14 novembre 2009 (Day 75)
I woke up bright and early to go on a field trip! It was quite the stormy night, for there was a lot of wind and rain. I hopped on a double decker bus at 7:30 am and headed off to Mont St. Michel and St. Malo with a bunch of Chinese kids. There were other nationalities there, but those Asians dominated the roll call. We all mostly slept on the two and a half hour ride to Mont Saint Michel. I enjoyed the radio in the bus because they played French songs and American songs that made me laugh. I went over my lines for the play until I fell asleep. Luckily I am a better sleeper than the girl next to me, for she was head bobbing for at least a half of an hour. I felt bad for her.
Mont St. Michel was gorgeous! We almost hit a sheep that decided to go bounding across the road in front of our double decker bus. Mont St. Michel is a tiny tidal island (around 50 people live there) with an amazing history. In the sixth and seventh centuries it was used as a stronghold. It used to be called “ monte tombe.” In the 700s (more was built on in later years) a monastery was built on this rocky inlet. They have a funny story about how St. Michael the archangel told this bishop to build the church and he ignored St. Michael so much that St. Michael burned a hole in the bishop’s skull with his finger! Mont Saint Michel is represented in the Bayou Tapestry. The abbey was a prison for some time, holding Victor Hugo hostage! There is also quick sand!
I took oodles of photos and enjoyed walking in the abbey and the surrounding area. It was really windy and intermittently sprinkling. I had lunch in a cute creperie with some friends where I got a gallette paysan…a crepe with tomatoes, cheese, and bacon. It was really delicious.
After Mont St Michel we went back to the bus and drove to a popular port Saint Malo. It was a nice area although we didn’t have a lot of time to explore. Deisy and I went with some of the teachers into the town. It was nice to talk to fluent French speakers who knew about Saint Malo. A storm came in so we took shelter in a restaurant and had butter and sugar crepes with hot chocolate. The crepes were delicious (I’ve tasted better hot cocoa)! We stayed there until it was time to meet at the buses. We were actually the last ones there and the teacher we were with got a little scolding!
On the way home I talked with Andrei, a boy who was in our group walking around St Malo. He is Romanian but speaks French and English fluently, so he is quite the trilingual lurp. He is studying to be a doctor and has a flawless American English accent. It was pretty entertaining talking to him in a mix of French and English about movies, television, medical stuff, etc.
It was a really delicious day to say the least! Delicious for the eyes (the scenery), the brain (the French), the mouth (my first galette and crepe from a creperie), and the body (sleeping on the bus).
