It is 12:34 and I am EXHAUSTED tired like wowza so these will be summaries not journal entries :)
Saturday: woke up at 5 45am and got ready, finished packing and then met ISA across town at 7 15 for our buses. Slept on the bus, five of us got the BOB or Back-of-Bus seats and were obviously the cool ones. Arrived to st malo about 2ish, had time for a quick jambon/fromage baguette and fanta and then went on a tour of the city. Apparently it almost got destroyed during the 100 years war but the English bombing ship blew up before it got to st malo and the only one killed was a cat so there is a street called the cat who dances…yeah. There is a castle that is called Chateaubriad and is famous because the people paid a duchess taxes in order to build it and it’s beautiful overlooking the English channel. Walked around the city more, then shopped around a bit, bought 3 bottles of French cider and a baguette for later and then shopped a bit more. Pistachio/chocolate ice cream was a bonus and then we all went back to the hotel, changed and hit la plage or beach. Watched a bunch of French men play soccer next to us and drank one bottle of cider and ate my baguette on the beach then we walked around the shore and picked up sea shells and turned down invitations by the French soccer players for numbers/coffee/etc, haha. Ate dinner later at a pizza place, I had just onions/cheese on mine, still good. Then a bunch of us girls bought chocolates at this AHHHHMAZING chocolate shop, I had a decent bag-full b/c when else will I be able to taste-test different French specialty chocolates? No idea. The shop was precious and they make like…chocolate into shapes and stuff with dye, there was even a chocolate TURTLEEEEE for 32 euro but I was excited to see it. I just bought some of the mini chocolates and truffles and stuff, amazing with our cider :) headed back to the hotel, got to know some awesome girls and drank some more cider.
Sunday: EARLY MORNING, hence the lack of bar-crawling Saturday night, woke up and had the best breakfast I’ve had since being in france b/c it was a buffet and we got fresh croissants, French bread, butter/jam, cereal, hard-boiled eggs (I didn’t have one), and coffee and hot chocolate, it was alllll there. It felt ‘Merican and it was the 4th!! Skipped out of st malo to a 2 hour bus ride on which I slept and then we got to the middle of nowhere, I had to pee and there was no place to pee. Should NOT have had coffee. We started out with our guide to mont st Michel, which is one of 4 main pilgrimages for catholics in the middle ages and still a little today. It features an old abbey that overlooks the tide. The tide travels fast but we crossed 4 miles of sand/mud and yes QUICKSAND (oh yes I walked on it, as did we all, we jumped on it, sunk in and got pulled out, a BLAST), and then we hit the tide which we waded through for another 2 miles all barefoot to mont st Michel. It was nice, beautiful, there were sheep for the first mile we got to look at and the view was breathtaking. My knee was a killer though, I should ice it sometime, and I had to tinkle like woah. Oh well, we got there, washed off our feet, used the potties, felt better, and ate at a creperie, I had salmon and lettuce and sauce on mine and then a butter and sugar one for dessert that was to die for. Then we met up with our isa group at the abbey’s top and wandered around the gorgeous abbey for about an hour. Shopped a bit, I got postcards, and then headed back on the longggg 5 hour trip home. I’m exhausted, still a little muddy but happy. It was breathtaking.
I was in the Normandy area but no Dday stuff, sorry Mom. I would have loved to have made you jealous :) I know I would love to go back one day and see those beaches.
Happy 4th!! I miss America lots and especially the fourth of July family/friend fun!! Hope everyone celebrated with great fireworks and hot dogs! I ate pork stew tonight…so it’s like the same thing!
Tomorrow I go to take my oral exam then on to GIVERNY, Monet’s house with Laura, a friend from Pau and her boyfriend.
A super busy week ahead, Laura’s here and Tricia, my big, gets here the 6th. I leave hopefully (booking tickets Tuesday) to London on Friday with Jessica to visit Montana, a sorority sister who is studying there now, so EXCITED!! Busy, busy, busy, and only 27 days left in France!!!
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