I just got home from Normandy! it was really fun. except i kept calling mnt st michel mnt snt michelle.
Ok, were to begin. we started off at an insanely early time of day to get together at Ricks' place to hot on a buss to head over. i was pretty out of it, honestly. i got to nap though. So buss drivers in france have to stop for 45 min like every two hours they drive so that is super annoying. they also have to stop their buses before 8. talk about ridic.
First off, we stopped at the Omaha beach and saw the grave yard and everything there. on the buss drive on the way there, we watched the longest day on the little tv screen and i was remembering when we watched Jurassic park 3 on my high school trip on those same types of buses. anyhow, the movie really got me thinking at how young these boys were and how scary the whole experience had to have been. it kind of set the mood. basically the whole time there i was trying not to cry. just thinking about these young guys who risked their lives for complete strangers was pretty hard and def made me wonder if i would be able to do the same thing.It really made me love america, too. the whole time here everyone on the trip have acted all embarrassed to be americans and we're often treated kind of poorly cause we are americans, but seeing what we did for france back in the day really made me put all that silliness aside and take pride in my country. some of the old french people say that they will never forget what we've done for them, and i hope that is the case.
While wondering around, i decided i really wanted to go touch the ocean. i wandered down to the beach by myself. i was a little worried cause i didn't have the time and we had to meet up by a certain time. thankfully, at the bottom of the hill, i ran into Rosalie and Emily. they were pretty nice about letting my tag along. we came across this long creek type thingy in front of the actual ocean and i was the only one brave enough to forge across it to get to the ocean. they took lots of pictures for me. it was fun, and it helped me feel a little less depressed.
After that, we headed the another Dday site but i totally forgot what it was called (pont hoc). it's the one that has all the german bunkers and creators. I think i remember going there when i was super little. it was one of the few trips where we brought our video camera with us and i remember playing like a lion in the creators. I had fun there. Mike called it a german playground and i think he is quite right about that. there was just a lot to see there. I was pretty goofy by that time. the seriousness of the whole experience wore off on me and i was just ready to have some fun.
We then went to the Bayeux tapestry. we had audio guides that told us what each scenes were depicting which was useful. the only issue was it went through it all really quickly. i wanted to go back and look at everything a little more close but everyone else was basically done by then. I didn't realize that Edward named William as heir, and that harold just had himself crowned. I need to catch up on my English History. Then we had a little video to watch about the tapestry. they had funny reenactments of the battles and they were so unrealistic that i laughed a little.
After that, we just kind of wondered the town and Ariel, Mike, Garret and i got a deal on pizza so that was our dinner. Like i said, the bus driver had to basically check in by 8 so we headed out to our hotel super early. I roomed with Ariel and courtney. Courtney went off to have dinner at the nearby buffalo grill for about three hours so ariel and i watched a french crime show on tv and seriously goofed off. we just shared secrets and talked about really random stuff. it was really fun. When courtney came back, i took a shower in the little shower room where there wasn't even room for my cloths. it had a little peep hole so i could look out and see them wandering around the room. it was really funny and totally random. i could shower but still watch tv and be a part of the rooms activities. i was laughing during the whole shower. Also, i haven't shaved since i got here, so i decided to take advantage of the hotel shower. Ariel and i decided it would be funny for me to shave stripes in my leg so i did. it's pretty gross and pretty funny. After that, we all rawled in bed. Ariel and i shared the double and courtney got the bunk. even after we turned out the lights, ariel and i stayed up a lot longer just giggling and being silly.
Today, we went to Mnt. St. Michel. i was asleep the whole way there and Ariel said that she tried for like 5 min to get me awake. i don't really remember. when i finally popped up i was all frumpled. Mnt. St. Michel is pretty breath taking. it's so beautiful. It's really too bad it's so crowded during summer and isn't really a town anymore. it was just perfectly cute and romantic. of course it is also pretty touristy but you can avoid that pretty easily. the old monastery is pretty amazing, too. it's interesting to get a closer look at the way they lived. it's pretty hard core. there's really not a lot i can say about it, for some reason. nothing incredibly fun happened there. it was just all really beautiful to look at. it actually reminded me a bit of Chefchaouen in the way it was all crowded together and built on an incline like that.
i was a tad socially awkward on this trip. i wasn't doing anything, really, but i was a little irritable, and some other girls were too. it's ok, though, cause i just brought my ipod so on the bus i could just listen to that and sleep so it wasn't a big deal. i had a ton of fun as it was anyways. I laughed a lot, too. I got some really silly pictures. and, of course seeing the Ocean is always a huge pick-me-up.
again, on the ride home, nothing incredibly to report on. i didn't wear mascara at all today. it was kind of an accident. i didn't wear any to breakfast to scare shaina with my lack of dark eyelashes, and i was going to put some on on the buss but i ended up sleeping really soundly on the way to mnt st michel. The guys were kind of funny about it. they said they knew i look different but they couldn't say how and that i'm one of those people that looks really different without makeup. it's true. going from having defined eyes to having little black dots is quite a difference. they also said they didn't really realize i wore makeup until they saw me without it, so i guess that's a good sign. actually, going makeupless was kind of nice and refreshing. when i got home, though, my host mom asked me if i was tired and motioned to her eyes. haha. oh well, it was still nice.
I just shaved and it was almost sad... but i figured it's time to let go. haha.
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