a Trip to Normandy

I would have to say this past week has been the best week since I've arrived - I went to class & I met & traveled with 20 fellow-Americans - also the most I've done in a period of 5 days since I'm here...

My class - nothing too serious.  They are in English, but the professor enjoys saying things in French sometimes - I can only laugh about it.  I'd guess about 80% of the class are french students. The class went for 3 hours Monday & Tuesday last week with a 15 minute break.  My schedule for the upcoming week has changed, yet again - the course will now end this week resulting in longer days. 

On Wednesday I left for Normandy with the group from Colorado.  We left at 3 p.m. and arrived after 9 - it was a long, boring ride.  We stayed in a hostel which provided breakfast & dinner - it was my first hostel-stay & from what I've heard about hostels, this was not bad.  We were the only ones staying there which was nice.  The town we stayed in was Bayeux. 

Thursday morning we left at 9 with a tour guide for the day. First stop was Ste Mere l'Eglise - where US airborne troops dropped on June 6, 1944. There was one paratrooper who got caught on the steeple of the church. 

Next stop was Utah Beach.  This is the most western of the 5 beaches, it's about 5km (3 miles) long.

After Utah Beach, we went to Pointe du Hoc, a cliff in Normandy about 100 ft tall overlooking the sea - a point of attack by the US Rangers; the land on this is covered (I don't know what the right word is) with bomb craters. 

The next stop was Omaha Beach - 8 km (5 miles) long.

The last stop for Thursday was the American Cemetary. This land is owned and kept by the US. There are quite a few unknown soldier's buried here along with 3 women who were nurses during the war - one died on a plane crash, not sure of the other 2. & there are 3 medal of honor graves - one is Theodore Roosevelt Jr.

(The Chapel at the cemetary)

Friday morning, we had about a 2 hour bus ride to Mt. St. Michel. It was a very cold, wet day.  It is surrounded by water, and depending on the tide, it will either be surrounded by water or beach.  It was a long hike to the Abbey, but worth it.  A lot of people were saying it reminded them of Harry Potter - I have no interest in that so I really don't know - but that's what others had to say. 

All in all it was a nice trip & I'm fortunate to have seen what I did.  I'm so glad that I had the opportunity to meet the group I did too.  We arrived home Friday night around 8:30.  My nice host mom came to pick me up. 

A few other things happening:

Spring is arriving.  No more freezing temperatures. 

France is divided into regions & currently, the region Paris is in, the students have a 'holiday' from school  (All non-English speakers refer to 'vacations' as 'holidays'.) for 2 weeks.  I'm not sure when the kids here will be on break.  There are a lot of tourists in La Rochelle now with this happening.  Everyone is off for 8 weeks during the summer, & if you're working, you receive 5 weeks off - not sure when, or how that exactly works.  I do know that my host mother travels for work sometimes & is getting ready to leave for 3 days in the near future. 

I just found this cute - Ines had her first sleepover last night at her friends house & was so excited for it. She went to her dad's today so I haven't seen her, but I'm sure she enjoyed it. 

My french is coming along - I seem to understand a lot more, but I just can't speak it.

I don't think I have any other intersting news.  & it's getting close to bed-time.  Have a happy President's Day Weekend!