I got home from France as of last night.
I had an amazing time, the only part of me that wanted to come home was the part of me that likes milk, kraft dinner, and grilled cheese.
And since I'm home, I find Canada boring, so to cure this boredem, I'm going to break my trip down for you guys. Not interested? Don't have a lot of time to kill? Stop reading here.
Thursday, September 28 - Got on the bus at 2 pm and headed to Pearson. Got to the airport, weighed my luggage (which was, thankfully, not overweight) and grabbed some food at Swiss Chalet. Went through customs and then played cards in the terminal. We boarded the plane at 745, took off shortly there after, flew extremely shakily for 45 minutes, landed at Trudeau in Montreal for an hour, and the continued on to Charles De Gaulle in Paris for the next 8.5 hours. I mostly slept because the in-flight movie was Over the Hedge.
Friday, September 29 - Wake up around what I believed to be 330 am, but in reality it was 930 am. We had breakfast. The plane landed at 11:55 am. We got through immigration and then boarded our beautiful coach bus. We headed into Rouen. Again, I slept most of the time, I was a little jet lagged. We arrive at Sacre Coeur around 230 pm I believe, and I met my correspondant, Maxime. We head into the school for some food and to have a short meeting. He informs me that he lives in a suburb of Rouen and that he takes the bus and the metro every day. That was a pain in the ass as my luggage weighed roughly 21 kilograms. Luckily, he carried it for me. We got to his house (which was 3 storeys and had a spiral staircase), I dropped off my stuff, and we went for a walk around his neighbourhood. We eventually went back to his house where I then met his sister, his father, and later his dad's girlfriend and his siter's boyfriend. They couldn't have been nicer. We ate dinner and then watched Spiderman. I then headed to bed.
Saturday, September 30 - I slept in until noon while Maxime attended school. After breakfast (which consisted of a baguette and lots of Nutella) we went to a mall and looked around. We then met up with some of his friends and headed into downtown Rouen. There we met up with some other Canadians and we shopped. That evening we went "bowling." No actual bowling occured, it was mostly pool and alcohol.
Sunday, October 1 - Again, slept in until noon. Maxime's dad, Christian, left for Turkey Sunday morning and was gone until the following Sunday night. After lunch Maxime, Anne (his dad's girlfriend) and I headed to Etretat. It was a beautiful town on the north coast. I will also say here that the speed limit in France, on single lane highways, is 130 kilometres an hour. We spent the day at the coast, climbing a cliff and looking at the ocean. Afterwards we headed into another region and saw Normandy Bridge which is also a beautiful structure. If bridges were intended to be pretty, they would all look like Normandy Bridge. I didn't see Anne again until the following Sunday. Not sure where she went, but it wasn't Turkey.
Monday, October 2 - Woke up at 7, took the bus and the metro to the school, boarded a bus and headed to the Juno Beach Centre, about 2 hours away. The part of the day we spent at Juno Beach was undoubtedly one of my favourite parts of the trip. We ate lunch on the beach and waded in the water. After lunch we headed to a Canadian War Cemetary which I can't describe. I did however find a stone with the last name Tobin on it, which was interesting. After the War Cemetary we headed into a little town called St. Malo. We did some shopping there, and afterwards we boarded the bus again and headed to our Youth Hostel. If any of you have seen the movie Hostel, then you already know what our hostel looked like. Anyways, that night our room became the party room. It was an interesting night, to say the least.
Tuesday, October 3 - Wake up call at 630 am, which was harsh. We had breakfast and eventually boarded the bus and headed to Mont St. Michel. We had a guide who lead us so we wouldn't get stuck in the quicksand. We ended up having a mudfight between the Canadians and the French, which, I am proud to announce, was started by myself and Julia Farr. It was my first mudfight, and certainly not my last. The guide took us to a large area with quicksand and I sunk in it up to my hips. Getting myself out was a difficult task for sure. Once we were finished the several kilometre trek we washed ourselves off and we were provided with lunch, however we were not permitted on the bus, which was ridiculous because we were wet and cold. We headed into the town of Mont St. Michel which is a mountain with shops and apartments. We looked around a bit but quickly tired of it, so we headed to the bus. When we got there we still weren't allowed on, so we sat behind it and just hung out, got to know some of the other French students a bit more. We eventually got on the bus and sat on it for 3 hours. We arrived back at the school and then headed home.
Wednesday, October 4 - I attended school at the Collége Sacre Coeur in the morning which was like an elementary school. I felt like a celebrity. All of the children asked for my autograph and email address. One little girl even asked me to sign her paper twice, once for her and again for her cousin. After lunch Maxime had to do some extra school work so I along with other French students and Canadians went skating. Skating in France is much different and more difficult than it is in Canada. The edge of the blade is backwards or something, because when anyone tried to stop they just slid and often fell. After skating I headed back to the school to meet Maxime and, if I remember correctly, we just went home for dinner and whatnot.
Thursday, October 5 - This day is a bit of a blur. I
think that this is the day that we toured the boulangerie. If it is, we toured a bakery in the morning which was really interesting, and in the afternoon we got a guided tour of Rouen which was really really interesting. Many of the houses are bigger at the top than at the bottom for more room and to avoid higher taxes, and there is a cat trapped in a wall that has been there since the black plague. There is also a school that used to be a mausoleum and is built on top of a pit that is filled with people who died from the black plague. After the tour we shopped and then met up with our partners at the school.
Friday, October 6 - I went to school at the Lycée (more like a highschool) in the morning, which was interesting. After classes, all of us headed to a stadium and played sports, Canadians against the French. The Canadians won every single sport. We walked home after, and when we got there Maxime realized he had forgotten his key. We jumped the brick fence, and sat in their garden for a bit when Max realized a window was open, on the second floor. He pulled a patio table up to the window and jumped in. I, however, was too short, so as I tried to suspend myself in mid-air he pulled me through. Why he didn't just go and unlock the door for me is a mystery. We returned to the school at 7 and met up with some Canadians, we hung out around the school for a bit, did some various activities, and then there was a dance at 830. It was completely techno. It ended at 1. We went to a party for a bit, and then headed home.
Saturday, October 7 - Maxime skipped his classes for the morning so we both slept in. In the afternoon, Maxime, Céline (his sister), Axel and I drove into Rouen to meet up with some other Canadians and go shopping. We shopped all day, and then we (being those I mentioned before) along with Maxime's friend and his corespondant, Emily Ennett, grabbed some dinner, which was hilarious. Axel asked her to ask the waiter for "beat" and "columba" (no idea if that's how those are spelled). Neither is something that you would want to ask for in a restaurant. After that we went to one of the bridges and met up with Maxime's cousin and his friends. We hung out there for a while, then we headed to a club called Exo7 around 1230, but none of us enjoyed it so we toured home.
Sunday, October 8 - Maxime, Anne (who reappeared) and I headed up the mountain in Rouen to view the city from the top. It was breathtaking. After that Anne dropped Max and I off at Jardin des Plantes (fitting, I think) which was one of, if not the most, beautiful place I saw. After that we met some people at McDonalds, where we all realized we were eating McDonalds on Thanksgiving, which was very saddening. We headed to a park, swung on some swings, then went "bowling" again. After awhile we went back home, did some homework, and went to bed.
Monday, October 9 - We were supposed to attend classes in the morning, but instead Mr. Buckley and Mr. Ennett let us go shopping for the entire day. It was fantastic. At first nothing was open except bars, but eventually shops began to open up. I met up with Maxime at 430 and we headed home for a bit. At 745 we headed out again for dinner with the entire group, all the Canadians and all the French. It was a great time, which was followed by "bowling." It was a long night.
Tuesday, October 10 - We went to the school in the morning, I said goodbye to Maxime and all the other French students, and we headed into Paris. On the way, we stopped at the Palais de Versailles, which was magnificent. We were there for a few hours, then we headed to our hostel/hotel deal to drop off our bags. After that we walked into a part of Paris and grabbed some dinner and did some shopping. We went to the opera at 8 pm which was very interesting, and got back to our rooms around 1230. Walking back was absolutely beauiful. Paris really is the most romantic city.
Wednesday, October 11 - We headed to Notre Dame first thing in the morning. After Notre Dame, we went into the Latin Quarter and did some shopping. We went back to the hostel/hotel for lunch. After, we headed to the Eiffel Tower which was much larger than expected. We went to the top. After the Eiffel Tower we went to the Louvre for our guided tour at 630. Let me tell you, the Mona Lisa is disappointing. It's very small. I also saw the Vénus de Milo and the inverted pyramid, along with several other famous works. We went back to the hostel/hotel for dinner around 830. We had a boat tour on a bateau mouche at 1030 which was a LOT of fun. the tour ended at 1130 and we walked back to the hostel/hotel for about 1215. This day, we walked 26 kilometres, and we even took the subway at one point. Again, that night, our room became the party room. Everyone crashed on our floor.
Thursday, October 12 - We had an ungodly wake up call at 630. I slept in a bit, got dressed, went to breakfast, and then we left the hostel/hotel around 820. We drove to the airport, got through customs, ate another breakfast (because by this time I was used to eating every 5 minutes) and boarded the plane around 1230, behind schedule. We flew about 8 hours to Montreal's Trudeau, and then to Pearson, where I had a heart attack. After leaving beauitful 30 degree weather and flying 10 hours, the last thing you are prepared for is snow and a chilly 4 degrees. Thanks to the time change, the flight felt like it was only 4 hours. We got through immigration by 520, but it felt like 1120. We found our bus and prepared for heavy traffic. I slept. We arrived at St. Mikes around 745 I think. I hopped out of the bus and into the car. I came home, uploaded my pictures, watched Greys Anatomy, and went to bed.
A grand time was had by all. A large part of me didn't want to leave. Why don't grocery stores in Canada have walls filled with liquor?
Today was March for Mikes, followed by the usual coffee house. In my opinion, it was a pretty good time, but I think Nora would disagree.
Hope I didn't miss much in the past two weeks. Liam, your posts took forever to catch up on. and Blake, are you still working in Stratford on the weekends?
MTOD
