We had one day left, and had the brilliant idea to visit the Beaches of Normandy on our way back to Pau. We took a bus to the harbor, spent every last pound we had on a taxi (that we didn't know we needed) to get to the ferry (because the harbor is like 5 miles long.) We slept on the ferry, as it floated across the English Channel for 9 hours, it was a rough night, but we managed.
Sunday morning, we got off the ferry and took a shuttle to the train station, where I attempted to find a bus to Omaha Beach. Which we then discovered was almost 3 hours away. Wow. So, we took the next train and we were there by 2 o clock (which wasn't exactly how we had planned to spend our day.) Then we found out that the buses don't run Sunday, so we payed an outrageous fee to take a taxi to the site.
However, once we arrived (and left our suitcases behind the front desk) we had a profound couple of hours. We were visiting an American commemoration museum, paid our respects at the American Cemetery and walked along the beaches that our soldiers once fought to take, to regain France from Hitler. It was powerful, really hard to take in. The memorial was so beautiful, it was hard to picture such tragedy in the same place. But I am so proud of our Armed Forces, for not only defending freedom in America, but all over the globe.
We were quickly zapped our of our reflective state when we discovered the museum closed at 5 and it was 5 and we were on the beach, a 20 minute walk from the museum, and our suitcases were inside. I called the museum and they said that everyone leaves at 5 there was nothing they could do, but they would inform the security guards. That was a moment of panic, sheer panic. Everything we had was in those bags, our train tickets, our clothes, everything. We ran back. We abandoned the path and cut our own way through the uphill undergrowth, getting very muddy along the way. I felt sick at the top from the pace we had been travelling but we got there in under 10 minutes. The museum was already closed, but we knocked on the glass and got the attention of the security guards, who were very kind and gave us back our bags.
And after this, we slept the whole night on the train, arriving at 6:14am and going to class. No wonder I'm sick.
So what have I learned from all this?
1) London is kinda hard to navigate, it's easy to get lost
2) Visiting a "region" like Normandy is SO different from visiting a big city like London or Rome
3) We could have been better prepared for parts of this trip
4) I'm still young, there are a lot of times that I really don't know what on earth I'm doing, I can admit that
5) I am not the person I was when I came here
Standing out on the street, with my suitcase and nowhere to sleep was a weird feeling. But it wasn't a panicked feeling. There was no adrenaline rush, there were no tears. I wasn't breathing heavily and my mind wasn't racing. I was calm, and tired. I understood that we were in a rough situation, but worse things could have happened. We weren't in danger, just out of our comfort zone. Lindsey felt the same way, somehow, we weren't anxious. It's not like we sat around and accepted our fate, we DID something about it, but it was almost if we finally understood (after 19 years of life) that worrying will not change anything.
I've always known that God is in control of my life, and my future. I trust Him, but I have always had a problem with worrying. I prayed that God would use this trip to force me out of my bubble, and lean on Him completely. This entire experience I have been edging towards that, slowly handing my burdens and problems over to Jesus, surrendering. It may be a constant struggle for me, in my life, but I now know what it is like to be in a situation and have no control, but to not be afraid. If I could live my life like that, always, that would be awesome.
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