This weekend, IES took the students (almost all of us) to see the beaches and memorials in Normandie. It was really moving, and I’m fairly convinced that I can’t do the experience justice in this post.
The night before, my friends & I had a St. Patrick’s Day party, and we made shepherd’s pie, which took about 3 hours longer than we expected because we only had two burners & 1 teeny-tiny oven. But in the end it was really good, amazing actually. I also had made rice krispie treats, and they were delicious. My friends were very pleased as well (I think), but in the end we didn’t even leave my friend’s apartment until 2:30AM or so, so when I had to get up at 6:45, it was not very pleasant. But then we took a bus, and as I really enjoy riding in buses, my mood was restored. We also took a weird and unexpected 45′ break. But then we were 45′ late, so in the end it turned to be even more stupid than I originally thought.
So we got to Caen and spent about 4 hours at the memorial, which was amazing. I watched a film on the Battle of Britain and left feeling like Britain was the best, most amazing country ever. Here is what the memorial looked like:
memorial de caen
Sorry the photo is kind of blurry. There are more pictures of this kind on facebook as well! I felt very moved and patriotic at the cemetery and the beaches. I don’t think I can adequately describe it, but it was very beautiful, and of course sad.
The next day, we went to the American cemetery and Omaha Beach. I didn’t take any pictures of the graves because I wasn’t sure what the etiquette was for that kind of thing. But here is what part of the cemetery looked like:
moving!
We got back to Nantes around 9PM on Sunday, and now I am very busily engaged in avoiding my work. I hope you are all doing well, too!!
