Lent

Lent is a season of growth, fasting, and simplicity.  Often times, Lent is viewed as a season of self-denial in hopes of becoming closer to God, and therefore people give up their favorite things, such as chocolate.  This is not the point though, at least not to me.  God never intended for us to be without what makes us happy.  Rather, in this season preparing us for the resurrection of Christ and victory of death, we should strive towards removing ourselves from the world to which we do not belong, and move closer to the Lord who granted us life long long ago.
This year, I am not giving up anything for Lent.  I never grew up doing this, but in my freshman year of college, I decided to give up worry.  Essentially what this meant was I was removing the distraction of worry over trivial things and I would pray instead.  You could say that I was just adding prayer to my life.  I, being the great worrier that I am, was praying a lot during the Spring of that year.  I am doing that again this year.
Praying in color has been my favorite form of prayer since I learned it a few years ago.  This year, every day, I will pray in color.  The last time I prayed in color was last December when one of my friends was close to death.  That time in my life was one of the darker times, yet there is always hope.  Death is not the end, but rather the doorway into our real life.  In this time of repentance and renewal, I can think of no better way for me to grow closer to God than to draw to Him.  I have always enjoyed drawing, and it has often been my best portrayal of what is truly happening in my life.  So, for the next 46 days, I will pray in color every day.

Lent is supposed to help us become more Christlike, called by Eastern Christians theosis.  Athanasius describes this as "becoming by grace what God is by nature."  It is by grace that we have been saved, so let us work together to draw near to the One who created us.

Drumroll please

It's all set.  That's right ladies and gentlemen, I am set to graduate in December.  Now, I just need to hear from CrossWorld to find out if I will be moving to France next year or not!  If not, I need to come up with another option.  But hey, I'm still pretty excited!

Procrastination

Procrastination is a very tricky thing.  It's so inviting and so attractive, but then, after you spend too much time with it, you realize that it had no intention of making your life better.  It only wanted to distract you from doing the tasks you should complete, like returning e-mails to friends, doing homework, sleeping, etc. etc.  But no, Procrastination waltzes in and says "Hey, you look like you need a super sugary, super caffeinated drink to help you focus.  Trust me, it will help.  Would I lie to you?"  Yes, procrastination; yes you would.  While you'd like to think that you really were helping me, you knew that the caffeine and caramel goodness would give me too much energy so I couldn't focus on anything of importance, and would lead me to staying up late, bouncing off the walls.  Why can't you leave me alone so I can get some real work done and then enjoy an episode of Gilmore Girls in peace?  And here, you've done it again.  You've led me to my blog and I have now wasted prime reading time.  Thanks, Procrastination, you're a real pal.

My oh My

How time does fly.

So, I finally made it home from France on Christmas Eve, just in time for Christmas.  I got back to my house around 6pm, after being greeted by my dad, brother, and best friend, in time for tacos and the Christmas Eve service at church.  By the time we were singing the last hymn, I had been awake for roughly 24 hours, and my body was on overload.  It was nearly impossible to stand, hold a hymnal, hold a candle, and sing at the same time.  Oh the joys of travel and busy schedules!
On Christmas morning, I woke up about four times before I finally got up at 7:30.  As no one else was awake, I did a load of laundry, washed the dishes, ran the dishwasher, and wrapped a couple presents.  My dad came downstairs and was deeply confused as to how I had accomplished so much so early in the morning after not sleeping for very long.  What can I say, when it comes to housework, I have some skill.  My sister will claim otherwise, particularly about my room, though.
I decided to keep blogging, even if I'm not traveling at the moment.  I'm still having adventures, so to speak, just not in other countries.  I'm back at North Park now, with my wonderful roommates, and sufficiently busy with homework.  Whatever happened to not having any assignments, essays, or tests?  Man, I miss France. 
Last weekend, I went up to camp for the first time since August.  I forgot how much I truly love it up there in the winter.  I got to have very good and very necessary conversations with the three people who, for some reason, I cannot lie to or keep things from, as hard as I try.  On Saturday, Jenny, Kyle, and Charlotte took me to Eagle River.  We had lunch at a bakery, and then spent a few hours at Eagle River Roasters.  Oh my word!  I love cute coffee shops.  When we got back to camp, Lisa and I went to Chuck's office, and then I went to the Mechers' for dinner.  It was a very good, and very necessary weekend.
Now, I am off to work on homework.  Ah the life of a college student.

Flights

I am currently enjoying the marvelous hospitality of my dear friends, the Hadleys.  My flights were canceled to come home, so now I'm staying here an extra couple days.  I have a flight scheduled to go out on the 24th, which will get me into Chicago around 2:30pm Chicago time on Christmas Eve.  I want to say again how blessed I am to know the Hadleys.  I know I've said it before, but it just needs to be said again.  They not only opened their home to me for two nights, planned to drive me to the Lyon airport, have fed me many a meal, and in general fill me with joy-which has not happened in quite a while.  I don't know what I would do without them.
And now, since my flights have changed around like crazy, they are letting me stay with them another day and night, and are taking me to the train station to get to Paris.  They are without a doubt some of the best people I know.

French Film

Two weeks ago, my professor in my Modern France class was sick.  We thought that we just had a free day, but alas, we had to make up the class that she canceled.  With so little time left in the semester, she decided it would be easiest if we all just went to see a movie.  So that is what we did tonight.  It was more or less about the issue of immigration and its effect on the country (I think).  But, being a French movie, there was a whole lot of taking off clothes.  At one point, the girl is so scattered that she leaves her house completely naked and doesn't realize it until she's sitting on the train.  I think the guy was a taxidermist, and the girl was an activist who would sleep with people to change their political opinions.  He was trying to hide his ancestry (I think he was adopted, but his birth parents were Greek Jews who were killed at Auschwitz) and she is half Algerian, and her father's family was killed in the French-Algerian War.  It was an interesting story to say the least, and I can understand why she picked it.  However, if given an option, I'd probably still watch Les Choristes over any other French movie.

Where did the time go?

As of yesterday, I only have three weeks left in France.  It feels much like the chocolate truffle in my mouth- a little bitter, a little sweet, and so rich.  This is not to say that my leaving is rich, but more my experience has been rich.  Here are some things I have learned thus far:

-Getting from place to place, hurrying along, and not appreciating what is around you is futile.
-Not everyone can be (or should be) as obsessive compulsive as me when it comes to organization.
-This has been proven over and over again to me: God will provide you with a family even when you're away from your own.
-Learning another language in another country is more exhausting than you can imagine.
-Showers don't need to be attached to the wall.
-Saying you are from Chicago now is associated with Obama as well as Capone.
-Americans tend to get a bad rap- and for true reasons.  Let's try to change that, shall we?
-Saying all Frenchmen are rude is like saying all Americans are New Yorkers.
-French cuisine surpasses any other country's cuisine.  No contest.
-It is amazingly difficult to deal with sorrow in another country, but in the end (I hope) it will make you stronger.
-The French are all about public transportation, and it is fantastic.
-French shoes are great.

Obviously, I have learned more: such as correct grammatical phrasing, how pronouncing one letter differently in a word can mean something entirely different, and other educational things.  However, the above list is what I have found to be most important, as least, from thinking off the top of my head.