i’m back from my very long and very unintentional blog break. wow. so much has happened in such a short time. i’ve been in york, england studying and its divine. i love england, love this school, love my friendies, love this life. i know i always say this on this blog (mostly because its always true) but i just feel so blessed. france was hard. hard in a good, growing way but difficult nevertheless. i know it was necessary to my becoming but i’m so happy to be in the next season. being in such a beautiful place around wonderful, warm, kind people has been a dream. my roommates and i are inseparable and i’ve made many other friends from all over the world. i spend most of my time in coffee shops doing homework, making dinner with my roomies, walking around this beautiful town listening to my les mis audiobook, doing bible studies and praying in the private prayer room at the minster, baking and serving goodies at church and learning to love God more everyday. here are a few pics to attempt to illustrate my wonderful semester so far. i’m planning on posting somewhat regular schedule so stay tuned!
this city is so beautiful and magical lit up. there are lights scattered everywhere throughout the city and there is a huge pillar of multicolored lights right outside of the gate to my apartment. the christmas market, which will have its own post soon, takes on a life of its own at night with random disco balls and christmas music (in english!) blasting. but the pièce de résistance is the ferris and tree grove in the center of town. i never get tired of taking pictures of it so i hope you don’t get tired of looking at it. it surely is a sight to behold and i’ll be so sad when it leaves after the holidays.
nice at Christmas is so lovely. all the shops decorate and the fancy streets put up mini trees with red felt ornaments and there are lights everywhere! in the center of town, there is a Christmas village with ice skating and a ferris wheel and little booths selling sweets and overpriced presents. being here is such a change from being in New Zealand last year because kiwis are sadly not the biggest fans of Christmas or decorating so I’m getting my double fill this year. sometimes, when I have time to kill, I’ll walk around to window shop and take in all the creative ways the city decorates for noel. there is a massive Christmas ornament in place garabaldi, pillars of brightly colored lights on the side streets, a Christmas tree grove in front of one of the state buildings and giant light-up presents suspended above the main street. it’s all a sight to see and it makes me wish Christmas was year around
dusk has gotta be the most beautiful time of day in nice. lately, i have found myself out and about closer to this time, mostly because the sun sets around 5:30. i am really learning to enjoy the beauty of this brief time of the day. it is still light enough to see and there are still lots of people out (as you can see from the pictures) but the city is illuminated with signs and shop windows and the final light of the day dances on buildings. nice seems to be most alive at dusk because this is after most people get off from work and right before the shops close. here are a few pictures of my street (the main street in modern part of nice) on my walk home.
goodness i love nice! i have never been somewhere that has felt so much like me. it has the perfect mix of everything: cute little shops and big “one stop shop” malls, farmers markets and food superstores, a convenient modern area and a beautiful old town, a beach down the street and hills and mountains a quick trip away, cheap cafes and gourmet restaurants… i could go on and on! but this past week, nice got the one thing i felt it was missing: a park! there are little parks around the city but nothing unified or central and unfortunately none near me. i wondered why there wasn’t more green spaces but then i found out that the big eyesore of a construction site in the middle of town was going to be a state of the art park and it would be opening soon! and nice isn’t like california so when they say something is opening, it opens on that day. probably the only thing in france that is ever on time… but i digress. it was actually an accident i was in the park on opening day but i’m so glad i was because there was live music and performers and big screens with movies and videos and an opening ceremony with the mayor and city officials. i’ve learned when something opens in france, it starts with a bang! looking forward to many more outings and visits here.
my goal for this month was to explore more of nice and find places that are more local and less touristy. while i have been finding some wonderful places, i always find myself back on my street. i live on the main street in the modern section of town and it really is a one stop shop for many things. there is a farmers market a few blocks down from where i live, a really nice market near the turnoff for my school, lots of clothing and book stores and just about everything else you could think of. when i first came to france, i was worried that it would be like new zealand and i wouldn’t be able to find many common things i’m accustomed to in the states. but i’m happy to say i’ve been able to find most things i could ever want and need, with the exception of canned pumpkin and kale but i’ll let those slide. i also love walking along the street i live on because there are no cars and only the occasional tram to worry about so its pretty peaceful. believe it or not, all these pictures were taken within 10 minutes of where i live. so many photo ops can be so distracting especially when i’m trying to get to school on time!