Ooh la la, l'été {summatime!}

Oh, what's this, you ask?

Just my second-half-of-the-summer itinerary. AKA, la France! Granted, it's not the best itinerary I've ever seen, what with the overnight layover in Chicago, but I am excited about getting to spend at least a few hours in Boston. So, if anyone knows someone in either of those cities who would want to put me up for the night or show me around, send them my way!!

You may or may not know this, but I love to travel. I feel like this is so cliché, since who really doesn't love to travel and see new places and discover new cultures and meet new people and try new food? Exactly. But I love it. The world is just so . . . big. And awesome. And awe-inspiring. And there's just so much to see! And I have maybe seen .004% of it, so I have a ways to go to even skim the surface. It's amazing to think of everything that's out there, everything there is to see. It just makes me think: "all things denote there is a God; yea, even the earth, and all things that are upon the face of it . . . do witness that there is a Supreme Creator" (Alma 30:44).

I'm working on putting together a list of life goals, and one of them is to visit every continent (except I think I can skip Antarctica) and every state in the US (again, I think I'll skip Guam if it ever becomes a state). I feel like I'm pretty behind, but I'm trying to catch up! And, random, but I have never visited a foreign country as a tourist. Weird? I guess my family drove down to Mexico and bought some chiclets once while we were in California, but I don't think that really counts! As for the others, there was Kenya=volunteer/teacher; Fiji=missionary; New Caledonia=missionary; Senegal=student. And ironically, this summer is not going to change that.

France=intern

I saw this advertisement and couldn't resist!

{"During summer vacation, become a volunteer to accompany elderly people."}

Okay, that's not really how it happened. What really happened was I heard my friend Jacqueline talking about doing this internship over the summer. Basically the internship is with a French government-funded organization called Les Petits Frères des Pauvres (The Little Brothers of the Poor) whose aim is to visit lonely, aged, or needy people. As Jacqueline described it, "it's basically missionary work without the gospel." Which, on further consideration, would be horrible, since that's the best part of a mission. But anyway, that's what I'm going to be doing this summer: making friends with a bunch of old French people. Seriously? I love it.

They make these advertisements as sad as humanly possible. I couldn't even bring myself to post the saddest one, but let me just say this: go visit an old person. They are sad and lonely. Especially in France, and especially during the summer, since everyone and their dog packs up and heads out to spend their vacances elsewhere. But you know what? I'm okay with spending my summer vacation filling their place. In Paris.

{"The day everyone leaves for summer vacation, in addition to being without family, Renée is without neighbors."}

{"Before, their summer vacation schedule depended on the tv schedule."}

{"With or without the scorching heat, for me, summer is solitude."}

{"This summer, thanks to Stéphane, Lucien will see the ocean somewhere besides on a post card."}

So. You know how much I love old people. Right? Either way, I'm really excited and think it'll be a great experience. What could be better than entertaining elderly people all summer in the most romantic city in the world? Haha. I laughed as I wrote that. Here are my real summer plans:

(First stop: CASINO!)

Got a sneak peak (or taste, rather) of this tonight at the French Club's Cheese Night. I miss brie. I think it misses me too.

I'll be honest: I've never had a macaron, but I have to say, I'm very curious to see whether or not I like them. Apparently they're irresistible.

Etc.

etc.

etc.

Jealous much? You probably should be ;)

Also going on the list is the goal to not gain 100 pounds. We'll see how it goes.

Oh, and feel free to give me any and all of your traveling-in-Europe advice! I'm going to try to make the most of my weekends and see where else I can end up this summer.