Saturday and Sunday...

Yesterday started out disappointing but turned out to be great!  We woke up at 6:30 in the morning to get ready and catch a train by 7:20 to head to Montpellier.  We got there around 10:30 in the morning and just began to wander.  We didn't have a map, and apparently we exited the train station on the wrong side because everything was DEAD.  We were walking around asking each other why everyone thought Montpellier was so great.  WE followed signs toward the port, thinking that would be right on the Mediterranean.  We walked...and walked...and walked.  We finally got sick of wandering aimlessly and asked a lady on the street if the sea was close.  She told us not by foot, we'd need to backtrack and take a bus.    While backtracking we ran into a Carrefour, it's a Walmart-type grocery store that's everywhere over here.  We bought snacks/food for the day and before leaving asked some guys who looked like they were going to the beach how to get there.  They looked at us really weird and weren't very helpful at all.  We just continued walking the way we had been and eventually ran into their tramway.  It looked closed so we stopped in a restaurant and asked yet again how to get to the beach.  The guy was more helpful than the previous two and then while waiting at the tramway we ran into a woman who asked us if we knew how to get to the beach.  It was cool to be on our own and using French to figure things out again.  The woman was either from England or Ireland (I hear Anglaise and Anna heard Irlandaise) but she kept talking to us in French which was cool.  She helped us figure out what needed to happen and we were finally at the beach by 12:30 or 1...over two hours after trying to get there.  But it was worth it to be in the Mediterranean one last time!  On our bus ride to the beach we met two girls who were backpacking through Europe.  They were from CA, but one of them goes to school at NYU.  They weren't very friendly though...whatever.

We stayed at the beach until 4ish and just sun bathed and talked and swam in the sea.  The water was SO warm like in Nice, it was almost like floating in bath water.  I don't think our pool at home gets that warm, it's weird.  It was a really hot day so we kept switching from laying out to the sea.  And I was dumb and forgot our sunscreen (I'm not always thinking clearly at 6:30 AM...) so my face got burnt, but other than that nothing got burnt.  My hair is getting super light on top though.  I haven't had this many highlights since I was in middle school and had nothing better to do with m summers but run free in the neighborhood!  We mad a goal to leave around 3:30 so we wouldn't fry but as we were thinking about going a guy heard us talking and came over to talk to us.  He works for a photo shop in the town by the beach we were at and goes around the beach taking pictures of people having fun at the beach, kind of like the people at amusement parks who are annoying and always want to take your picture so you can go buy it from them later.  We figured why not and had a mini photo shoot on the beach.  It was fun and i wish we had the pictures on our camera.  And the guy was really nice, he spoke really good English.  He said he went to Michigan State for a year while in college and I think he was in the US another time, when he spoke English he sure did not sound like a French person speaking English, it was almost like talking to someone from London. He gave us his card so we could go to the shop and buy the pictures if we wanted to, but we weren't around anymore by the time they would have been available.

After the beach we headed back into town.  We were already drained from the sun but we knew we had to find the Place Comedie.  It again took us way long than it should have but we eventually made it after a break for fanta, free wifi, and AC in McDonald's.  We only had a little over an hour in the place but it was enough.  It was really cool.  There was a market going on (our favorite!) and we bought a couple of souvenirs for ourselves and certain people at home.  And there was a reggae group singing a version "surely goodness and mercy shall follow me..." it was sweet!  We soaked up Montpellier a little bit, took some pics and made our way back to the train station.  It was a good day :-)  We had almost two hours in Lyon, our train from Montpellier got into Lyon 5 minutes after one left for Givors and for some reason another one didn't leave for another hour and 55 minutes :-( But it was ok, we just walked around outside for a while.  We walked past the bar where we ran into Miros (my roommate) and watched the first half of the US-Ghana game on our way back from Marseilles.  We just walked around town and everywhere we went something reminded us of someone from Chambery.  It's kind of sad, but I can't even be too sad.  I was just smiling all day while remembering with Anna.  I am so lucky to have been a part of these peoples' summers and I can't help but smile when I remember.  I think it's a good place to be in.  And out of the group of about 8 of us who hung out a lot I know that I will see them all again.  And I told Anna to just picture us when we all see each other again, it will be amazing and ridiculous and none of our friends at North Park are going to want to be around us, haha.

We shared a Kebab and then caught our train back to Givors.  Mark picked us up from the station and when we got back to their house I took a MUCH welcome shower.  Then Anna and I spent more time on our computers in one sitting than either of probably have.  There were just all these new pictures people had put on facebook and comments and Anna and i again spent the next hour or two telling stories and laughing.  I'm so glad she's here too.  We had a good balance this summer.  We had the same group of bigger friends (Us two,Yvonne, Hope, Liz, Brooke, Jeffrey, Mike, and Michael) but within that group she had people who would always want to stay out and dance with her, while I had people who would have rather have just hung out and talked.  But then the whole group of us would hang out a lot during the day, so we know the people who we were talking about in our stories, but sometimes we have different stories that the other one wasn't there for, but because we know the people they're still hilarious. 

This morning we went to Mark and Joy's church.  It was great!  I absolutely love going to church over here.  And it just keeps getting better and better as we've been here longer because it is really easy to just listen and understand nearly everything.  And we were telling mark and Joy how we like churches over here because they feel more intimate and close-knit.  Like the worship and singing lasts longer, and then there will be a time for anyone in the congregation to just pray out loud and thank God for whatever he's been doing in their life, or to pray for something they're going through.  Not to say that doesn't happen in the states, it does, but just as freely or as frequently.   There was a time for visitors to stand up and introduce themselves, so Anna and I stood up and Joy offered to introduce us.  She said we were students from America and that we had been studying over here for 6 weeks.  And then because she had said that a couple people came over to talk to us after church.  It was cool.  One of the guys had lived in the US from 6 years growing up and he was really excited to speak English with us, and then another one had studied somewhere in Illinois for a year a little while ago.  It was fun to talk to them, someone and then one of their friends came over to tell them about something that was going on this week, and she said me and Anna could come too, but we'll be in Italy.  It was really nice of them though!

After church Mark and Joy brought us back and we had a quick lunch together.  They left because Joy is hosting a quilting camp in a nearby town this week and she had to go get set up for it.  Anna and I have just been hanging out, we did the dishes and then did laundry for only the second time since we've been here....amazing!  We're just taking it easy for the day.  Later we're planning to pack up so we don't have as much to do next weekend when we return.  Tomorrow we're headed to Italy ( the land of my people :-P ) until Friday or Saturday.  I'm not bringing my laptop just because it will be one less thing to worry about.  But I will have my itouch so I might update this if I feel the need...at the very least my facebook status will be updated whenever I can find internet!