Escape From the City- Normandy, Fr

Last week, I ventured out to Normandy with other IES Abroad students for IES’s Normandy trip. I highly suggest attending this trip! Not only did I get the chance to meet more IES Abroad students, but it was also interesting to learn about what happened on Normandy’s beaches during WWII.

On the first day, we visited the Mémorial de Caen where we learned about both WWI and WWII. I suggest skipping the parts of the audio tour you already know about, because there is lots of ground to cover and you will not have time to learn about all of the war! After a short trip up to Normandy, we arrived at our hostel which was shaped like a castle and it was right on the beach! The hostel workers instructed us not to walk to the nearby town because the tide could block off the beach but……none of us listened to their advice and we walked an hour to the town on the cliffs! It was worth it, and one of my favorite parts of the trip! You could look out from the cliffs, smell the salty air, feel the ocean mist and see the ocean and the concrete platforms the Allied Forces built during the war.

The second day, we visited the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial which is right next to Omaha Beach. It was beautiful, but also quite sad. It was hard to believe that such horrific things happened on the beaches of Normandy. Visiting Normandy was a nice escape from the city life and I highly suggest in going with IES Abroad.