Bonjour! I just got back from a wonderful weekend in France with the entire LBS group (including our professors and their wives!) There were some definite ups and downs of the trip and I will try to cover all of those as briefly as possible! We had to get up bright and early Thursday morning for our train ride to Paris. We took the Eurostar, which is a train that goes underwater through the English Channel to get from London to Paris. I was a little concerned about this beforehand, but you couldn't even notice you were underwater so everything turned out just fine! The ride took about 2 hours and then we were in France! I felt a little bit like I was going to Hogwarts since our train left from King's Cross station which is the same station that the Hogwarts Express leaves from in the Harry Potter movies :) Once we arrived we got on a coach bus and a tour guide joined us for an afternoon tour around Paris. She was very funny and knowledgeable and we got to drive by a lot of the famous sights in Paris. We got to stop at the Eiffel Tower and take pictures for about twenty minutes. We also drove by The Louvre, Notre Dame, Arc de Triomphe, and many more! These tours are nice because we get to see so much in a short amount of time, but it is also frustrating because we weren't able to see these places for very long. After the tour we went to our hotel and prepared for going with our entire group to the lock bridge and Eiffel Tower. Patrick, Kari, and I still needed to get some euros and buy our train tickets. We went to the nearest ATM with a few other people from our group and right when Kari tried to get money out the ATM broke down. Since none of us speak any French and everyone we asked was rude and unhelpful, we walked back to our hotel and figured we could just use our credit cards to pay for the train tickets. We walked to the station and one of the single most annoying things about being over here is that our credit cards are different than the ones they have in Europe. Theirs have a chip in it so they don't have to swipe it or sign for anything. This has given me trouble more than a few times already. The worker at the information desk knew English, but didn't know what a bank or ATM was. So that was fun. We saw our big group gathered outside the train station so we explained what had happened to our guide from our program, Claire. She is originally from France so she was able to ask a shop owner where the nearest bank was. We then had to go by ourselves and meet the rest of our group later in the night. I was honestly terrified. It's much more comforting being with a group of 50 in a country you have never been to before. We successfully got money out, bought our tickets, and got on the train. Luckily, groups of 50 move slowly so we were able to catch up with them right away. Such a relief!! We stopped by the lock bridge, which is a bridge that couples put padlocks carved with their names on it anywhere on the bridge and then throw the key into the river below. Sadly, I didn't bring a lock but there is another bridge like this in Italy so Patrick and I might have to find that when we are there. Our group walked along the river and split off into smaller groups to have dinner. Patrick, Kari, Austin, Max, Kyle, and I went to an authentic French restaurant. I had a Nutella crepe and it was the most delicious thing I have had since being here. I'm glad our waiter knew English since none of us knew any French. After dinner, we met our big group again to get back on the train to go to the Eiffel Tower. It was so beautiful lit up at night. Every hour or so, there are twinkling lights on the tower that go off and it was amazing! We were able to see it twice. Unfortunately, my friend Sam got her camera stolen when we were at the tower. The pickpockets in France were everywhere. I hate feeling like I have to constantly hold onto my purse and be paranoid of everyone around me. The next morning at breakfast, a girl in our group got her ENTIRE purse stolen. She had everything in there (passport, money, iphone, credit cards). Since we were out of the country she needed to get a replacement passport to get back into England. It definitely made me realize to be aware at all times of what's going on around me.
On Friday we rode on the bus for 7 hours to Mont St Michel. We spent so much time on that coach bus. I figured at the end of the trip we had spent over 20 hours collectively on the bus. Mont St Michel was one of the coolest things I have ever seen. It's a huge, old monastery that is built on an island. We got to have an audio guide during the tour and look around the abbey. It's amazing seeing all of these old buildings here. After seeing Mont St Michel, we drove to our hotel in Saint Malo and prepared for our first group dinner. We walked to a nearby restaurant that was right on the water and had the most amazing view. The first course of our dinner was oysters. I figured I should try one since I probably never would have the chance to again. It was absolutely disgusting. The texture is horrendous and it tasted like I swallowed too much saltwater. I was ready for the next course. We had duck and it was really good!! I was a little wary of it at first but I enjoyed it a lot. Then, for my favorite course, dessert! The creme brulee was fantastic. It was nice to eat some authentic French food while we were there. A table of about 8 or so people that were in the same room at the restaurant as us were from Minnesota!! What are the odds of that?? :)
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| Mont St Michel |
Saturday was completely filled with going to different World War II sights in Normandy. Our first stop of the day was to Pointe du Hoc. It is located between the Utah and Omaha beaches and was a point of attack by the US during WWII. It was cool to be inside the bunkers that are still standing there. The next stop was Omaha Beach. It was crazy to think how many people lost their lives in the exact place we were standing. The most emotionally moving stop on the trip was to the Normandy American Cemetery that honors American soldiers that died in Europe during WWII. I could not believe how many people were buried here. The entire day was very eye-opening. We went to our next hotel in Caen and had a few hours to relax before another group dinner. This dinner was not as good. The first dish was pork that you put on bread. The second was ham and potatoes, and the dessert was an apple tart type of thing. Most of us filled ourselves up with bread and the ham and potatoes. I had so much bread on this trip, but it was definitely worth it since it's the best bread I have ever had. Every morning at breakfast they had croissants and Nutella. I'm not even going to think about how much Nutella I consumed over the weekend. You're only in France once, right?
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| Omaha Beach |
Sunday we got to sleep in a little longer and then went to the Caen Peace Memorial. It was a huge exhibit of World War II pictures, videos, and other memorabilia from that time. I couldn't believe how much stuff was in there. It was a great way to cap off our weekend. France was overall very fun, but probably not a place I would go back to. I wouldn't have minded spending some more time in Paris, but London is still my favorite so far :) Most of our group is starting their community service placements today, but I don't start mine until October 8th. This means I have a completely free day until our night class at 5:30!! Sounds great to me :)
I miss all of you so much and I'm hoping everything is going well back in MN. Love you guys!
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