So, I just realized it has been over a week since I posted. I am now a month into the semester, and I am really getting busy. With doing school work, working and going to the gym, I have been very busy lately. Right now for my classes I am only assigned reading to do, but I have a 10-15 page paper due in January, but I have to read 2, 250+ page french books before I write it! I also have a 5-6 page paper due in January, but I also have to read a 200 page french novel for that paper too. Not to mention all of my weekly readings! Talk about being busy.
Anyway, so to take a break from school and my daily routine I took a trip with my exchange program to Mont-Saint-Michel this weekend. it was SOOO much fun. In fact, I said before I even came to France, that if there was one place I was going to go while I was here, it would be to visit Mont-Saint-Michel. So I can check that off my list.
It took about 5 hours to get there with one stop. The ride wasn’t bad, it rained a bit, but when does it not rain in France. We arrived at Mont-Saint-Michel at about 12:30 and I was so excited. It is on the borders of Normandie and Bretagne and it is a small little village on an island. The island is completely surround by quicksand, in fact it is famous for the quicksand and the tides that come up everyday and can cover the road making the island inaccessible by car.
Once you get inside the walls of Mont-st-Michel there are very narrow streets with lots of resturants and shops. It was crowded and very busy. I felt like I was really in an authentic very very old town. It was so charming.
The views from the village are incredible and everything was very old and built from stone. The village is all centered around a very large, castle looking church. It was built in 708 in honor of the Archangel Saint Michel. I was very surpised at how large the church was, it was almost like a maze, and there were even parts that had a Harry Potter Hogwarts feel. It was so cool.
We spent about an hour and a half inside the church, then I walked around the village with my friend Rachel. We got Crepes and ate them looking out at the English Channel, which is the body of water that borders Mont-Saint-Michel.
We only made a day trip to visit Mont-Saint-Michel, but from what I hear generally when people visit the island they make a trip out of it and spend a day at Mont-Saint-Michel, then travel around Normandie and Bretagne for the remainder of their trip. Since Mont-Saint-Michel is such a small little town, there is only enough to do for one day. We only spent about 5 hours there and I feel like I saw most of the town. It was so nice and I loved it. It was fun to walk on the sand and in the quicksand. There were a lot of kids in my group that were playing on the beaches and got really dirty. I guess that’s what happens when you get college students around quicksand!
Besides Mont-Saint-Michel, there hasn’t been a whole lot of interesting things going on. I have been busy with classes and working and my normal day to day activities. I did book my train tickets to go to visit one of my friends in The Netherlands next month! I am so excited to go travel around the rest of Europe. Hopefully I will get a chance to go more places. I am already going to The Netherlands and Germany, but I also hope to go to Spain and Austria! It’s so easy to travel in Europe, I just need to find the time, and at the same time get all my school work done. I am sure I will be happy with whatever I do. I am just enjoying my time while I am here. At the same time I can’t wait to get back to Oswego because hockey season has started and I am dying to get back on the ice with my Laker’s! Speaking of which, Good Luck to all the ladies on my team and with your games this upcoming weekend!
Anyway, I have some homework to do before I get to bed since it is past 11 here! Enjoy my post!