I went to my first official European soccer match at Stade Rennais. It wasn't a huge match, so there wasn't a lot of people there. But, it only cost 2.50 euro, so can't complain! Also, in typical French fashion, the fans were on strike. Yes, the fans. On strike. Usually a group of people lead cheers and songs, sort of like a pep group. But, because it was a little game, with little importance, they went on strike. Not really sure what the aim was, but I cheered anyways.
Rennes won! So all was good in the world.Side note: Before the game, Leah, Larissa, Kayla and I went to a random resto to eat. Leah, Larissa, and I tried some random food that, according to Kayla's dictionary, was a type of sausage. Nope. Intestines. Live and learn.
Last Friday, Yoann invited all of us Madtowners over to his house to have a fête de crêpes. Basically, you make a ton of crêpe batter and can make yourself one whenever you feel like all night. I went over early and helped make some batter, which involved me stirring and Yoann doing everything else. Here is a montage of our successful attempts at sauter des crêpes:
Moi
Cody
Larissa #1
Larissa #2And, as normal, beer drinking Wisconsinites, we taught Yoann the finest of drinking games: beer pong, flip cup, and circle of death. No worries, we represent the Dairy State extremely well over here.
Look familiar?It was a really fun night, full of crêpes and games (Yoann told us he usually eats 10 crêpes at parties like that, which is an incroyable amount!). I got approximately 15 minutes of sleep before it was off to meet with CIEE for our trip to Normandy....
Normandy was a really interesting experience. I didn't expect it to be so moving/emotional, but it really was. We visited the WWII museum in Caen, which had a lot of items and pictures. There were letters on display from soldiers to their families, one which almost made me cry. It was the last letter the family ever received from him, and it was right before D-Day. We also saw a movie that used a lot of real footage from D-Day, and one clip in particular was really unsettling. It was a sweeping view of the beach with all the soldiers rushing up, only to fall a few feet later...its different when its Saving Private Ryan than when its actual people.
After Caen, we went to Bayeux and saw this famous tapestry. Its about 1000 years old and 250 feet long. Its also extremely detailed, and tells the story of William the Conqueror, how bamf he was, and how he took over England. The museum gave us some pretty sweet audio commentary, with music and sound effects, and after the tapestry we got to see some great wax figures of William. It was a nice change of mood from the WWII museum...
The next day we went to the American Cemetery.
Its a very moving place, and, although its sad, I recommend seeing it. If I remember correctly, its the burial ground for about 8000 American soldiers. There are even a few female nurses buried there from the Red Cross. Its on a cliff above Omaha Beach, one of the spots of the invasion. My grandpa was part of D-day, and he was at Omaha. I tried to picture him at the beach, and couldn't help thinking of how glad I am he wasn't one of those crosses (if he was, I wouldn't be here!). It was so hard to imagine it how it was that day, how it must've looked and sounded like, how the soldiers ran up the beach, like in the film we saw at the museum, and about how so many of them never made it back home...It was a really beautiful beach, and its sad how it will forever be known for something so ugly and terrible.
We spent a long time down at the beach, because it was a really nice day and the water was so perfect. I found a bunch of hermit crabs, and waded in the sea.
After Omaha, we went over to Pointe du Hoc, another D-day location. Here, 250 soldiers attempted a surprise attack on an area of German arms, but due to navigational errors, lost the surprise, and had to scale 100 ft cliffs while being barraged with Nazi bullets. Somehow, 90 soldiers survived and took the fortifications. Most of the area has been left in tact, and is open to the public. The ground is pocketed with bomb craters, and you can go inside the concrete buildings. You can tell what was used to hold up GIGANTIC guns too. It was really unbelievable.
The weekend was a really good experience, although a little emotionally draining. The coast of Normandy was super beautiful and peaceful. But, it was good to get back to Rennes after a LONG exciting weekend. I watched the Rennes v Bordeaux soccer match on TV and called it a night. I didn't do too much exciting things during the week EXCEPT plan my weekend in Lyon! More on Lyon in the next post......
XOXO
Normandy was a really interesting experience. I didn't expect it to be so moving/emotional, but it really was. We visited the WWII museum in Caen, which had a lot of items and pictures. There were letters on display from soldiers to their families, one which almost made me cry. It was the last letter the family ever received from him, and it was right before D-Day. We also saw a movie that used a lot of real footage from D-Day, and one clip in particular was really unsettling. It was a sweeping view of the beach with all the soldiers rushing up, only to fall a few feet later...its different when its Saving Private Ryan than when its actual people.
After Caen, we went to Bayeux and saw this famous tapestry. Its about 1000 years old and 250 feet long. Its also extremely detailed, and tells the story of William the Conqueror, how bamf he was, and how he took over England. The museum gave us some pretty sweet audio commentary, with music and sound effects, and after the tapestry we got to see some great wax figures of William. It was a nice change of mood from the WWII museum...
The next day we went to the American Cemetery.
Its a very moving place, and, although its sad, I recommend seeing it. If I remember correctly, its the burial ground for about 8000 American soldiers. There are even a few female nurses buried there from the Red Cross. Its on a cliff above Omaha Beach, one of the spots of the invasion. My grandpa was part of D-day, and he was at Omaha. I tried to picture him at the beach, and couldn't help thinking of how glad I am he wasn't one of those crosses (if he was, I wouldn't be here!). It was so hard to imagine it how it was that day, how it must've looked and sounded like, how the soldiers ran up the beach, like in the film we saw at the museum, and about how so many of them never made it back home...It was a really beautiful beach, and its sad how it will forever be known for something so ugly and terrible.We spent a long time down at the beach, because it was a really nice day and the water was so perfect. I found a bunch of hermit crabs, and waded in the sea.
After Omaha, we went over to Pointe du Hoc, another D-day location. Here, 250 soldiers attempted a surprise attack on an area of German arms, but due to navigational errors, lost the surprise, and had to scale 100 ft cliffs while being barraged with Nazi bullets. Somehow, 90 soldiers survived and took the fortifications. Most of the area has been left in tact, and is open to the public. The ground is pocketed with bomb craters, and you can go inside the concrete buildings. You can tell what was used to hold up GIGANTIC guns too. It was really unbelievable.The weekend was a really good experience, although a little emotionally draining. The coast of Normandy was super beautiful and peaceful. But, it was good to get back to Rennes after a LONG exciting weekend. I watched the Rennes v Bordeaux soccer match on TV and called it a night. I didn't do too much exciting things during the week EXCEPT plan my weekend in Lyon! More on Lyon in the next post......
XOXO
bon blog
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