Back to School. Again.

Friday I finished up my studies at Inlingua, the language school I've been at for the last 3 months. The last week was great because there was just one other girl there, so we practically got private lessons for 4 hours a day.

Today the 4-week summer program at the university got off to a GREAT start for me on many levels. First off I had to take a placement test. I felt good about the written part, but I didn't know how much the oral part would count for and I didn't feel as confident about that, so I was a little concerned that I wouldn't be in one of the 3 top classes which enjoy a slightly different schedule, including presentations on culture, history, and literature. In the meantime, I met up with a Swiss German girl that I knew briefly at Inlingua, and also (out of the 160 or so students) happened upon another American named Jessica! Considering there are only 5 Americans in the whole program and I only met a couple of people, it was a weird coincedence. The 3 of us had a great time at lunch, enjoying the fact that all of us already spoke French fairly well, even with decent accents.

In the afternoon all the students gathered together to be grouped into classes. First they called the names of the students in Superior 1 (the highest class possible) and I was completely astounded to hear my name called! It was a very pleasant surprise and encouraging to my little linguist self. As equally nice was that my two new friends also achieved the same level. Strange that we'd found each other before being put in the same class. Destiny seemed to have played a role! Jessica and I were also happy to have done our part in defeating the stereotype of Americans who are either monolingual or have terrible accents!

I thank God for this opportunity to deepen my French and also to meet people from all over the world. My class is definitely multinational: 4 Swiss Germans, 1 German, 1 man from Lichtenstein, 2 Iranian girls, 1 woman from Poland who lives in Norway, 3 girls from Russia, and 2 Jessica's from the USA :o) What an incredible opportunity to encounter people from all over the globe. I feel blessed to be able to be an ambassador here on behalf of my country and above all for the Gospel. I'm also pleased with my professor who has taught at the summer program for over 30 consecutive years just because he likes it so much. All in all, I couldn't have asked for a better start. Thanks God!