We've Arrived!

Bonjour!

Here is an update about Ryan's graduation and our arrival into Quebec City:

Although he thought the day would never come, Ryan walked down the isle of Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary on May 18th. He received a degree in both Biblical Studies and Christian Ministry.

He is enrolled in the fall for "hybrid" classes at Southern Seminary, where he will take courses online for the semester as well as spend 10 days in Kentucky for on-campus classes. 

Above is a photo of Ryan and Chris Geyer, who graduated alongside Ryan and received his doctorate. (I wish I had gotten a better photo of the two!) Chris has been a major influence in Ryan's life these last two years and I think that Ryan would say Chris has helped him gain his newfound love for academics. 

After graduation, we met family back at Ryan's parents' house for one last get-together before we left for the summer. Above is Ryan's family. From the left: Cheyanne, Pam, Todd, Me (Cheyenne), Ryan, and Chelsey.

My mom and grandma (Teresa and Millie) also came to celebrate Ryan's big day and to say goodbye! 

And lastly, above is a photo of Ryan's grandparent's on his mom's side (Gracie and Gilbert). 

As soon as everyone left that evening, we finished packing our car and headed out for Canada! We drove straight through, only stopping for gas - which led to a very sleepy couple of days after. :) I will note that I was disappointed in the scenery on our way here. It didn't help that we basically drove through the US through the night so I did not see anything but the highway, but then once we got into Canada all we saw was a two-lane highway with trees lining both sides - for HUNDREDS of miles! 

But once we drove into the province of Quebec, things changed pretty drastically. The scenery did not change much, but as soon as you cross that border between Ontario and Quebec, EVERYTHING changes to French writing! I thought it was so awesome to drive through Montreal and see an entire city full of French people and places. 

Ryan and I arrived  in Quebec City at 9:00 PM on Sunday, May 19. After a LONG 25 hour drive, we were graciously welcomed into the home of Marie Eve and Yan and their two children. Monday was an official holiday here, "Victoria Day," to celebrate the birthday of Queen Victoria. So what that meant to us was that we were able spend our entire first day here with our home-stay family! They took us to see an iMax movie in French that morning (which we could only pick out about 10 words throughout the entire film), followed by giving us a taste of a traditional Quebec dish of Poutine - which is fries covered in some sort of brown gravy sauce along with delicious cheese bites (or curds, but that doesn't sound as delightful)! 

Then we spent the afternoon walking alongside the St. Lawrence River, which happens to be only a few miles away from their house. I couldn't even count how many times we said, "Comment ça se dite en francais?" - asking Marie Eve and Yan how things were said in French! I did not have my camera with me that afternoon, but the riverside was beautiful! I plan to drag Ryan back there again sometime next week. :)

The streets of downtown Quebec City are gorgeous. They are lined with beautiful old buildings and are kept very clean. The street above is where we walk to the Bouchereau Lingua International (BLI) language school each day. We have went to class 3 days now and I think it is safe to say that we were both shocked at how little we know. We were not expecting to come into Quebec knowing much, but we thought that the levels of Rosetta Stone we had completed would at least help us a little! Luckily, it helped a little with vocabulary, so that makes it a little easier to understand what people are saying. But for now, we mostly can only pick out a few words from each sentence, unless they are fairly short phrases. 

It really helps a lot to be staying with a French-speaking family. Marie Eve speaks to us each evening in French to help us become familiar with the language. Their two children only speak French so we barely been able to communicate with them at all, but I believe we are getting better each day! 

I think that is all for now in this update. It has rained every day (except Monday) here, so I haven't been able to take any good photos of the city yet. I look forward to sunshine so that we can explore downtown more! 

Although we already miss our family and friends, I cannot speak for Ryan - but I already love it here! I cannot wait to continue learning the language. :)