Redeemer All-Access | The Redeemer Student Experience

Wow! This has been quite an eventful few weeks in Paris. Classes are fully underway at the Cours de civilisation française and that started to create a rather dependable routine for me, that is until something came along to jostle that consistency.

This past weekend I was invited to go on a trip to Disneyland Paris with my student residence here in France, and in the process of trying to catch a train I was late for... I ran a little too fast and jumped a few too many steps. Luckily, the fall didn’t result in a broken ankle but I will be relegated to walking with crutches for the next few weeks. The irony of it all is that Paris is a city renowned for walking and cycling as the primary modes of transit. This is both an ironic and humbling experience for me. I know God has many lessons for His people on the other end of such self-inflicted accidents. The great part of the day was that, in the end, I was still able to see most of Disneyland Paris (although mostly by sitting down) and to really enjoy another different experience.

France so far has been anything but predictable. My time could be well described with these words: incredibly exciting and incredibly diverse. The weekend before Disneyland I had a chance to get to know better some of the young adults from our church “L’Église Évangélique Baptiste de Paris-centre” or as most people call it “Rue de Sèvres.” The people at this church have been incredibly inviting and have extended so much grace to us visiting Canadians. It is really exciting to see a group of Christians in this country who are so involved in loving and welcoming new people.

Our outing with some of the young adults a few weeks back was hiking and rock climbing in an area just outside of Paris called Fontainebleau. It is a beautiful spot that really takes you out of the noise and the business of the city and brings you to a place that could easily be mistaken for Northern Ontario. The landscape was gorgeous and the rocks were climb-able! We spent our day climbing, hiking, talking and eating packed lunches and snacks all outside under the warm sun. It was a great day to remember and I can’t wait to do it again!

I’m having the other Redeemer students over for dinner tonight at my residence so I better go start making dinner. It’s tacos tonight!