Vendredi 6.1.2018 Jour 5 en France
Today was a long day! I woke up earlier than usual because we had to meet at the Gare-Rue Verte (Station-Green Street) before 8:15h in the morning. We were going to take the train and couldn’t be late. I was worried about being late, so I ate a light breakfast but took an apricot, tomato, and some bread with me to snack on. I managed to be a whole hour early, so I lingered outside of the Gare-Rue Verte for some time, but I didn’t want to be approached by any strangers or look vulnerable, so I went inside of the Gare where a little convenient market stood. I looked around, and bought a pencil pouch, and a book in French to practice my reading skills. I walked back outside and sat on the only places there was to sit, but I didn’t sit long before Abby walked up, also super early. I waved her down, and we decided to move to a little café nearby, called Bandol, so that we didn’t look vulnerable. The Gare-Rue Verte was heavy with foot traffic as it’s a major train station, and there were several peddlers / strange looking people walking around. Abby and I both got an espresso, and just sat talking and getting to know each other better. Abby was my French tutor during the past semester and I really appreciate her. Later, we decided to walk back to the front of the train station and spotted a couple of other students in our groups. Mme E was getting all of us sandwiches from a local shop called ‘Yvonne’ to take with us to eat when we got to the garden. We were going to Le Jardins de Monet en Giverny, France (Garden of Claude Monet) today. We collected ourselves, boarded the train, and went on our way. The train ride was approximately 3.5 hours, and then we had to take a shuttle to the garden which was an additional hour. We finally arrived and immediately had a little pique-nique as we were all hungry. The garden has thus far been my favorite excursion. I love nature, plants, flowers, bees, etc. Unfortunately, it did rain heavily. I didn’t mind, because it was still so beautiful, and these were sights I may never see again in person. I took many pictures. We also took a tour inside Claude Monet’s house, which was also beautiful. It was a really nice time. We spent several hours there but made our way back so that we could have supper with our families. Once back with my family, I enjoyed a glass of wine and spent time after dinner bonding and hanging out with them.










