Sunday in the Versailles Ward

I’m back home in Lille which I can’t believe feels normal after only a few weeks. I had a wonderful time for the rest of my stay in Paris. I spent a lot of time with the Juliennes simply talking, cooking, etc… I went back into Paris a second time and reminisced in many of the spots I used to go. I walked through the parvis of Notre Dame, across the island into the Latin Quarter, I ate a Greek pita next to the Seine, took the metro 1 line to the end to see what was there: I was pleasantly surprised to find that the stop “Chateau de Vincennes” really is a castle! I was sad to leave the next morning; Veronique got up early to say goodbye. I adore their family and will always feel like I’m a little bit a part of it. Sunday morning I made the hour + trek out to the Versailles ward and it was well worth it to see my old friends. A few of them had emailed saying they’d be there and look for me. I walked in and instantly saw my sweet friend Maria Babin in the hall. Then in Sunday School two of my close friends from the institute, Thomas Fournier and Adelaide Cunche came in and surrounded me chatting from both sides. They were so welcoming last time I was here and remembered so much of what I’m doing. In sacrament I sat near Valentine and Emilee Causée and caught up with them. It was so much fun to be around so many familiar faces! After church, Maria Babin and her family took me home with them for a delicious lunch and then took me out into the countryside past the city of Versailles. It was a gorgeous drive and we stopped first at the remains of a castle on the hill called the chateau de la Madeleine of Chevreuse. The view was great both from the castle and then also from across the valley when we continued on. We passed an old abbey and several other quaint chateaux that people often rent out for weddings. I had such a nice time with Maria, Samuel and their cute kids!
Now it's monday and I'm back to work. Today I had a second interview with one of the students Elyse who is studying hard for graduate school. Her interviews are June 12th so we have two more appointments scheduled to give her more practice. Today I gave her a more difficult text that talked about the consumer debt in Britain. She said it was hard to understand but when I told her to summarize it for me she got the main points. The students make significantly fewer mistakes when they calm down. I was pleased to see that she didn’t confuse “who” and “which” today but there were other problems that we worked on. I am really enjoying working with the students. The grand majority of them take their studies seriously and realize that their parents are paying a lot of money for a top private university so it’s neat to see them in the process of applying for their next year or a new program. The French have to reapply each year in order to move on. Well, I’m absolutely exhausted…bonne nuit xo