Top fears for this trip:
- Getting lost while alone
- Getting trapped on an escalator by a shoelace and having a limb torn off/mangled
- Running out of money and starving/being homeless/getting trapped
- Not making it in time to my flights
- Being rejected/not having or making friends
- Sounding dumb and/or not being understood
Well, at least I wasn't alone the first time plans went awry today and we got lost. Actually--surprisingly enough--I was the calm one.
Basically, if it weren't for prayer and sticking together and sticking to original rendezvous plans, today would've turned out much differently. Although I'm glad we didn't go with the backup plan created after resolving a couple metro issues, we probably should've been more specific in our planning. Let's just say that in the morning I went north toward Pontoise rather than south to Versailles, which cost us an hour, and then later I and my friends waited for each other for 2.5 hours, not realizing that the other party was just 30 feet away, except I was inside the gate and they were outside. Had they gone with the backup plan, I would've been left alone (they had checked inside the gates and were about to give up until they found me on the 3rd check!), but had I listened to that feeling I had more than a couple of times to look outside the gate, I would've found them. But now I know the metro system better, and they had time to talk to a man from Senegal, which is where they go next week for a study abroad. Both times we finally met up, we were grateful and acknowledged that it was an answer to prayer, and we were muy reconaissantes in our prayers today!
While we were still blissfully unaware of taking the wrong metro, I did catch a pic of the Tour Eiffel with the Seine!
I did make a vid while I waited, but I need to figure out how to make it compatible with this, so that is TBA.
In my walking around, I saw a church, and I loved what it said on the front: "DIEU est esprit/Il faut que ceux qui l’adorent/L’adorent en esprit et en vérité." (God is spirit. It is necessary that those who worship him do so in spirit and in truth.[underlining added])
Oh, and while I was waiting, I realized how monotone (monochromatic) the French are in their dress, especially in comparison with the new Disney stuff and real-life Hindu saris. Oh, and the British are very proud of their identity ;)
In other news, I Skyped with my best friend from home who is in Chile! And I Google-called my older sister. And I chatted with my Pappy. And said hi to my oldest brudder. Which means I have now made contact with all my immediate family members since my arrival on Tuesday! And now it is almost 3am. Bonne nuit!
PS Alma 16:17 helped remind me of my ultimate goal for being here and of what should be a motivation for me to learn languages.
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