Days 33-36 A brief summary to be completed gradually

Sleep or blog--the toss-up of the last few days.  I end up being out with other YSA people and get home sometime between 11pm and 1am...and when I have school or church or something the next morning, it gets fatiguing to stay up until 2 or 3am every night to keep this baby updated.  Sadly, now that I've opted to slack a bit (even though I still ended up staying up late most nights), I am quite behind, and I've taken somewhere between 150-200 photos, too!


Day 33 (Friday): Class until 1pm!  Finally, after a month of being at this school, I found out that my teacher had recommended I move up a level!  The downside is that they changed teachers and Andre wouldn't be my teacher anymore.

I came home, ate lunch, and decided to take a nap.  For some reason, my body keeps waking me up after short 1-hr naps.  This time, I resisted and went back to sleep for a few more hours.  Yeah, I needed that 4-ish hour sieste.  :D

That night, we were supposed to go to the Louvre for the YSA activity to see a Rembrandt exhibit on Christ, but it fell through, so we had a different activity at the institute building.  And because Bonnie was leaving soon and the Louvre is free on Friday nights, we decided to give it a go anyway.  It wasn't far, and we found out that it was already closing, so we were disappointed, yes, but the beautiful sunset visible from the Louvre made it worthwhile all the same.  Besides, I was finally able to take a picture with the modernity of the museum juxtaposed with the oldness of the palace, just as I'd wanted to do when I came with my friends my first week here!  Okay, so it could've been done more artfully, but I did my best for being on an escalator!  In fact, I had just almost fallen over because I didn't notice the first flight of the escalator was ending, I was so caught up in taking a good picture!

I love the pyramid's shadow in line with the palace's entrance and the fountain.  Try finding the lamp and its shadow!

Beauty, eh?

Day 34 (Saturday): After much deliberation, Bonnie and I decided to follow through with our plan to go to Fontainebleau, south of Paris, even though three other friends bailed on us.  It being Saturday, I was able to buy a super cheap metro pass, un ticket jeune, and we were pleasantly surprised to find out upon our arrival that we could wander the chateau freely--at our pace and without paying!  I suspect it was because we came the weekedn of an art festival.  I have certainly been blessed to have been able to get into so many places for free or not at full price, thanks to friends, my school, and good timing!

Even though Kenny talked up Fontainebleau, it was no Versailles.  However, I enjoyed finding the Latin in the decor and looking for the symbolism in the art.  At one point, Bonnie asked how I knew so much about the chateau.  Well, combine a bit of Latin knowledge, un petit peu of French history, and an observing eye, and you can learn a lot.  I probably would've learned lots more if I'd been willing to pay the 1 euro for the audio guide, but there were signs in each room anyway!  Besides, I find it exhilarating to be able to decipher meaning.  Oh, and the chateau was filled with secret doors and hallways!  Bonnie said they were for the servants.  I wish my camera were better at taking pictures in dark areas without flash when flash is forbidden...

I spy with my little eye two sets of doors...

I spy...the musicians' cave in the chateau?!  

I spy a cool but ugly door to match a not-so-cool and ugly wall.

I spied "DEVM TIMETE REGEM HONORIFICATE," (something about fearing God and honoring the king), and then I spied a couple of emblems that led me to realize I was standing in front of the chateau's chapel  Can you figure it out?

Unfortunately, the downside of finding such treasures in the lush, green, remote countryside locales is that one must return to the city.  I came back just in time to head over to a baptism.  I would've only been a bit late, but  I didn't see the girl who was going to meet up with me, she hadn't called to say she was late, so I went and tried to find my way to this church building I'd never been to and that she'd given me brief directions to.  One problem: she told me to take a left at McDonald's and go under the bridge.  What I didn't realize is that she meant to take a left with McDonald's behind me!  That mistake led me to walk under a bridge, which area was bustling with a homeless and poor vendors' market.  Was it better to be with these people that scare me or just around the corner where there was almost nobody??  I was practically out of minutes, missed her two phone calls some 10 minutes later only two minutes after she'd called, and I used my last text to ask her to call me back.  After being approached by a few men, waiting ten minutes, praying, and almost crying while simultaneously telling myself to calm down because I could always use the metro to simply go home to escape the freaky area--after all this, she called me!  Thank you, Heavenly Father, for hearing my prayers and protecting me!  Meeting at the metro stop we'd originally planned on doing, she led me to the baptism.  I made it in time for the closing prayer, congratulating, and the food.  I could've joined some of the YSA women in a genuine French bridal shower (enterrement de la vie de jeune fille=burial of the young woman's life), but I was pooped and disillusioned with the city.  All I wanted was to go home and find refuge in my room, maybe call family or watch stuff online.  I fell asleep soon after coming home, sleeping off the afternoon's excursion to the suburbs and the evening's abrupt reality awakening and subsequent security of being with other LDS members.  It was a much-needed nine hours of sleep!

To be continued with Day 35 (Sunday) and Day 36 (Monday)...