I am working! Today I woke up early as if I had class at 8h20 only to realize that class didn’t actually start until 9h00! Therefore, I went back to bed for thirty minutes! I was eating breakfast with Yves when I decided to return to bed. I told him that I was lazy and he just said, “comme moi!” (like me!) Fear not little (<-sort of) American brother! Apparently being lazy is international!

This morning in class I learned the reason why French and English have so many words in common. This is because of the Greek language. That’s why the words Biology, Physiology, and many other words are the exact same (except with different accents). It was very easy for us English speakers to follow along, but I’m not sure it was as easy for the Asians! They are brave brave souls! I could never do what they have attempted to do!

After class I had lunch again with the same girl from my class. Her name is Marie. She is very nice and enjoys eating cheep like me! When we got into the cafeteria we ran into of her friends from Brazil. She only spoke Portuguese and French, so we got to have another entire lunch conversation in French! It was great! After that Marie and I went into town to look for French dictionaries. I have an English to French dictionary, but believe it or not, translating everything into English isn’t the best thing to do! Now instead of looking up the English meaning to the French words that I don’t know, I will use other French words to describe what I’m trying to understand.

I received an e-mail from a Baylor regent’s wife today telling me that she and her family would be in Paris this month. She was at a regent’s lunch and asked Dub Oliver (Vice-President of Student Life) if he knew anyone in Paris this semester. Dub gave her my information and told her to contact me! So, she did! I’ll probably go see them the last weekend of this month and finally have some more Baylor in my life! SIC’EM BEARS!

I sent Dub an e-mail talking about how fortunate we are to have such a great university! I like the university here in France, but believe me, it is NOT Baylor! The French universities are run by the government, so the students lack an insurmountable amount of respect for their school! They graffiti everything! What’s worse, they TRY to graffiti in English! Today I saw some writing that said “Moses give him us back!” The French have a funky relationship with pronouns, so this often slips over into the foreign languages they speak. Everywhere you look there’s graffiti; on the sidewalks, on the buildings, on the tram, on the statue of the Phoenix (School’s mascot), and even on the walls inside of the buildings! It is SO sad! They have no respect for the school and the people that have to work there every day! I would never want to be a professor at a French university! You would have to pay me a lot! Also, there is no such thing as Student Life. This means that Dub would not have a job in France! Nor would I for that matter! Americans, you have no idea how lucky we are!

Tomorrow I will be having coffee with Rachel and three French people! Rachel was very kind and decided that she would invite me to have coffee with some French people she met, because she knew how much I wanted to meet French people. I am so blessed! That means that this weekend I will be having coffee with French people, having crêpes with French people, and having a Bible study with French people! God is good! Pray that at least one of these people becomes a good friend!