I miss France

I have about 43 hours of work to do before 10am tomorrow, so that's all I'll say for now. But I do miss France and this little guy.

Ms. Helm, facts, please

Finally got called on by my "facts, please" professor today. He really doesn't intimidate me anymore. I've been to see him at office hours a couple of times, and he's really down to earth and nice. So he finally called on me today, and it wasn't even to talk about a case. I just had to say what I'd do as counsel in his silly hypo involving Sean Combs, Rod Stewart, and J-Lo in a nightclub, a gun "accidentally" firing...anyway, you get the idea. I had to say whose names I would disclose in initial discovery. You probably don't know what that means, and that's a good thing. Otherwise I've been in law school for 5 weeks for nothing (I'm exaggerating). Anyway, I'm dead tired and I have tons of work to do, so that's all for now. I just thought you'd all like the "facts, please" update. Oh, and speaking of professors, mine are great. I (along with the rest of my class) literally burst out laughing at least one time per class session (for every class I have). These guys are great orators. So I really enjoy class. Now if I could only have double the time to sit and study the way I'd like to... ;)

My new favorite song

The worship team at Maranatha played this last night and rocked! It was the first time I had ever heard this song, and it was anointed.

Hosanna.

I believe God

It's 2 in the morning, and I've been having civil procedure and contracts breakthroughs all evening. After a fairly UNproductive weekend (during which my books & laptop rarely left my side), the Lord showed me again that it's HIM and not me! I keep getting my hopes up when I have a chunk of time to work on stuff...and then they come crashing down. But then when I only have a little bit of time, I move forward (although that wasn't always the case last week). I'm moving forward, taking ground, because MY GOD has already gone ahead and won the victory for me. I just have to walk in faith, even though I don't see the victory yet. I'm going to come back to this next time I feel discouraged, because it usually means that I've lost sight of Him, focusing on the tempest and failing to realize that He's right there with me.

The Word for today

The godly may trip seven times, but they will get up again. But one disaster is enough to overthrow the wicked.

-Proverbs 24:16

That's all I'll say.

It's Friday afternoon...

and I have a smile on my face. Amazing how great of a mood I am on Fridays around 2:20pm. I don't even dread heading to the library to study. I'm just glad I have all weekend! It was a hard week, but good. I had a contracts breakthrough last night, and I just feel like I have hope again that I can do this. I guess I had hope all along, since my hope is in God, but yesterday afternoon, my soul was feeling pretty downcast, to quote the psalmist (and I had gotten less than 2 hours of sleep). But I'm just going to keep plugging along and trust in God. What other choice do I have, really?

For the Lord is good...

Once again, I have really not even a minute to spare in my study time. I'm not sure exactly why I always choose those moments to blog, but whatever. It's going to be short. I just wanted to say that God is good. That's been on my heart for the past few days, and just a few minutes ago, I was thinking that I have no idea how I'm going to get out of this mess I'm in - behind on my work, way too much work in too little time (specifically, I work slo-o-o-owly, and I'm not able to finish what I need to in the time allotted). For tomorrow and Thursday, I have an insane amount of work. I spent 3 hours on 2 cases last night and just couldn't get it! And those 2 cases are just the tip of the proverbial iceberg. So a few minutes ago, I was thinking that I have no idea how I'm going to get out of this mess, which is getting progressively more messy as the day goes on - and I was actually thinking that I don't know how God is going to get me out of this mess. Because the Word does say, "Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the LORD delivers him out of them all." So after having that little succession of thoughts, I went back to reading my case and trying to figure out what the rule of it was (the thing I couldn't figure out after hours yesterday). I finally got an idea and wrote down what I thought it was, and then turned the page of my book to find that the authors had kind of given it away in the post-case note.

But I got it right.

Made it through week two

I don't really have time to write right now. This is study time. Maybe I'll write more later, but in the event that I don't, at least I put a little something on here. I've been OVERWHELMED since last Tuesday. I'm feeling good, since it's Friday, but we'll see how I feel on Monday morning! The good news is that no matter what happens, Jesus is still Lord. I love that! Anyway, maybe I'll add more detail later; maybe I won't.

Oh, and by the way, I am definitely feeling the competitiveness of law school. I don't like that part. People seem to be playing mind games. So my new strategy is to ignore them. They don't know what they're doing either!

Ciao for now.

Facts, please

I really don't have time to be blogging right now, as it's midnight, and I still have a case to brief. But I couldn't resist, seeing as how it was my first day of law school today. Wow. I knew it was going to be a lot of work, but I didn't think I'd show up unprepared on the first day! We had reading to be done for the first day of all of my classes (I only had two today, so the other two will be tomorrow), and it is NOT a good idea to come unprepared. The professors who use the Socratic method (so far all of them, that I know of) expect you to be ready to discuss. Case in point: at my first class today (Civil Procedure), the professor strolls in. Practically before even reaching his podium, he pronounces, "Mr. Johnson, facts, please." No Is there a Mr. Johnson here? or Where's Mr. Johnson? or Today we'll be discussing the case _____. I'm happy to say that Mr. Johnson (a classmate of mine - not his real name) did just fine. Meanwhile, I was freaking out in my chair that he would call on me to discuss the case that I hadn't finished briefing (despite my staying up until 3am). Sigh...I'm glad I don't have that class again until Monday. Oh, and I didn't get called on today, so I know my time is coming...

Last week of freedom

Yep, classes at the University of Minnesota start in one week. That means that I have 7 short days of sane life left until the craziness of law school starts. I am both excited and nervous about it, but mostly I just want to be as prepared as possible. Looking at it realistically, it's going to be a huge time and energy commitment - we're talking about 12+ hours a day of studying and classes, including weekends. Course grades are based on one final exam at the end of the semester, and there will be no easy A's. Some people who work extremely hard won't even get A's, because, again, there is a curve, and someone's gotta get C's. The only way to get an A is to be better than everyone else. And everyone there is smart and hardworking. From what I know, law school is a competitive, cutthroat environment. We'll see how things really turn out once I get there. In any case, I'm hoping to stay away from that as much as possible. Getting top grades is important to me, but I'm not going to hurt my classmates to get there (meaning I'm not going to lie to people about what I think will be on exams, and I'm not going to hide library books - don't laugh, 'cause it happens). Orientation is Wednesday through Friday of this week. It'll be nice to meet some people. Between that and whittling away at the 27 item to-do list, I should have my hands full through Labor Day. My list did have 28 things on it, but I took one of them off, since it's kind of an ongoing task. I just don't want to forget about it: stop using the word like so much.

Ciao!

National Spelling Bee Champion interviewed on CNN

I burst to laugh

This is just too funny not to post. I just got through writing an email to Jérôme, the dad in my French fam. Sometimes what I'll do is to translate it from French to English using an online translator - it's a quick way to catch typos and spelling errors (because if I see a word that didn't translate, I know there's a problem). I don't use it to check the content. I could care less what the English translation is. I know it won't make much sense in English, and that's fine, because when I speak or write in French, I'm thinking in French, not translating from English. Anyway, I found the translation to be so funny:

Jerome hello! Thank you for the photographs - they are very beautiful. I burst to laugh when I saw your address - jbfurax. I told this history with my mother. I also told him how you described the week of the holidays. It found that very funny! And also I showed him my diploma - she said to me to say to you that she finds it nice like that. I have just spent one week to Philadelphia. It was tiring. I was not ready to as many pass time in a classroom. Each evening with 18h approximately, I wanted to lay down me, because it was 1h morning in France. But now, that is better. I lie down still late as usual. You know what? Already, I met of French here - finally, a Frenchwoman and a guy of Haiti. The Frenchwoman is of Brittany, and it often passes from time there while returning visit to her buddy. It returns at the end of August, but I will see it before his departure. The guy of Haiti currently lives in the house where I was before I would have come to France - i.e., with my church. Therefore, I will continue to speak French. I do not want to lose it (but I think that it is inevitable if I remain there)! How are the children? And you and Domenica? You become insane all the time with all the children? And did you succeed in finding an au pair girl? A Czech, perhaps? Does Lothaire go? I know, that made that 2 weeks that I am not over there, but that seems to me much longer. I hope that all goes well over there.

Deborah

PS: You know, there are bridges as that of Minneapolis everywhere in the United States - you should not say you that one should not come in Minneapolis because of that! But one will see - if you go to New York, I will try to go there too.

Iron sharpens iron

I'm so thankful to be back with the Body of Christ! Last night I got to go back to church for the first time, and it was not only wonderful to see everyone again from a friend standpoint, but it was so refreshing to be around a community of believers that will exhort you and push you on in your faith. Honestly, I went over to France with these notions of being in my own little bubble of faith - what an illusion! We're not meant to go it alone - God put the Body of Christ together for a reason - we need each other, and together, we are the church, the bride that Christ will present to Himself without spot or wrinkle or any such thing! I'm thankful to God that He has made a way through Jesus for me to have communion with Him. I am also thankful that He has given us that community of believers.

In other news, I had a great week in Philadelphia. I learned a lot. It was definitely worth it. I didn't retain nearly as much information as I would have liked, but part of that was due to my extreme jet lag the first part of the week. If nothing else, I got a taste of what law school will be like, and, frankly, I became a bit intimidated! I need to be ready - there will be no room for screw-ups - or not much, anyway. I'm looking at a 12 hour a day schedule, including weekends. Yikes! But I signed up for this knowing that it was going to be a lot of work, and after my relationship with Jesus, it's going to have to become nearly my number one priority. The first year is probably going to be pretty bad. But it's only one year. I'm sure the second year will still be intense, but not nearly as much so as the first year. The third year will probably be a lot more relaxed. It'll be funny to look back at this in a year or two and compare my expectations with what actually happens. I really want to do well in law school. And with a mandatory curve, someone is going to end up with C's. I don't want that someone to be me.

Let's see, what else? It's been two weeks already since I've been back. I seem to have reintegrated and picked up my routine without any problem. When I think about France, it already seems so long ago. I do miss speaking French all the time and am looking to network with local francophones (especially French ones). That's on my to-do list.

Speaking of my to-do list, it's about a mile long. Sigh. Martha. Orientation is in less than 2 weeks. Next week, I'll be accompanying my mom (who's a registered nurse) up north to a camp for mentally and physically disabled patients. She'll be there all week as a ministry. I'll be there just for the first day to help her set up meds for the week. Other than that, I have a lot of little things to do and a lot of people to see - hopefully I'll see YOU!

Later, gators...

I'm home

I made it home on Thursday night. I had heard about the 35W bridge collapse on the radio that morning in France on the shuttle to the train station. I didn't quite catch exactly what had happened - I just heard "Minneapolis," "dead," and "bridge." It wasn't until going through customs in the States that I was able to get the full story from the officer. What a shock.

My time here has gone really quickly. I already have to leave again tomorrow to spend a week in Philedelphia. After that, I have a 2 1/2 week window with no commitments until law school stuff starts, so I hope to get caught up with many of you then.

It's strange to be back. Everyone is speaking English - that's probably the weirdest thing. The keys are all in the wrong spot again on the keyboard. Hopefully I'll get used to that again before school starts. It's also been great to be back - to see my family and some of my friends. It's not the same as I thought it would be, though.

I'd love to reflect on all this a little bit more, but I'm heading to a wedding today, and I need to get out the door pretty soon.

See you today

The 2nd of August has finally arrived. Unsurprisingly, it is nearly 2am, and I have neither finished packing nor wrapped the birthday presents that I'm going to leave for the kids. I'll be leaving for the train station at 5:45am (roughly 4 hours from now). Okay, okay, I'm going...

But just a quick update! I had a great weekend in Brussels. I have lots of good pictures and funny stories, none of which I have time to share now. On Monday, I went to Nantes. It was SO great to see the kids again. I had a wonderful time. For that matter, it was great to see Christian and Caroline again too. They're no longer mad at me for leaving, and I actually realized that I see things a lot differently than I did 4 months ago. The whole visit was pretty emotional. I cried for a long time after I left today (in the train - people were staring). But it's time to move forward.

I changed trains in Paris, and it was 30 minutes behind schedule, so I got back here with not much time to spare (I still had to go and get one gift plus wrapping paper - and get my watch adjusted) and was pretty stressed out and emotional over having said goodbye to my 4 Nantes kiddies. Accordingly, in scurrying around in my flimsy sandals (which are now in the garbage can), I slipped TWICE. Once at the train station in front of a bunch of people (and I actually fell), and once at the FNAC (like a Best Buy/Borders combined) on the escalator, where I sliced my toe open. I really needed to calm down.

After that, I came back here and chatted with Jérôme for awhile (who decided to stay here, since he had enough vacation to last him the rest of the summer). Then we went out and ate moules-frites (actually a typically Brussels dish - mussels and fries), since there wasn't really any dinner here. It was a nice way to say goodbye to Nancy. Jérôme even volunteered to help me get my stuff to the train station tomorrow, so it should be a pretty easy trip. I get to Paris around 8am and fly out a little after 2pm.

All right, I really should sleep some tonight. In less than 24 hours, I'll be in Minneapolis! Can't wait to see you all.

My train for Brussels leaves in 4 hours

...and I'm still not sleeping. Anyone surprised? After 4 days full of packing, moving, cleaning, working, shopping, and cramming in some last-minute Nancy cultural activities (such as the museum dedicated to the famous School of Nancy/Art Nouveau movement), I'm overwhelmed, wired, and...some other emotions that I can't figure out.

This morning, I had to bring all of my enormous suitcases from my apartment over to their place, since my place is rented as of the 1st. My biggest suitcase weighed 40 kilos, well over the 23 kilo (50 pound) limit. I had to think fast about what I was going to leave behind, as all of the Salvation Armies, Red Crosses and such are closed for the holidays, and I had arranged ahead of time with one of the agencies to drop off some clothes anyway - but the lady was only going to be there until noon, and it was after 11. I think I got all my suitcases down to their proper size. We'll see how much manipulating I have to do next Wednesday when I do my final packing.

Tonight, I said goodbye to the kids and to Jérôme and Dominique (since they're leaving tomorrow and won't be back until after I'm gone). Bittersweet: I'm so happy to be going home, but at the same time, I'm going to miss my little Cyriaque (almost 3 years old), especially when he says, "Tu sais quoi? Je t'aime bien. [You know what? I like you.]" and kisses me on the cheek. They gave me a beautiful Swatch watch as a goodbye gift. Mine is 11 years old and pretty beat-up (and not to mention not very professional), and my attachment to it (even going so far as to duct tape the perpetually-breaking band) has been an ongoing joke between the family and me.

After my weekend in Brussels, I'm heading to Nantes. I'll be happy to see them again, and I hope it's not too awkward.

All right, I better go finish packing my suitcase for this week. See you all in less than a week!

12 days left

We just arrived back in Nancy after our week in Provence. I'm SO glad to be back. More details about the trip later, but I'll just say that it was a very long, hot, somewhat frustrating week. No worries, though. We all made it back in one piece and are still friends. I have a lot of things to blog about but no time tonight. Hopefully I'll have a little bit of time this week, but time is running short. It's currently Saturday night (almost Sunday). I'm leaving for Brussels early Friday morning. Since the family will be leaving for their second vacation in Brittany that day, I'll be saying goodbye to them on Thursday night. I'll spend the weekend in Brussels and then take a train to Nantes that Monday. I'll be spending 2 days in Nantes visiting the other family, and then I come back to Nancy late Wednesday afternoon to prepare for my return to Minnesota the next day (of course I have to leave at 5am). In short, I'm coming home in 12 days!! I can't wait, although I'll have to. More soon...

I'm coming home in 3 1/2 weeks!

I remember writing a blog called "...I'm leaving [for France] in 3 1/2 weeks!" And it wasn't that long ago (well, nine months). Crazy. Time is flying. The rest of my stay here could be like a vacation. Interestingly enough, it practically will be. Thursday, I'm heading down to Provence with the family. As much as I prefer the north, it'll be great to experience the sunny south in its best season, summer. We return to Nancy a week and a half later, and the following Saturday, they leave for Bretagne (west of France, just north of Nantes). Since I'll be coming home that next week, I won't be going with them. Instead, I'll use that time to visit the family in Nantes. I don't really want to stay for 5 whole days there, and I haven't decided exactly what I'll do with the rest of the time (2-3 days). I've thought of going to Germany or Belgium. We'll see. There are also a few cities nearby to Nancy that I plan to visit.

I can't wait to see you all. Again, as I'm leaving for Philadelphia for a week right after I get back, it may be closer to the middle of August until I see some of you.

I've been reflecting a lot lately on my experience here in France. I'm sure once I get back, I won't even have time to think about it. I'm still mulling over it all; maybe I'll have some thoughts to share later. Things that come to mind are I didn't make enough of this experience and I can't believe I'm leaving already. And then there's Look at everything I've learned and I'm so ready to go home. It's confusing. I'm sure I won't get it all figured out, but a little analysis can't hurt, right?

Ciao for now...

Things

Things are going great here. I never thought that I could feel this comfortable with a French family. In Nantes, I felt uneasy all the time. When we would eat dinner together on Sundays (pretty much the only time we all had dinner together), I felt really out of place and on edge. That feeling never went away. When I left, that was even something they pointed out to me and for which they criticized me. Arriving in Nancy, I felt instantly less uneasy than I had felt in Nantes, but I still didn't feel comfortable. This past week, I realized that not only do I feel comfortable with the family, I enjoy being with them. It's a natural progression as you get to know people. For various reasons, that never happened in Nantes.

I thank God for intervening in this situation. I'm planning to enjoy my last month here. Coming home in 4 1/2 weeks!