Being there felt like a dream. Paris is one of those iconic cities that you hear about and see in pictures, but when I got there I had to keep pinching myself to remember that it was real. The city is beautiful and all the typical tourist attractions are just as impressive as you'd imagine!
There was, however, one catastrophe for the weekend. Yesterday we were on our way back to Paris from Versailles and Kaitlyn and I decided to sit on the lower level of the train to get some reading done for class, thinking it would be quieter. Rachel and Lexi went upstairs, but pretty soon the entire train was full and our plan of quiet reading failed. We were up early that morning to get to Versailles so we were justifiably exhausted and both of us dozed off while reading. We woke up just in time to see that we had arrived at our stop, frantically gathered our stuff, and hurried to make sure the other two girls knew to get off. It wasn't until we were on the metro to our hostel that I realized... I didn't have my camera. My beautiful Nikon D50 SLR camera. Gone.
I freaked out, we hopped off the metro line, and I ran to the nearest information counter at the subway station. I tried to communicate my dilemma to the lady behind the counter while hyperventilating all the while. She must have thought I was crazy because she looked at me with big eyes and shook her head like she didn't know what I was saying. Yes, I was speaking English, but even if I was fluent in French I'm not sure she would have understood me. The four of us sprinted back to the train station, where I again tried to explain to the woman how I left my camera on the train. Kaitlyn stepped in to take over since by this point I'm crying like a baby. I paced back and forth, trying to hide my tears from the crowd that has stopped to see what all the commotion is about. The woman at the ticket counter tried calling all the other other stations and no one had seen it, so after about an hour of waiting around she sent us on our way with a phone number to call on Monday (today). We also gave her all of our information and a description of the camera so they can contact me if anyone turns it in.
We've heard all about the phases of culture shock we will go through during our time abroad, and yesterday was the first time I really felt homesick or outwardly emotional - the hostility stage. Being away from home is hard when I'm feeling helpless and upset. I feel so ridiculously stupid for forgetting it and I keep wishing I could go back and be smarter about things. It's hard being back in Maastricht, thinking of my camera floating around Paris, wondering if the people at the trains are actually looking for it.
But God is really using this time to grow me! It's one of those humbling experiences, to remember that I can't put my faith or my trust in material possessions. More than I'm sad for the loss of my nice camera, I'm devastated to have lost more than 600 photos from our 3 days in Paris. A camera is replaceable, and while I'll forever have the memories of this weekend I'm still really bummed to know that I don't have those pictures.
I'm praying that someone had the heart to turn it in, and that our Maastricht Program Director who speaks French can help me correspond with the train station in Paris to try and find it. But when it's all said and done, I'm still here in Europe having the absolute time of my life, with or without my camera. I suppose I'll just have to become a better writer since I don't have any pictures to share. :)
More on Paris to come!
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