Oh La Lauren

Normandie

There are many French vocabulary words and terms that I never thought I would need. When I learned à la campagne, I wondered why anyone would care to know how to say in the country. Who likes going to the country anyways?

But when you realize that you’ve spent about two months in an extremely intense metropolis, la campagne becomes more enticing than ever.

About 20 of us SBC kids left at 8:30 on Saturday to go to Cherbourg. Hopped off the train onto the bus and out to see la tapisserie Bayeux. This is not just any tapestry, no no. This tapestry is nearly 1000 years old and tells the story of William the conqueror (or as I know him, Guillaime le conquérant). And it’s suuuper long—but I can’t tell you how long because they always talk about it in meters. I made a mistake and listened to the audio guide in French.

When we arrived at the American cemetery overlooking Omaha Beach the weather was pretty crappy. It was spitting and a bit gusty. But the grass was so green and the cliffs were amazing. I had gone to this cemetery in high school, and figured it would be boring going a second time—but I decided to go on this trip because I wanted to hang out with my friends. The last time I went to the cemetery, it was just a pristine, scenic memorial. When I went on Saturday, it really spoke to me. There is a D-Day museum on the premises, and I watched a video in which the commentary said: “Little did these men know that the fate of the free world lay in their hands.” And this really resonated with me. I was finally able to truly grasp how many men had died to liberate France and so many others from the Nazis…and it was just really powerful.

Afterwards, we went to Point du Hoc. Another place I’d been. A place that is a physical likeness of the moon, but in Normandy. It was interesting hearing the remarks of my friends who were seeing it for the first time. By that time the rain had stopped and the sun was out. It hit the craters in the ground at such an angle that I saw the area in a way I hadn’t seen it before. It was a playspace, but an eerie one. I chose the photo above as the photo to represent Normandy because I think it’s super adorable. Gabe and Biki are wonderful individually and together, and it was a weekend in good company. I kinda love the people on this program.

We then drove to our hotel and had dinner. Heard some interesting stories about disciplinarian actions by Lucy’s mother. Then the Sweet Briar Alcoholics Association had a meeting in Biki and Iraz’s room. We discussed religion, psychoanalysis, and how long Vitalie could pee. Vitalie can also put out matches with his mouth, which is scary but cool. I also got to really talk with Spencer and Andreea for the first time, so it was nice to meet some new people even though we’d been on the same program for two months.

Sunday morning our first stop was Mont St. Michel. This was part of the reason I decided to go on the trip—photos of this place look too cool to pass up. So first we stopped au bord de la route for a photo op. We took a group photo that I absolutely adore. Mont St. Michel is best photographed from afar! It is just so odd how the area is totally flat, like Ohio, and then out of NOWHERE there is this magnificent mountain. Complete with really cute sheep grazing nearby. The water and sand nearby were very tempting, but once we learned that it was actually quicksand, we decided to embark on our way up the mountain.

At the base—in fact, all the way up to the abbey—are tons of touristy shops. With touristy items that I kind of liked. Luckily, I left my credit card in the bus!! I actually had not known that what lie on top of Mont St. Michel was an abbey, or why St. Michel is so commonly celebrated. Thanks to my audioguide in English this time, I actually learned some stuff. The views were breathtaking, stunning. In an odd way, it reminded me of the view from Masada. All you could see was a blur of sand, water, and grass for miles and miles under the haze of the sun. You had to wonder where you were for a moment.

Our last stop was St. Malo, which I had never really heard of, except for the info I had gotten from the SBC kids who went on this trip last weekend. They dropped us off in this little coastal town and gave us a couple of hours to explore. Though frankly, we could have stayed there for two days. I think all of us took great comfort in seeing the ocean and being able to walk on the sand (and Charlie was especially vocal about his affection for Normandy both during and after the trip, which I think is cute). But before we did so, we went on a search for the répas du jour: moules frites (mussels and fries). I had never eaten a mussel before, but I had my heart set on trying some. Seven of us found a restaurant and ordered delicious galettes and buckets of moules! I was happy that they did NOT taste like oysters, which are a phenomena that I still don’t understand. The mussels were very briney tasting. I couldn’t have eaten a whole bucket, but I was glad to try something new. We walked around the town a bit, and then headed to the beach. Biki, Liza, Charlie and I climbed the rocks surrounding some really old looking fortification. Seeing as this weekend was the start of the Toussaint holiday vacation, we were not alone. It was so cute to hear little kids yelling “Guillaume! Vincent! Attention! J’ai trouvé des poissons…J’ai glissé, j’ai mis mon pied dans l’eau…” I could finally understand the pace at which they spoke, and I swear they all speak with the same adorable inflection. But truly, we were like kids agian, climbing those rocks. It was fascinating to me. It just felt so real…I felt like I got a part of me back that has been a bit suffocated by the city.