Poly GIP French Exchange: Understanding Le Jour -J (D-Day)

Strutting his new crutches

On a trip that requires a ton of walking, the one thing you don’t want to happen is to hurt your leg. Unfortunately, that is exactly what happened to me. While climbing around on some Roman ruins in Paris, I jumped down from a wall that turned out to be higher than I had previously thought, resulting in a bruised heel. After a few days of walking around (not a great idea), I visited a French hospital in Bayeux where I had an X-Ray. Luckily, nothing was broken. However, for the few days of the trip that remain, I must use crutches to walk to allow the heel to heal (no pun intended).--Charlie

Getting his crutches at the pharmacy

After spending nearly 2 weeks in Paris, it felt refreshing to escape the city ruckus by going to Normandy. Although everyone was sad to leave our correspondents behind, we knew that there would be lots of fun ahead of us. The drive into Normandy was amazing because of the small towns,

View from our hotel in Bayeux

quaint houses and green hills that surrounded us. During our first night in Normandy, we were given free time to explore the streets of Bayeux. Although most of the shops were closed, it was really fun to get to walk around the town. So far, Normandy has been wonderful, and I am now even more eager to experience more of this area of France.

--Julian

After spending a week and a half in Paris, we departed for the more rural North. Although we were sad to leave our host families and all the amazing experiences Paris had to offer, we were excited for the change of scenery and the welcome break from the overwhelming smells and noise of the busy city. On our way up to Bayeux, we stopped to visit the idyllic home of the celebrated Impressionist painter, Claude Monet in Giverny. The house itself was very colorful both on the interior and exterior and it was surrounded by a gorgeous garden. There was also a small village near the house and the beautiful scenery combined with the cloudy skies made a very memorable visit. After Monet’s garden, we arrived at Bayeux to view the famous thousand-year-old Bayeux tapestry and stayed at a quaint hotel in a medieval-style town. We completed the day with a delicious three-course meal at the hotel.--Jadi

Colleville sur Mer-American Cemetery above Omaha Beach

Reflection of the memorial in pond at American Cemetery

Friday’s adventure carried us out of Bayeux and into many stops along the Normandy coast. First up was a museum dedicated to the D-day invasions. Most impressive was the huge, floating port that was built by the allied soldiers in 12 days, and we could still see ruins of it from the museum’s windows. After our delicious lunch in a small portside town, we headed on to the massive American cemetery at Omaha beach, a sprawling mass of crosses, David’s stars, and memorials overlooking the ocean. Arriving at the “ranger” landing a few minutes later, we looked at the huge cliffs that many men climbed up while using waterlogged ropes and being fired at: a huge feat, considering the sheer drop offs. We had fun exploring the huge concrete bunkers and bomb craters. The last stop of the day was a German cemetery, thought provoking for many of us because we come from German decent in some way or another. The stark difference between the quiet, small plot of land for the Germans and the well kept and hugely visited American graves was incredible.

-Katie