The Toussaint Break: October & November
Compared to the Public system in the US, When It comes to school breaks here in France they often have a shorter summer period but followed by four, two week breaks with other days off throughout the school year. At St Emilie middle school, the first two week break was centered around the French holiday Toussaint which essentially means ‘All Saints Day’ and is a catholic celebrated time at which to honor saints originating back to the 4th century. I can remember when I first looked at my school's calendar I was incredibly excited to see those days marked ‘NO SCHOOL’ two weeks in a row. Don't get me wrong.. I absolutely love le college de St Emilie; getting to teach, interact with the kids, learn french and get to know my colleagues but I will admit that I was soo ready for a break!
A Short Week in Belgium:
Brussels — It had been planned months in advance that my mom and grandma would come to visit me during this break during the second week but the first few days were not occupied. Up until about two weeks before the break I was thinking about how I wanted to spend the first few days either by myself as my host sisters had some plans or go somewhere and it randomly occurred to me, why don’t I just go to Belgium?! And that's just one of the wonderful things about living in France and doing this program is that when I do have the time to travel and of course the funds, I'm able to do so! (especially with other European countries being a train ride away) And overall I am quite glad that I chose to plan a quick trip as Belgium was beautiful! A friend of mine who is also an Andego Intern came along and I will admit it was incredibly thrilling adventuring off and planning my first international trip but also stressful at times having to constantly think about lodging, food and transportation. We visited Brussels, the capital of Belgium and saw many popular sites and beautiful Belgian architecture. However, nothing compared to the views of the Grand Place lit up at night with all the purple and blue colors illuminated on the gothic architecture. Already having an obsession with sugar, I ate too many incredibly good belgium waffles as I traveled through Brussels and later visited Bruges ( and I still miss these waffles daily.)
Bruges — The second town that my friend and I visited and stayed in for the remainder of our trip was Bruges, a small medieval town with a beautiful historic bell tower, canals and incredibly quaint streets lined with Belgian architecture. Bruges was absolutely magnificent and I loved being able to walk the streets, viewing the canals and peering into the already Christmas decorated store windows. The Bell Tower situated in the heart of Bruges was astonishing.. Not just the beauty of it, but the fact that I was viewing a building that had been built hundreds of years ago. Maybe that's one of the other beautiful things about living in France and in Europe that I’ve come to discover: The beauty of such history dates back to hundreds of years ago in almost every major city! I will admit, the trip had its ups and downs but looking back at it now, I don’t think I’ll ever forget my first independent trip and time spent in Belgium.
Time Spent With Family:
Paris – Timing was perfect as I was able to catch a bus that went from Bruges to the Paris airport to meet up with my mom and grandma who had just landed. Prior to seeing them, we had talked quite a bit about trip details, plans, seeing my host families and time spent together. Even in Belgium I had been anticipatedly waiting to see my grandma and mom (in person! And without a video call!) And even so.. The date that they arrived happened to land exactly on my two months of living here in France, reunited with family again! The Uber driver that took us to our hotel in Paris was incredibly kind and I loved conversing with him in French! (he even gave me a grammar lesson!) I had passed through Paris with the other Andego Interns by bus upon arriving in Paris but driving down the Champs Elysee's, viewing the Arc De Triomphe and many bridges across La Seine river was particularly special (even more so to do it with my mom and grandma.) It was a quick time in Paris, and we spent the night walking around the Eiffel Tower and eating at a creperie before Taking the train for Angers the next day.
Loire Valley Region: Angers – Our time spent in Angers was more so an opportunity for my family to be able to see what my life living in a small town outside of Angers looks like; being with a host family, meeting new people that I have made great connections through at church and the middle school by which I teach at! We had spent some time walking around downtown Angers and viewing the historic Chateau and Cathedrale and I felt most especially, how unique it was to be able to show my family around the city that I have gotten to know in the last two months. We had two very wonderful meals with my host family and second family that I’ll be joining in March. It was most definitely a wonderful memory having my family back home meet the people that I have gotten to call family in the last months during my time here in France. I particularly enjoyed it when my host sister taught my mom how to play the accordion and taught my mom and grandma both that the french term Apero which essentially is a special snack time before dinner, is in fact NOT dinner… so don’t fill up on the nuts and carrots.
Brittany Region: Dinan – For our first official ‘touristy travel’ part of my time with my family we spent a night in a small medieval town of the Brittany region called Dinan. Originally, we
Normandy Region: Mont St Michel — Before moving to France, I had created a list of absolute MUST see places in France and around Europe that I wanted to visit during my time here and Mont St Michel was one of them! The particularly interesting and unique features of Mont St Michel is that it is an abbey built hundreds of years ago as a singular island located less than a mile from the north shores of France's Normandy region. Half of our time visiting the Abbey was spent walking around the narrow and cobblestone streets surrounding the village to spending our afternoon touring the cathedrales museum and walking around the historic structure and architecture. Despite the heavy rain in the morning and thick cloud cover, the weather became quite beautiful in the later afternoon and it was quite nice to view the abbey with the sunlight as we departed from our visit. While I had seen many pictures before of the beautiful Mont St Michel, seeing the structure lying on a single island before me in the middle of tidal waters reveals just how grand and historic its design features have been created to be.
D-Day American Cemetery — After leaving Mont St Michel, we stayed in a quaint bed and breakfast in Bayeux and ventured to the D-Day American Cemetery located in the small town of Colleville-Sur-Mer. Prior to walking around the grounds and viewing the rows of graves, we spent time around the information center and reading the exhibits in the museum of the events leading up to the fighting on the beaches of D-Day. In the states, I had never been to a museum that documented information about D-Day, but now having visited the sites by which thousands of American soldiers had been laid to rest and reading about the actions of this day was incredibly moving. Our time walking around the cemetery was a mixture of sadness, beauty and thought provoking. The way that the hundreds of crosses and stars of David had been aligned in rows situated amongst trees by the coast was beautiful. There were two monuments that sat on opposite sides of the cemetery with an American and French flag that overlooked the rows of graves. However, the sadness of visualizing just how many soldiers lost their lives over a period of weeks to fight for peace is real, and it happened. To be an American visiting an American historic monument located in another country was special, and I wouldn’t have wanted to go with anyone else other than my family.
Etretat — Our last and final city visited together and it did not disappoint in the slightest. Etretat is a small town located on the beaches of the English Channel within France's Normandy region. However, the city is not well known for its cute beach town but the giant cliffs that can be seen to the left and right directions. When we did arrive after visiting the American Cemetery it was unfortunately night, and the cliffs could not be seen. However the next morning, the rain had stopped and after breakfast we headed out to the boardwalk to view both angles of the cliffs for the first time! And I will say, they are incredibly beautiful. The sun was out for most of the day and our time was spent walking up the cliffs and oh boy was the view even more incredible up above than down below. With the wind blowing our hair around and the sun casting on the turquoise water on the ocean below, it was freeing. It was cold, that's for sure but I remember feeling that I could have stayed out all day continuing to venture along the trail of cliffs visualizing more structures and their unique features. Above all the other places we visited, the cliffs of Etretat tops them all and the adventurer in me loved every minute of it. However, despite the regions that we visited around France, the time that I spent with my mom and grandma was most especially memorable and I certainly needed it!
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