Paris is green :)

It's been already couple of days since I've noticed first trees blossoming and the sun started keeping us warm, but tonight when I was coming back from my French class after being at the uni more than 10 hours, the green was even more green than normally and it was then when I saw the chestnut trees full in leaves. It's amazing as you consider that in Poland this happens in the beginning of May. I wish I could spend more time outside to enjoy it but it seems to  be impossible since my exams are coming soon. Nevertheless, I appreciate every moment in the city and I try to use it as much as I can.
In the beginning of every spring I feel new challenges and changes coming. It is the time when I would like to revolutionise my life so that I would be more satisfied of it. And for this spring I pray I would be courageous enough to ask the Holy Spirit to introduce that changes to my heart, regardless the consequences....

Why do I sometimes get headaches here

The thing that happened to me last weekend was to remind me that French is still a language that is foreign to me... That kind of recall comes always when i try too hard to speak naturally, trying to overcome all my grammar and pronunciation problems. In general, I am really grateful to God that I've made through the worst period of my learning when I couldn't express myself. I remember the first days in September when I had encouraged my friends to talk in French instead of English. But in fact, when they had changed it had been me who had been at once excluded from the discussion. When I had succeded in making a simple sentence in my mind they had already changed the topic and I had been out of context. Then there were these first days when I was forced to speak French for the most part of a day. And that was so exhausting that I was often coming home with a big headache and repeating expression in my mind. These days are thankfully over and now I just talk. Of course, my grammar is still poor and I still need to improve a lot my vocabulary but I am on the right path :) However, what causes me the biggest troubles is the pronunciation. Sometimes it brings funny situations when I confuse some words, but how is it possible that I've been practicing some words for over six months now and I still make the same mistakes.
So, last Friday and then Saturday evening I was again learnt what is the difference between "e" and "e" and "e", (I hear all the time the same "e"). And after saying thousands times the words "jaune", "jeune" and "jeûne" I got a headache but finally saw the difference. Now I just need to find out how to use that precious knowledge :)
The language experience is one of the most remarkable here for me. It showed me how important it is to be able to communicate freely with others. I also put more attention to my Polish now, especially when I talk to people that it's not their mother tongue.
I think I am also a bit different in French. The way we speak creates our image, how others see us. In French I don't speak naturally, I don't make the same jokes. It's better now, but in the beginning I put more attention on how I say than what.
Finally, whatever my grammar or pronunciation is, I want to use it so that I will be like the righteous:
"The tongue of the righteous is choice silver,
   but the heart of the wicked is of little value.
  The lips of the righteous nourish many,
   but fools die for lack of sense." Proverbs 10:20-21

My own Pantheon

It's the first time that I wanted to start a post and the first words that came to my mind were in French. I had never imagined that it would happen, but it's a nice feeling, even though I'm not sure if they were gramatically correct. Nevermind, even my English has a lot to be desired. But it's not what I wanted to write about. Neither the title indicates it, but maybe. Well, since it's almost two weeks that I started my internship at the uni I might do some summer up. And the first thought is that as from window of my office I have quite a nice view of Quartier Latin, now not only am I attached to Tour Montparnasse and Parc Montsouris (which I see from my room at CiteU) but also to Pantheon. So it's more like Paris, although it's still not the Eiffel Tower :)
By this light introduction, I wanted to bring you up to date with my Paris life. By God's grace I 've got an internship concerning biostat's project that means something I would like to do in my future (if I am ever to work professionnally). I find it a great opportunity to find out if I really will be able to work in it. It's too early to make any conclusions but it's getting better each day. I notice God's blessings in everything - the subject of the internship, my colleagues and superior, having the internship and lectures in the same corridor, even in dealing with formal stuff like social security number (because here, in France, such simple things like filling papers grow into a big problem, but anyway, bureaucracy is a French word, isn't it?).
I am so grateful that I can see life in bright colors again, because recently I struggled with it. Yet, the problems didn't go away, but I am learning how to find my peace in Him, no matter the circumstances. Or even more, when the circumstances are unfavorable. In this kind of test of my faith I see more and more that the best solution is to staying awake in His arms. The great amount of distractions that each day brings about remind me that we need to be well equiped with wisdom and love to make the day a good one.