Normandy

On Tuesday, we went out for Steve’s birthday. I had a lot of fun! We had a few drinks at the hotel and visited two bars. One of which was a bar in a cave! It was a very cool and fun atmosphere. We then went to another bar that served sparklers in drinks…very entertaining.

We left Paris on Wednesday morning. We took a nice, big tour bus to Giverny first and visited Monet’s house and gardens. The traffic out of Paris was awful. It just goes to show that the metro is so convenient. Anyway, the garden was beautiful. There were ponds, streams, and tons of flowers. The house was fun too; each room had a color theme. The dining room was a pastel yellow, and the kitchen was baby blue and had pretty blue tile all over the walls. We then took the bus for a few hours to Saint Mont Michel, which is a cathedral on a little island surrounded by a small, quaint town.

We were supposed to tour the cathedral, but we ran out of time, so we only got to tour the outside and the little town. I am disappointed because we couldn’t see the cathedral, but at least we got to stay in the town. Our hotel was quaint as well, although small, but we only stayed there one night, so it didn’t matter. We watched the tides, and they were so strong  that we could see it coming in. It was an amazing thing to watch. That night we had a group dinner, and we ate an omelet. It was interesting, but it had this foam and t weirded me out, but I still ate most of it. The girls had a girl night afterwards, and that was fun! You could tell the guys missed us, which was funny because they kept trying to get us to hangout and distract us.

We left early this morning to tour Omaha Beach and this American museum about the fallen soldiers of D Day. It was very interesting and heartwarming. One of the first graves I looked at happened to have the last name of Stinson, and I am curious to see if I am related. I am going to look that up at some point! We are now in this (again) quaint, little harbor town. I have no idea what it is called, though haha. We had fish stew (interesting), veal (sad), and this yummy ice cream and interesting meringue for dinner. We all hung out in one of the rooms afterward and had a lot of fun. The guys were sweet and bought wine for the girls, along for themselves, so we had a good night tonight knowing we could sleep in (compared to this past week) tomorrow.

I love my study abroad group so much! We get along so well; it’s crazy how well we get along. I am excited so much for Lille too. I am tired of moving around all the time and carrying my luggage. I just want to settle down and actually live in Lille and not be a tourist. I can’t find half the stuff in my suitcase, so it will be nice to move into my dorm room and have a place for everything. I am just so happy right now. I love France and I love my study abroad family. J