Laura Goes to France!

Monday, May 25, 2009

Ramatuelle & Gassin

Today we took an excursion as the whole group, planned by the professors, to a couple other places in the French Riviera. We took a bus to Ramatuelle, an ancient medieval city built somewhere near the 8th or 9th century. On the way there, I talked to one of the girls, Lauren, for most of the ride (until I got carsick at the end :\ ). Her stepdad is was in the hospital for the past month or so, and yesterday he died. Obviously she is very shaken up by this, mainly because she can't be at home to be with her mom during this hard time. We just talked a lot about the situation, and her life in general. It was really cool to get to know her and hear some of her life story. If anyone wants to pray for her family's emotional and financial situation that would be awesome.

The city of Ramatuelle was pretty, but I felt like we didn't get to see very much of it. We were only there for maybe 1/2 an hour and we had a tourguide that really only told us a few things. Afterwards we went to lunch at an amazing outdoor restaurant called Couleurs Jardin, meaning colorful garden. It was so beautiful - right on the coast of the Mediterranean! There was a big tree growing through the middle of the outdoor deck and there were colorful Gerbera daisies on the table. We had fresh bass that was delicious. Afterwards we took a walk down to the beach, and then went to another city called Gassin. Gassin sits on top of a mountain and has a beautiful overlook over valleys and mountains. You can even see as far as the sea. We walked through the most narrow road in the entire world, looked at cute little boutiques, and I bought a painting at an artist's shop. One of my favorite parts was walking down the road with all of the outdoor cafes and smelling hundreds of fresh flowers. They were everywhere!

We got home and I literally put my stuff down, changed into my swimsuit, and hopped in the pool. It felt amazing after a long day in the sun! I don't think I've seen a cloudy day yet. And I'm not really wanting to. Tonight we played some card games over at the guys' apartment. I really feel like our group is starting to bond. It's hard to get to know everyone when there are 21 people here, but I want to at least try to get to know as much as I can about people. We spend so much time together and do everything together so I think we are starting to get really comfortable. Some of the girls I've met here are really great, and I'm already looking forward to continuing our relationships back at Tech. This trip has already stretched me so much, and I feel like it will keep stretching me further. I feel like God is really teaching me how to love people, and not in the way that I want to or the people I think I should love. He's teaching me to love those who are hard to love, those who I just happened to be placed in a room with, and even those who intimidate me. I've gone back and looked at my prayer journal since I've been here, and every single day I've thanked God for this opportunity to be here because it's so fun and such an amazing experience. I guess you could say I'm enjoying it!

That's all for now. I want to post pictures but it won't let me load them on here. Here is a link to my Facebook album. Wednesday to Friday we are going to an island called Port Cros, so I will probably post after that!

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