Hello dearest friends and family!
I've started this blog so that I can keep up with the stream of e-mails and messages I've been receiving from you all. I'm so grateful to have such a wonderful support network in both Cedar Rapids and Chicago! However, it has been difficult to send people individual updates about my travels, so I hope that this blog helps. :) I will attempt to post something here every other week to keep you updated.
I've been in Europe almost 5 weeks already! It has gone by incredibly fast because I've enjoyed it so much. I climbed up 700+ steps (and rode an elevator) to the top of the Eiffel tower, wandered through the enormous collection of artwork at the Louvre, explored the beautiful churches of Sacre Coeur and Notre Dame, and navigated the hidden "passages" that cut in and out of the Parisian boulevards. My class spent a week in The Netherlands and I got to explore the cities of Amsterdam, Utrecht, Almere, Rotterdam, Delft, and a national park near Arnhem. We stayed in houseboats, rode a ferry through the canals of Amsterdam, and saw SO many cool buildings!! I also got to spend a lot of time with my wonderful sister, Abby, because she is working in Amsterdam right now for Shelter City (a Christian youth hostel).
Though I've missed my New Covenant and InterVarsity families the past few weeks, I've started getting involved in a church here called The American Church in Paris. They have a young adult group that hosts pizza parties every other Tuesday and a multi-generational study called "The Gospel in Life" on Thursdays. I've enjoyed branching out of my "IIT clique" to meet people at the churc
h from all over the world. Though this church, I also found out about a homeless shelter in the 15th district of Paris. I'm reeeeally excited to begin volunteering there in October! I'll be baby-sitting infants and toddlers while their mothers take French classes from the shelter.Overall, I've really enjoyed my classes here. My studio problem is to design a "living collective," which can be translated for you non-architecture types as some type of an apartment building. I'm working on developing a program that serves poor families and helps them attain a permanent residence in conjunction with starting a small business. If you have seen anything like this before, please let me know! I'm still very much in the brain-storming stage of the project.
The last thing worth mentioning is that I have not found peanut butter in Paris! PB = a staple in my diet. Thankfully, my parents sent me 2 big jars through my sister and I've been thoroughly enjoying them this week. Thank you mom and dad!!
A bientôt!
