Britagne, Normandie et plus!

Heyy! I’m back!! I have been swamped with work etc…so I apologize for the lack of blogging recently. Two weekends ago I went to Brittany and Normandy. They are two neighboring regions on the west coast of France. In Brittany I only spent Saturday visiting Mont St. Michael which is a beautiful Abby right on a tiny mounted island just off the coast. I spent the night and the rest of Sunday in Normandy. First I will tell you about the evening we spent in Normandy then I will you about our visit to Omaha Beach Sunday. I stayed in this little village called Saint Malo that was very cute and quant. It was an old medieval town and still had most of its fortress wall standing probably after multiple restorations. It’s right on the water so you can walk around the town on top of the wall and look out over the ocean. My friends and I went just before sun set and walked around the wall then we walked down to the beach at sun set. The beach party didn’t last very long though since it was probably 20 or 30 degrees and the tide was coming in. It was neat walking around the town and looking at all the old architecture. The next day we got up early and drove a few hours down the coast to Omaha Beach where the heaviest fighting during D-day occurred. We went to the American Cemetery there which was pretty sobering and actually walked down on to the beaches from there. It was surreal to think about what happened there since the beaches are absolutely gorgeous and peaceful now. We were told though that you can still find bullet casings and if you are really lucky a dog tag, but all I found was a bunch a shells. As we were walking along the beach though we did find a German sniper nest up on the hill leading down to the beach so we climbed up to explore. There was a little plaque on it and that’s it. You could go through it basically as it was minus the guns etc obviously. Let me tell you, that was a little, well, more like very creepy. My camera ran out of batteries unfortunately just before we got to the sniper nest though so no picturesL. After the Cemetery we went through the Peace Museum near by. It was really interesting and powerful as well. By the time we finished at the museum it was time to come back to Paris. It was a little difficult coming back since we all realized how beautiful the other parts of France are on the trip and how much nicer people are outside of Paris…..not that there aren’t nice people in Paris hahahha, maybe just fewer of them.

So those are the big highlights of the last two weeks, but there have been other things that have happened besides the mundane day to day routine. I went to a museum called to the Musee Marmottan which has a lot of impressionist work especially by Monet and I babysat for the first time in France! My eldest brother and sister in my host family couldn’t watch the kids so they asked me. There were three girls and they were so cute (Juliet (6), Laure (10), and Amilee (8))! Their mom had died two years ago so their Dad was going on a date. We worked on their English homework, read101 Dalmatiens, and then it was time for bed. It was a little difficult keeping them in bed cause they kept coming downstairs to give me notes on their Hello Kitty stationary but they finally went to bed.

Alright that is it for now but check my pictures out since I just put new ones on the picture link and I’ll keep you updated soon!

~ A bientot, Jess

L'Assemblee Nationale!!

Alright, I'm back! It has been quite a week. Last weekend through a mutual friend here, I met a guy, Patrice, who worked for a Senator in the National Assembly for two years...which is like our Congress. We began talking and he found out I am also interested in politics and law so he offered to give two other friends and me a tour of the National Assembly sometime this week. I thought he would forget about it, BUT, to my surprise on Tuesday he texted one of my friends asking if if we still wanted a tour of the National Assembly. We said of course and after class we met up with him and we got the whole tour. It was amazing! Most French people haven't even been inside so it was exciting. We didn't have the right id to get in since we didn't realize we would actually be going but Patrice was able to pull some strings and get us in under his passport. Once we were inside the building it was amazing! Everywhere you turn there are Italian Renaissance pieces by Michelangelo and other famous Italian Renaissance artist. We saw the French Constitution, signed by President Charles de Gualle back in 1958, the National Assembly Room, the National Library, and a couple other sections of the building. Unfortunately though I didn't have my camera and they weren't even aloud, so no pictures :( Afterwords we went to a Cafe and argued about France's economics. Since Patrice is part of the Parti Socialiste it was not easy. Aughhh! Socialist!

Besides the National Assembly tour I mostly just went to class and did work. My Host family went on Holiday for the week so I had the house to myself which was a little frightening at times. I came home one night and all the lights and windows were open. Then I came inside and smelled cleaning supplies. The maid had decided to come late since the family was on vacation, but still I think I had a mini stroke or something like that walking up to the house before I realized what was going on. On Friday I sat in on a Societal Law class at the Sorbonne with a friend a met here which was neat. The Vocabulary was rough but it was interesting.

Alright it is starting to get late and I have work, but hope all is well in the States and we'll talk again soon! Jess