We Went to Normandieee!

This weekend was faaantastic, people! 

Friday evening when Fred and Cecile came back from work, the house was super busy because we had so much packing to do! I had already prepared the chocolate chip cookies and my own bag during the afternoon, so I helped out by entertaining Prune while Fred and Cecile rushed around grabbing last-minute things. We got in the car at about 7:30pm and set out for our 2 1/2 hour drive to the house in Normandie. Some of Fred and Cecile’s friends had rented the house in Normandie for the weekend to celebrate Cecile’s birthday, and because they are the nicest people ever in the world, Fred and Cecile invited me to come with them. :)

I couldn’t be calm at all in the car! I was too excited to be able to see another part of France! Fred and Cecile laughed as I blabbered on and on about how cool everything I saw was. 

We arrived at the house a little before 10, and since it was dark I wasn’t really sure what the outside looked like, but I soon discovered the inside was really cute and friendly looking! I was greeted warmy by my French family’s friends, and even though its been a weekend I don’t really know exactly what all of their names are hahah. They were three other couples who had brought their kids (all little) and dogs for the weekend! Cecile and I explored the house for a little before putting Prune to sleep. It wasn’t really that big, but there were so many rooms with a lot of beds which meant room for everyone. After the kids were asleep, the adults (yeahhhh that includes meeee!) sat down to have dinner. Except by dinner, I mean we had crackers and champagne, then a course I thought was dinner, then actual dinner, then bread and cheese, and then dessert. By the time we had eaten all of this delicious meal it was 1:30am and I realized that these people didn’t plan on going to sleep anytime soon. I, however, was exhausted so I excused myself and went upstairs to rest because I knew the next day would be a big one and I wanted to be rested enough to enjoy it!

 

 

I didn’t set an alarm, which is not normal for me at all, and I ended up waking up at 9:50 in the morning! I was a bit embarrased to be the last one to wake up, but I quickly got over that because there were so many people in that house that I doubted anyone would really notice. When Cecile saw that I was up, she told me to get into my running clothes so we could go running before lunch. I wish I had brought my camera on that run because it was absolutely breathtaking! We ran for 45 minutes through the beautiful French countryside, and everyone we passed smiled and said hello!  The sky was bright blue and the grass was so green and the air felt fresh in my mouth and lungs. We came back from that run feeling even more rested than when we had woken up, and after quick showers we were ready to enjoy lunch with all the friends! 

I made sure to take pictures of the lunch that we had that afternoon because it was gorgeous. Once again, it came in multiple courses and it tasted so good that it didnt matter if we were hungry! 

After lunch, which took just under 3 hours, we jumped in the cars to go to the ocean! It took about a half hour to get there, but the drive was just as lovely as my run in the morning. The sky seemed so huge, and after a lot of thought I decided it looked so big because the area was so flat that the sky didn’t appear to run into any hills or mountains like it does in California. I sat in the back with Prune and we took turns making a huge deal about every cow or sheep we spotted! 

 

When we arrived at the ocean, it was like no beach I had ever seen before! The beach had no sound, only small smoothe stones, and it ran into large cliffs that didn’t even really look natural but definitely were. The entire beach felt older, like it didn’t belong in 2015, or like an old family film could have been filmed there or something. I loved it. Cecile brought all the cookies I had made for us to snack on and her friends absolutely devoured them! They were gone in about a half hour, and I had made over 50 cookies! Prune and I ran around collecting shells, and I found some pretty cool ones along with a heartshaped rock and a shark egg which I wanted to save and take home to Cherish (I have no idea why but I like to give her things like that) but Prune crushed it up and then a dog ate it so sorry Cherish. Everyone sat on the rocks together talking, and all of a sudden I really wanted to have a conversation. One of Cecile’s friends had brought her 9 year old daughter, so i sat down next to her and said whatever I could in French. It is funny that she was so interested in our conversation, because the things I was saying were not interesting at all, but she was so patient and kind and it made me feel really good! In broken French, I was able to communicate to her that I like dogs more than cats, that Eden was swimming, that my family might visit in December, that I have a dog named Bella, that I have three sisters, and that I want to learn French hahahah. She was such a great teacher! I talked about how nice she was to me the whole car-ride back from the beach and then made sure to spend some time with her the rest of the weekend. 

 

When we got back from the beach, some of the adults invited me to play a game called Patanque which involves throwing a bunch of heavy balls at a little ball and trying to get closest to the little ball. I was a bit shy at first because they all kept cheering me on, but after a couple rounds the cheering changed a little because I was completely beating everyone hahah. Almost every time I got my ball within a foot of the little ball, and they kept teasing me and saying that I must have practiced by bowling in the US hahah. It was really fun and it made me feel very welcome withing the group of friends!

 

That night, dinner was once again served at like 10:30pm and lasted a very long time. After eating a big meal, I taught everyone the word “food baby” and they thought it was pretty funny! After dinner, a cake was brought out celebrate Cecile’s birthday and we all happily sang to her. I was so tired and full that shortly afterwards I went upstairs to sleep in a nice warm and comfy bed! 

This morning, I made sure I was one of the first people to wake up so that I could start cooking. I attempted to make pancakes, and even though they didn’t turn out like they do in the US, I think they were close enough. They were finished just as the last people woke up and came downstairs for breakfast, and everyone loved them! They said they were delicious and they ate all of them with some Canadian maple syrup that Cecile had bought for the occasion. It felt nice to contribute because the other friends had been making delicious meals all weekend. 

For the rest of the day, we ate little appetizers before lunch and then had one final long lunch. It was Cecile’s turn to cook, and she made Raclette again (which is that melted cheese stuff she had made at home the week before). It is certainly an entertaining food to eat, but I could only stomach one peice of cheese because I was so full from all the other meals. I ate a bunch of fresh salad instead and felt a lot better hahah.

After lunch, It was time to pack up and say goodbye. I was sad to leave the cute little house in Normandy, but glad to come back to our little house near Paris! I kind of rushed this blog, but for a fantastic reason! 

TOMORROW IS MY FIRST DAY OF LANGUAGE SCHOOL AND I WILL MAKE FRIENDS AND LEARN FRENCH! I want to make sure I get to bed early and have everything ready! I will probably blog tomorrow, because it will be such an exciting day for me. Language school will be a big part of my year, and I can’t wait to meet other people who are struggling with a foreign language in a big international city and be friends with them.

Sooo, I am going to bed now! I love you all and wish me luck tomorrow!