Mont Saint-Michel

Salut tout le monde! C'est un autre beau jour ici à Tours! Aujourd'hui, je sens comme une vrai personne française parce que le sèche ligne en ma résidence est en panne alors j'ai dû suspendre mes vêtements partout de ma chambre - ce n'est pas exactement comme les gens qui suspendent leurs vêtements sur leurs balcons et les terraces mais j'ai seulement ma petite chambre en résidence, alors je fais ce que je peux! Après tous mes vêtements sont sèches, j'ai besoin de faire mes valises (en fait mon sac à dos) parce que je quitte pour passer six jours dans le sud de France cette vendredi! 

Translation: Hello everyone! It is another beautiful day here in Tours! Today, I feel like a real French person because the dryer in my residence is broken so I had to hang dry all of my clothes around my room - this is not exactly like the French people who hang their clothes on their balconies or terraces but I only have my small room, so I do what I can. After all my clothes are dry, I need to pack my bags (aka my backpack) because I leave for the South of France this Friday! 

Side note: I only had to use Word Reference once for that paragraph #progress

Today's blog comes to you out of procrastination but also, I wanted to write about the fantastic weekend I just had. The Sports Centre here organised a trip to Mont-Saint-Michel this past weekend that I was fortunate enough to take part in. Originally, when I signed up for this trip, I thought we were going to climb a mountain and expected to spend the weekend hiking uphill. We then had a meeting at the start of October to go over the details of the trip and I apparently did not listen very well as I left the meeting still thinking we were going hiking. I was a little bit confused when we were told that it was necessary to wear shorts on Saturday and to bring a plastic bag for our shoes because we would be walking through water, but I just figured there was a part on the trail that required us to wade a little bit. Wrong again. However, I am happy to say that despite my poor comprehension, the weekend blew me away and I had an absolutely incredible time. 

So for those who have never heard of Mont-Saint-Michel, it is an island on the northwestern coast of Normandy, situated in between Normandy and Brittany at the mouth of the river. On the island, there is a very small town and at the summit, there is an abbey and a monastery. Fun fact, it is the second most visited place in France, with the first being Paris. From Tours, the drive was about 3 and a half hours.  

On Friday evening, we left to drive to Mont-Saint-Michel. There were about 30 of us in total, mainly students with 3 sport instructors from the school's sport centre. We left around 6:00pm and arrived at our hostel in Normandy between 9:30 and 10:00. This hostel was not nearly as fancy as the Amsterdam hostel but we pretty much had the place to ourselves. I was in a room with Rachel and Sam, and three German exchange students, Costanze, Jessice and Jasna. After settling in, we had a picnic dinner at the hostel and then went for a "randonné nocturne" (night walk) at Mont-Saint-Michel. It was pitch black when we arrived but the island and abbey were lit up - the first thing I thought was that I was back in Magic Kingdom walking up Mainstreet USA to Cinderella's castle! The sight was absolutely breathtaking! We then had about an hour or so to walk around freely and explore the island. We walked by souvenir stores, restaurants, cafés, hotels, etc. before climbing up the stairs to the cemeteries, church, museum and abbey. From up top, there was also an amazing view of the mainland. Around midnight, just like Cinderella, the lights were shut off and it was time to return to the hostel. 

Saturday morning, we had a breakfast buffet at the hostel (i.e. CARBOHYDRATES FOR DAYS), made picnic lunches and went to begin our hike. Up until this point, I was still expecting to climb a mountain, however after being able to climb it the night before in about 20 minutes, I was very, very confused. We parked the vans and went for a warm up hike along the sea coast. However, the sea was at low tide so there was just sand that went on for days, all the way out to Mont-Saint-Michel. This was when I learned what we would be doing. We were going to cross the bay! We met our guide at 11:30 to begin our trek, starting from the "Pointe du Grouin," the rocky headlands that protect the bay of MSM. This was when I learned the reason for the shorts and plastic bag for the shoes. We would be walking in the bay - in the sand and in the water, so no shoes were required. So off went the shoes for the day, on went the sunglasses and away we went. 

We started by walking through a sheep field which led up to the bay. I don't really know how to describe the walk but we spent 3 hours walking through the sand and water, following our guide to the mountain. Here and there, our guide would stop to give us a bit of history, explain a little bit about the bay and its formation and tell us legends about MSM and the other nearby island, Tomberin, however mostly we just walked and admired the beautiful views. We stopped for a picnic lunch in the middle of the bay on the driest part we could find before continuing on to the mountain. The weather was absolutely beautiful and the sun shone the whole day! 

We reached the mountain around 3:00 (I think) and had about an hour to explore the mountain in the daylight. For me, this meant finding a bathroom ASAP. It was very neat to see the mountain in the day, however it was very busy with tourists, unlike the night before when we had the mountain to ourselves. After finding the washroom, filling our water bottles and taking some beautiful pictures, it was time to start on our trek back towards land. 

Walking back, I was very torn between walking backwards and admiring MSM as the sun set and walking forward and admiring the French countryside. So, I did a little bit of both. Another really cool thing we did was create quick sand in the bay! To do this, everyone in the group got together and started jumping on the moist sand. This loosened up the earth and brought water to the surface. Then, when you stood on the sand and wiggled your legs down, you sunk into the sand!! One of our leaders sunk down until his knees were below the sand! To get out, you had to wiggle one leg out, plant it and then lean on your knee to wiggle your other leg out. I will include a picture so you can see what I am talking about because it is hard to describe. Some people were afraid to try, but I did a few times and it was a very cool sensation. 

After we finished crossing the bay, we returned to the hostel where we did raclette for dinner. If you have never done this before, a raclette grill is a circular grill that you put in the centre of the table. There is a little dish for each person that you put your piece of cheese on and then put it in the grill to melt. Once it melts, you pour it on to your food (we had meat and potatoes) and then eat! It was absolutely delicious but I could have used some vegetables to go with it! After cleaning everything up, we played a game of loup-garou and then went to bed. 

After Saturday, I had no idea what to expect on Sunday. I asked one of our leaders and he showed me a map of our hiking route for the day - we would be hiking along the sea coast along the point du Grouin. The day started off the same, with breakfast, lunch making and then driving to the start point. It was cold and rainy when we began our hike, but I kept my fingers crossed that the sun would make an appearance. We began our hike along a beach where you could see MSM through the fog in the distance. For the next 20km, we hiked through forests and fields, along beaches, up and down hills and through several sea side towns. We stopped in Cancale, a small seaside port in Brittany, where our leader, Francois, bought us all oysters to try! It was my second time trying oysters but the other time was in a restaurant and these ones were from a small stand right by the sea, plucked fresh from the sea probably that morning! Francois gave us a demonstration of how to eat them and then gave us all an oyster, a piece of lemon and a glass of white wine to savour the delicacy in the traditional way of the French! They were delicious - salty and fresh! I don't usually drink wine while I hike, but it was the perfect compliment to the oysters! 

We hiked along the pointe du Grouin for a total of 20km. Throughout the day, I saw some of the most beautiful landscapes I have ever seen. There were mountains, islands, boats, beaches, lighthouses, rock formations and dream houses - I could not stop taking pictures.  Around 5:00, we reached the beach where our leaders had parked the vans and we had some time to relax here and enjoy the sand and the sunset before heading home. The sun had eventually come out and it had been another hot day so I decided to go for a quick dip in the sea! I never thought that I would be swimming in the sea in the middle of October - I love the French weather! However, Francois did say that they had better weather this weekend than ever before so thank you Mother Nature! After my swim, it was time to head back to the hostel, collect our belongings and return to good old Tours! 

One of our leaders - Pascal

Final beach! 

I was dropped off around midnight and was sadly thrown right back into reality. I could have stayed by the seaside forever! Actually, during the hike on Sunday, I mentioned my life goal of finding my rich French husband to buy me a house on the French seaside and Francois offered to marry me! I told him he had to buy the house first to prove his commitment. Speaking of Francois, I would like to extend a huge thank you to our leaders, Francois, Isabelle and Pascal who took such great care of us and organised an amazing weekend! All of my expectations (which were in no way accurate) were exceeded and my camera memory card is full! And of course, thank you to all my fellow hikers for a fantastic randonné! 

Sadly, I must get back to the books now as I have three exams to take before heading off for the South of France. As well, I need to choose a recipe for my potluck dinner tomorrow with my residence - there is a contest for the best dish! Lots to do, places to go, people to see - it can be a little crazy but I would not have it any other way! I cannot believe my exchange is already half over! See you in less than two months Canada!

À bientôt tout le monde!

J'envoie mon amour! 

Erica xoxoxoxoxoxo

PS A press release was published about the scholarship I won in the summer! 

English: http://www.ubishops.ca/about-bu/bu-news/details.html?tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=474&cHash=2f60f3eb7aba206589ef248afde7cee6  

French on the Radio Canada website: http://cflx.qc.ca/radio/une-etudiante-de-luniversite-bishops-remporte-un-prix-de-service-communautaire/