An Ending Followed by a Beginning

Hello everyone! It is Sunday morning and I am trying to write about my week before I have to go say goodbye to a few really close friends. I will get to this part a little later but lets first talk about last Sunday. It was July 14th which is “Prise de la Bastille” Day aka French Independence Day. So I celebrated the day by going to a close town called Annecy to watch some amazing fireworks over the lake that the town is found by. We got to the town pretty early so we had some hours to walk around the city. The first thing that I realized was all the people, tourists. But the second thing I realized was how beautiful the town was. There is a river that runs through it but size wise its not a big town therefore it feels like you are always by the water. I walked around with a friend named Sara who I hadn’t really met yet. The whole day we pretty much talked about our lives and our dreams for the future. After some ice cream and a packed dinner, we found our spot in a huge open grass park to watch the fireworks that lasted about 30 minutes! It was a beautiful show but it sure did make me miss home considering most of the time that I watch fireworks is with family and friends that I grew up with. Of course here are the photos from this day!

The next day was another one of my favorite days and embodied the adventurous side of me has came out this summer. I went rock climbing, “via ferreta”. We went to the mountain that is close to Chambéry and that is on the side of the lake so we got some beautiful views! The hike up to the rock was pretty steep and long but we were all in high spirits so it went fast. When we got to the rock our guide, Thiery, decided that I was going to go first so next thing I was strapped up to the cord and climbing onto the rock. Its not as hard as I thought it was going to be mostly because they have feet and hand things already put out and you don’t have to find any holes to climb. While we were on the rock I felt like I wasn’t actually on a rock that went straight down and really far down. We were able to see lots of mountains and the lake. The best part was there wasn’t any trees in the way and it felt like I could reach out and touch the lake. Here are a few photos of the day.

On Tuesday we had a special dinner on the Lac du Bourget. This was such a bitter-sweet moment because it meant that it was about time to start saying goodbye. But it was such a beautiful ride on the lake being able to see the sunset. We had a great French dinner, wine, and café. This was probably one of my last legit French dinners considering I don’t really know what I will be eating when I get to my mission work. So I was able to do some dancing on the top of the boat with some dear friends of mine. Great conversation with my two Mexican sisters. It was really nice to see everyone dress up and enjoy each others company. My photos of the night follow.

Wednesday. I finally got to have a BBQ for the first time this summer! Okay. I take that back but it was in the park and we played games such as volleyball and ultimate frisbee. We ate chicken and sausage. Its not really different from the food back at home because the BBQ’s I have consist of food the doesn’t cost much at all. We swam in the lake some and then went to wait for the bus. But as we were waiting for the bus, a huge storm came upon us. We got drenched and waited in the storm for about 20 minutes for the bus! But it gave us one more adventure together, so I enjoyed it very much. Thursday I didn’t do much other than hang out with friends and talk about the adventures we had together. This is when I realized how much I am going to miss my friends that have became my family. My wine Wednesday crew: Avery, Erin, Stewart, Adam, Gabby, and Nora. My Barcelona girls: Breanna and Wendy. My French class helper: Madison. My fellow future teachers: Kayla and Scott. My Mexican girls: Nora and Jacky.

In class on Friday we did a scavenger hunt in the town of Chambéry which was a great way to finish up the courses and my time here. Friday night consisted of saying goodbyes, packing, and hanging out with friends. Saturday we went up the mountain in our town and sat in the sun waiting for the Tour de France to come by. It was such a beautiful but hot day in the sun. It was so much fun to hang with friends and exciting to see the cyclists come up the mountain. I am glad that I got to see the 100th Anniversary of the Tour de France. It went by really fast though. From front to end of the cyclists, it only took ten minutes or so to pass. Here are a few photos from the day.

Well today is the day that mostly everyone is leaving and so am I. I saw off a few people this morning at the train station and then I went to church. Now I am finishing off with my packing and cleaning (and of course, finishing this blog). I am heading to Geneva airport this afternoon and then from there I will be picked up by a lady from the Le Rucher Ministries. Le Rucher is in a small town called Cessy which is close to Gex. It is not far from where I have been for the last seven weeks, only a little bit north. I am not exactly sure what I will be doing but I know that I will be working with another group from Holland so it will for sure be an interesting two weeks. I would just like to ask prayers for my nerves that are going because I am going somewhere new. I will let you guys know more about my time in Le Rucher soon. I am not exactly sure if I will have steady internet but I am hoping so. So goodbye for now and I will post as soon as I am able to. Love you all!