A glimpse of the Son.

"I will praise the Lord who counsels me.
Even at night my heart instructs me.
I have set the Lord always before me,
Because He is at my right hand,
I will not be shaken."
-Psalm 16:7

This morning I was awakened by the sound of clanging bells, and sunshine streaming through the window. After checking my watch that is one hour off, I hopped out of bed and raced to put clothes on. Then after grabbing a banana and greeting Madame, I took Nina for a walk. The reason for my hurridness this morning has simply been that we have had rather crappy weather in the two weeks that I have been here. When exclaimed to Madame that there was finally sunshine, she said "Oui, tres miracle." (Yes, its a miracle. Nina and I walked through a little trail that leads to the lake, and then walked alongside the lake.

I have realized how big living by a body of water is important to me. I love living by a beach, or a lake, and I've realized that when I was in Washington D.C I did not have that, whereas here in Geneva I am very blessed to be living by one. I spent a good part of the morning trying to find a template for my blog, and this is the one that I've settled on because of my love for the water. Or, rather, my love of living by the water. I think that it is so important to me because my best times have been by the lake. When I have troubling thoughts, or need to just get away for some peace and quiet, I go to the beach by our house, and walk alongside the lake. When taking Buster or Bella on walks, one of our frequent stops is the beach, where they will race alongside the water, and you can tell they enjoy just being alive.

While on walks by the lake, its really a place where I can hear God's voice, and where we have our most intimate conversations. What I have told a friend recently that I am right now in a relationship with God, and am pursing that. To be utterly honest, its been hard while here in Switzerland to concentrate on that, and so I've been taking more active steps to continue that relationship, by reading the Bible more than once a day, memorzing Scripture, and listening to sermons from back home. Something else that I have battling is trying to value God's opinion over man's. The walk this morning was refreshing in that I was able to ask God for help on refocusing, and just be still.

Well, thanks to those that read this post that had nothing to do with traveling or Switzerland. This week we travel to Lugano (the Italian-speaking part of Switzerland) so I'll be sure to share news about that. =)

Hello everyone!

Here is the first blog to all about my travels abroad. The time so far here has been awesome, I have a really neat homestay family, and have loved Switzerland so far! The first couple of days our group stayed in Geneva at a downtown hostel. Our hostel was super nice, but super crowded ( 6 girls in one room! ) Lets just say we bonded. :) We had orientation, explored the town, ate out, received our schedules and syllabus, and had our French placement test. We also had tour of the UN (I called it my future work place ;) ) and Old Geneva. The water here is so crystal clear! Its also VERY expensive in Geneva. I went to McDonald's the other day to reunite with my favorite fries and to spend less, but one hamburger in the "dollar menu" was 3 francs (3 US $). So, that didn't work out. Thankfully now that I am in a homestay I will be eating out less. Not at all in fact lol.

The diversity in Geneva is wonderful. There seems to be every ethnicity group here, and although the main language is French, one can hear more than language in the air. Yesss. There are also alot of really good looking men here! ;) oh LA LA. Anywho, back to purer ground, I've met two girls in my group who I get along with really well, and have definitely become kindred spirits. We've quite a few laughs exploring the city, and practicing our "French." My favorite times have definitely been at night going to the cafes, restaurants, and just exploring. I've met so many people (Europeans are so posh!). My homestay is amazing. My homestay mother is super sweet, and I'm in living in this huge house with 4 dogs, 7 cats, and two birds. There are 4 other people that live here as well, 2 french Swiss students, and two other Americans; one a student my age interning at Global Union, and another younger lady working at Global Union. The meals here have been simple but filling. (My homestay mother can not believe how much I eat!) Bread, cheese, soup, and milk. Between these meals and all of the walking I'll be/have been doing, I'll have amazing calves and abs by the time I arrive back home. ;)

I really like it here so far, it's a little overwhelming, I miss my family and Bella, but know that I only have 5 more weeks to really immerse myself in the language and culture. One of my main goals while here is to learn French. The locals have been really friendly and encouraging in this area. I think they appreciate when we try. I've found Rue Chaponniere which was awesome. There are bunch of trails behind my house in Nyon, and the mountains surround the city, and its soo pretty. On Friday my host mother took me and Mariann out to eat and gave me a tour of the surrounding cities by car. France is literally 20 mins. away from Nyon. Today Virginia and I (the other American who lives here) took the train to Lausanne, France, and it was beautiful. They also have the best ice cream here.

Well I will try to keep up on keeping up, I miss you all, and hope to have more exciting things to write about. :)

Salut!