#lionsurmer

[yannjo]

Ce week-end, c’était “fossiles, chapelle et tourisme”

[eltee1]

A British Churchill AVRE memorial in Sword Beach sector in Lion-sur-Mer, Normandy, France.

[pierralu]

#Alu #streetart #arturbain #muguet #aerosolart #aerosol #graffiti #graff #mural #mur #lionsurmer #artaujardin (à Lion-sur-Mer)

[yannjo]

Hier, c’était découverte du littoral de Lion sur mer et les falaises des confessionnaux

[0211]

#beachlife at the #beach #surlaplage #lionsurmer (hier: Plage Lion Sur Mer) https://www.instagram.com/p/CSEfvxOMsI2/?utm_medium=tumblr

[caramelchomf-blog]

~[Lion s/mer]~ #lionsurmer #paletteindustrielle #recyclable #recycler #fleurs #fleur #flowers #flower #photography #photo #photooftheday #photographer (à Lion-sur-Mer) https://www.instagram.com/p/B0QLm8LInpC/?igshid=1665yi7r8ywbz

[les-plantes]

C'est l'été en Normandie.... #summer #lionsurmer #caen #normandie

[midnightinparisxo]

Normandie & V.I.P.

Okay! So I apologize for not having written in a while but I have been SOOO busy ever since I started my program here. I feel like I haven’t had a second to breathe, so I have decided to take this quiet alone time this evening to update you on what I’ve been up to thus far…

  Last week we had a ton of things to do for orientation (snore…) but we did get to take a group field trip to Normandy! Here we visited a museum filled with artifacts, films, and other descriptors talking about the role of the French in the Second World War and of course D-Day. It was a very emotionally charged place and reminded me somewhat of my visit to the Holocaust museum in DC almost 7 years ago. If I had tried to read every piece of information I’m sure I’d still be there since it was chockfull of information. That same day we checked into our hostel at Lion-Sur-Mer, a very small town on the north-west coast of France. Shortly after we ventured onto the beach, which was beautiful and such a soothing place to be, even in the cooler autumn weather. Beautiful beach cottages (or rather beach mansions) lined the sand and people were out riding their bikes or walking their dogs as the sun was setting. 

 Here we had sandcastle building competitions. Ours even had a moat with a bridge which was pretty ballin’ if I do say so myself. In the end we lost (*cough, it was rigged, *cough) but it was wonderful just getting to do something fun and make new friends in the process!

  The next day we got up bright and early and headed to the beaches of Normandy, which was a surreal experience. Just this summer I watched the 1964 classic, The Americanization of Emily, a film starring Julie Andrew’s as the female lead, Emily Barham, set during WWII. In the movie Emily’s lover, Charlie, is sent to Omaha beach as part of a film crew and there he becomes “The First American to Die on Omaha Beach”. Luckily in the movie, Charlie turns out to have been alive the whole time and he and Emily live happily ever after, lalala...  But on a real note, it was bizarre being on the actual beach where some important shots from this film were set and it brought a greater light to how devastating but central D-Day is to our world’s history.

After leaving the beach we took a trip to the American Graves of the soldiers who died in Normandy. It was hard to fully process the number of graves, which seemed endless, knowing that these were only a portion of the people that died.

  After our somber but also fun and educational trip we returned to Paris for the night! We tried to go out and find some fun bars but it turns out people in Paris go out much earlier than in America and I think this may be due to the fact that the metros stop running at 2AM. Sooooo either you get your fun in early or pull an all nuiter and stay out til 5:30 when the metro starts up again. We ended up hanging out at what I now call Club MacDo (McDonald’s) where I kid you not, you had to enter a passcode from the bottom of your receipt to go to the bathroom! Gives a wholeee new meaning to V.I.Pee. If anyone has seen the musical Urinetown I prettyy much felt like I was in it. 

 The following day I went on a tour of Île Saint-Louis where I came across the Notre Dame, La Seine, and the famous lock bridge! It still baffles me being right next to these places that I’ve only ever seen in pictures or in movies but it just validates for me why I love to travel and that studying abroad this semester was the right decision for me. Saturday it rained a LOT and since I didn’t bring my rain jacket or pack an umbrella I had to rock the Babushka look with my scarf, which I kind of actually loved. If you’re ever in the mood to feel like a caterpillar inside of it’s chrysalis just wrap a scarf around your head a couple of times and voila! You’re good to go, rain or shine. (Gotta protect the mane, you know what I mean?) That night I was reunited with my former exchange student from high school, Anne-Lise and her best friend who had also lived in Nashville at the same time, Max. It was so good seeing these gals again after 3 years and having them to give me the low down on life in Paris isn’t too shabby either (:

  Now that I actually have French homework I’m off to do that so I don’t end up staying up until midnight watching New Girl again (couldn’t help myself)...

  Bon journée et Bisous !

Alli