of family, vampires, & nuns

This past weekend I had the great privilege of another visit from my parents in Lyon. It was fantastic! Full of great views from the basilique on top of the hill, Roman ruins, my parents sleeping in like seasoned 18 years olds, & lots of yummy food. Which, of course, entailed a trip to the Sunday market. My mom really wanted some cheese to smear on the superfluous amounts of bread we were buying and free samples led us to one particularly chatty vendor. It turns out he sells cheese at Trévoux’s Saturday market. Talk about a small world (especially when Trévoux is concerned)!

Speaking of how small this town is… Upon my arrival here, immediately struck by its ‘petite’ size and the extent to which I didn’t fit in, I randomly thought, ‘It’s like I’m Bella in Twilight.’ The irony is that some of my classes are actually reading this book for school. I couldn’t believe it (vampires!), but I was thrilled. So yesterday all of these classes came up with scripts for the first chapter. Then they placed signs around the room for the different places Bella goes to on her first day of school. And then, much to their horror, we filmed the end result! This was compared with the movie version, which I had brought with me. Some of these classes even had me play the main character. So it turns out, I actually am the resident Bella in Trévoux. Does this mean there’s an Edward in my future? Answer: yes!

Yesterday also consisted of a series of near meltdowns. It was just one of those days where the smallest hiccup made me feel like the sky was falling. Particularly concerning a very fast approaching Toussaint. It’s hard to believe that as of this Friday I will already be getting a 2 week break. I have done both everything and nothing, so this trip to the south of France with 3 of my friends who are also living here is much needed and appreciated. But at the same time, none of us have reliable internet, which makes hostel hunting and booking a rather difficult process. The original plan was to spend our first 2 nights in Marseille, but we quickly saw it was not going to work out. But thanks to the magic of Skype, my dad was able to calm us down and found something in Aix-en-Provence instead. He saved the day and our sanity!

In the midst of that whole fiasco, I went to make some Earl Grey for the lovely Lyon mug my parents got for me at Starbucks (sidenote: we Anderson girls love our city mugs!). Suddenly I found myself singing “These Are A Few Of My Favorite Things.” I have no idea what put that song in my head, but the lyrics were so comforting! Desperate for consolation, I decided that I needed more words of wisdom from favorite almost nun. It wasn’t long before my jaw hit the floor when I heard her sing: “Oh I must stop these doubts, all these worries. If I don’t I just know I’ll turn back. I must dream of the things I am seeking. I am seeking the courage I lack. The courage to serve them with reliance, face my mistakes without defiance, show them I’m worthy and while I show them, I’ll show me.” Discouragement has become a pesky little bugger. But the only way to shake it off is to look up and move forward. I can do this. I can do this. I can do this. After all, as Maria sang, “I have confidence in sunshine, I have confidence in rain.”