It Made My Life

We woke up yesterday morning at 7h00. Needless to say, we were not happy campers about the fact that we had had less than four hours of sleep. On the other hand, we were all super excited about the fact that there were so many of us exchange students at Mont Saint Michel.

After breakfast we walked from camp to the church. We saw that yesterday, where there had been a parking lot, and a little bit further where we had gone on our hike in the mud was all completely covered in water. Everything surrounding Mont Saint Michel but the road on which we were walking was nothing but water. The best part of the walk there, though, was seeing the Scooby Doo Mystery Machine.

Once we reached the actual mountain (I think I can call it that), we climbed all the way to the tippy top. Actually, I tried but couldn't find a way to the tippy top, but I went as high up as I could go. Once we had reached the top, Rotary gave us an hour to explore. First I walked around the church with Olivia from the US; then, we met up with Jess from New York (not the city) and Valentina from Chile and began our descent.

On the way down, we passed so many doors. Jess and I tried to open some, but all were locked. At one point I saw a door with a sort of button near it and shouted, "Hey, look! This one has a doorbell!" Of course, then I pushed the button at least five times in a row, not expecting the door to open. I screamed when it did open and a woman dressed in a nun's habille walked out past us and in the opposite direction. After we got over the initial shock, we could not stop laughing.

We kept on walking until we reached a part of the church that looked similar to a castle with steps leading up to it. Valentina and I started to climb them, but then we reached a ledge. Instead of turning back, I stuck my foot in a crevice in the ledge and hoisted myself up on to the top. Valentina followed suit while Jess and Olivia looked on, still giggling about the nun incident. Valentina and I hung out up there for at least fifteen minutes during which time Olivia and Jess left and some random man berated us for climbing up so high.

When we got down, Valentina and I didn't see anybody else from our Rotary group, so we began walking around aimlessly. We walked all over and even went in to mass even though the sign requested no visiters during the service. About the time we entered the church for the service, we realized we were lost. This was surprising because even though Mont Saint Michel looks big from the outside, on the inside it feels so small and easy to navigate. We eventually found our way back to the entrance where we saw three exchange students from the US inside a gift shop who told us that we were supposed to have met at the bus tweny minutes previously. We arrived back at the buses just in time. We also had spoken in Spanish the entire time!

We all ate lunch together before we left and exchanged as many parting bear hugs as possible. That is one thing that we Rotary students share in common: our love of hugs!

I was not planning on staying awake for the whole eight hour bus ride, so as soon as it started rolling, I put my head in Daniel's lap and my legs across the aisle and stretched across Tom (the ten year old French boy) and Ardika from Indonesia's legs. I slept that way for one hour.

When I awoke, Jess (sitting diagonal from me) was talking about Ubby Dubby, the language from the kid's PBS show Zoom. I told her automatically that I could speak it because my friend from Sylva, NC Mandy Dean taught it to me. She then asked me how I was doing to which I responded, "Myby bobotobom huburts!" (My bottom hurt from laying in between two seats.)

I learned from James from Australia that a lolly is a soft candy, a throat lolly is a cough drop, a cardboard packet is a box, and a kitchen stool is a counter. I learned from Emma from Finland that every summer, it's a tradition to wash carpets in a river, the largest city, Helsinki, only has a population of 500, and in Finland when you ask, "how are you?" you will get a long response of much more than just "fine" or "super dooper!"

For the last leg of the trip I hung out with Maxi and Martina from Argentina and talked to them in Spanish. (Argentinian Spanish, of course, complete with the -ch pronounciation for -ll and -y) Apparently, they can understand my English accent (Spanish, too) better than most of the other Americans! (I feel so special!) We three have already made plans to get together the next time one of them goes to the US or I go to Argentina because Maxi, who arrived here in January, is sadly leaving in November. It's amazing how all of the Rotary kids already love eachother so much.

So to conclude my weekend, I think I spoke more Spanish than English, and I have no clue how I'm going to be able to transition back into French! Also, remember that this was all done with barely any voice because mine quit on me Saturday afternoon leaving me hoarse and sounding silly!