On Saturday I went to Reims, France, which is in the Champagne region, where they make... you guessed it, champagne!
We left our dorm at 6:30 am which was a bit obnoxious, but we got to sleep on the bus. When we finally got to the city we immediately got to tour the champagne caves/cellars at a company called Pommery which has been around since the 1800s. Psycho, right? It was very cool. It was almost like walking through catacombs of wine.
Apparently the founder of the company, Louise Pommery, always liked art, so they still to this day hold art shows down there. There was an art show of contemporary art there at the moment. It was very awesome to have the mixture of the old champagnery with the new age art all around it. Some of it was creepy! There was one spot where they had lined up a bunch of rubber boots down a hall way. It looks like it's just a display of what people used to wear to work or something... until when you pass them they start MARCHING. It was awesome, but freaky.
The other one which was my favorite wasn't even visible. There was a small room which was barred with a gate, which was just part of the structure of the cave. You could not see into it. It was like a darkened jail cell and when you walked past it, it startled growling and snarling like there was some sort of creature held in there. Even though you KNOW there isn't anything there, you just feel like you shouldn't go near it. I stopped and watched people's reactions as they walked past and it was hilarious. Many jumped, some screamed. So great.
At the end of the tour, we got a champagne tasting. I had never had it before, and it was really good! I like it much better than wine. I now get to say that I had my first champagne in Champagne!
We spent the rest of the day exploring Reims and it was beautiful! We saw the cathedral Notre Dame de Reims there. I think that's what it was called. IT WAS SO BEAUTIFUL. Even more than Notre Dame de Paris. No joke. There were 2,300 statues on the outside of the building. Crazy! There were flying buttresses everywhere and ugh, so beautiful. Inside there was magnificent stained glass all over. I love stained glass. It was so great.
I made a new friend during our tour of the city and she told me she went to a church in Dijon. I was very excited because I have wanted to go to church since being here, but I didn't know where to go and I didn't want to go alone.
So this morning I went to my first French church service! I love it! It is a tiny little church and it was packed to the brim. I am so happy to have found a church in France, you can't even understand. I was feeling kind of not myself lately what without church and reallife and real life friends. I am so excited to become a part of this church.
The service was great. We stared out with singing and it was such fun to sing worship in French. I liked the tunes and it was gratifying when I usually understood all the lyrics. I could sing along like a champ. I loved it.
I got a little taste of home when the speaker started his talk with the words to the preamble of the Declaration of the United States! It turns out he was going to be talking about being happy and whether it comes along with Christianity as an assured gift. So what with the whole American "pursuit of happiness" schtick, we began. I could understand most of what was said and it helped to follow along in my English Bible. We studied Matthew 5, which says:
1 Now when Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, 2 and he began to teach them.
The Beatitudes
He said: 3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4 Blessed are those who mourn,
for they will be comforted.
5 Blessed are the meek,
for they will inherit the earth.
6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
for they will be filled.
7 Blessed are the merciful,
for they will be shown mercy.
8 Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they will see God.
9 Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they will be called children of God.
10 Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
11 “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. 12 Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
I thought it was interesting that in the French version where we say "blessed" it says "heureux" which means "happy". I love translations in everything, I find them so interesting.
After church was over I stood around awkwardly while I was introduced to a few people. That was fun. Apparently they like to give you "la bise" which is that two cheek kiss thing and say their name as they do it. My friend warned me of this and I still messed it up. The first girl I met, "bise"d me and said what sounded like "ça va?" to me, which means "How are you?" I responded with "ça va." as well, which can also mean "Fine" as a response. However, I instantly figured out that she actually said "Sarah" meaning her name was Sarah. I felt like an idiot. Oh well, she didn't seem like she thought I was some sort of social leper or anything.
We talked to a guy named Julien who told us about their group for university students who meet on Mondays (after "bise"ing me, I succeeded this time). I hope I can muster up the courage to go to these. It seems a little bit intimidating to me, but all in all, I miss Bible studies and this will also really help my French.
I am so pumped to meet some French people with some common interests with me, so I hopefully will go.
Anyways, this was long, so if you read it... thank you! Je t'aime!
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