Happy Easter sunday! This morning we were given chocolate for an Easter present, it seems weird to celebrate Easter and be on the other side of the world from my family. We got BN cookies! The teachers must have noticed that we got hooked onto them. the rest of breakfast went normally, except that we were rushed to get started.
Murray was really nice and offered to carry my 'valise' downstairs, but I had already dragged it down myself. Hey, at least he asked. We got all of our luggage loaded on the bus, and climbed on with our backpacks. Then we said goodbye to the hostel as we were getting a new home in Arras. We will all miss the too comfortable beds there, and the colorful walls. Or at least I will. However, I will not miss the fact that Shannon and I were the closest to the door, and to the only plug outlet that worked. Too many girls wanted to use it to blow dry/straighten/curl their hair there. I didn't even think about bringing any of that. I mean, hello? we're on vacation. I don't even do that at home.
We spent a long time in the bus today, watching The Longest Day, which proved to be the longest movie as well. It was well done, but I kept falling asleep during it cause I was already suffering from the lack of sleep. The parts I saw proved to be very educational and well done though. I liked that it was in black and white. The only problem was, I'm sure it was longer than one day.....
We stopped for lunch, and the teachers payed again. Shannon and I got salad!!! Yay!! But I accidently ate a cheese cube mistaken for a crouton, that was unpleasant.
Our next stop, was back to Canadian ground! [well, technically, I wonder if it's Newfoundland ground, not Canadian] We visited the grave site of the brave Royal Regiment of Newfoundland, where the famous la bataille de la Somme took place. The battle was supposed to be easy, but it was a failure. Lots of miscalculations and problems. There were some really deep trenches we got to walk through, and sheep! It was again, so peaceful. Our tour was supposed to only last 45 minutes, but... 2 and a half hours later... yeah. But it was such a good tour, I learned so much that would have helped me greatly for last year social... it was cool to learn it though. I like that we were going to places that we have studied at school; you learn so much more by actually being there, and it is ten times more interesting that way. We learned about F.T 'Mayo' Lind, who was the unofficial correspondant between the regiment and home. I plan to find his book of letters when we get back home. After la Somme, and the whole presentation and the giving of more scarves to Scott [our guide] and Nikki [the receptionist, and also from Canada] we left. We went on, and tried to find the small cemetary where Mark Howell's great great uncle is buried. We got lost, but refusing to admit we were lost, but eventually we found the cemetary. After finding his grave, Mark gave a speech about his relative, who was only 17 when he died. There was a great feeling of release in this gravesite, as if Mark could finally say goodbye to the great great uncle he had never known.
We arrived in Arras, which is where Robespierre [little bit of Porkka trivia] was born. We got our new rooms, and we must be cursed because ours is the smallest of the lot. Our room was number 37, and there was a room on the second floor with two less girls, and their room was bigger. Meh. In our room, there is: Sarah, Meagan, Desiree, Cara, Shannon and I. I know I'm cursed, because in both hostels, I've had the top bunk, and in both, my light didn't work.
We settled in, then went for supper. The first thing we did was to wander the fair directly across from our Auberge. Then we went to eat in a pizzeria, and again, I think that most of us ate in there. I panicked when my bank card wouldn't work. We're trying again tomorrow. We went back to the Auberge after eating, and showered! The bathroom situation was better in quality, but not quantity. Two showers per floor. But hey, no more push buttons! An actual tap. Yay! We went to bed, but there was no way we could sleep with that fair on across the way. So I wrote. Eventually the fair ended, and we could all go to sleep.
