Guernsey

*This post has been in the process of being written for about a week now. I think without any school work, I just needed something to procrastinate on. This was it. Oh well*

Well, my time in Guernsey is coming to an end, so as I sit here waiting for tea time, I have decided to start working on a blog about this week, because it was definitely blog-worthy. :)

Saturday: Running on 2.5 hours of sleep (I decided to chat to people on skype instead of packing the night before), I woke up at 545am, showered, ate breakfast, locked the house (our deadbolt is so fun to lock- the key looks like an old treasure chest key), and trundled out the door at 620am! I was having some trouble reading the bus schedule- I thought there was a bus at 8, but having some doubts, I decided to take the bus that I knew left at 7am (if I missed the possible 8am bus, I wouldn’t have made my flight on time). I’m sorry to say that, yes, at 630am on a Saturday morning, I was the obnoxious girl with the noisy rolly-suitcase wandering down the streets of Oxford. Sorry to all those I woke up! After a brisk morning walk, I arrived at the bus station on time for the 715am bus.

A two hour bus ride later (complete with free wifi, 52 games of solitaire, and several humorous traffic signs) I arrived (earlier than even expected, of course) at Gatwick airport 2.5 hours before my flight to Guernsey. I grabbed some strawberry yogurt and a pan au chocolate and found a place to sit and eat my second breakfast (first one being at 6am- wasn’t quite substantial enough). I ended up talking to this nice, older lady (and yes dad, before you ask, she was at least 10 years older than you so she qualifies as “old”) who was flying to Greece for a vacation. I asked her if she knew anyone in Greece and why she was going there. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I found a facebook savy 60 year old woman- she plays games and meets people on facebook. She was going to visit a guy that she met on facebook when she first joined (“not for anything wrong, mind you,” she informed me, “just a friend.” Glad to clear that up. I have to admit, I was wondering.)

No further disruptances between then and the flight. It was just a short flight, so we got to ride on a really small plan (not the smallest I’ve been on, but close). I wanted to laugh the whole time because the flight crew was hilarious. And not in an “I’m trying to be funny” kind of way. In a “are you for real?” kind of way. Even though there were only about 30 people on the flight, there were 4 (yes, four) flight attendants- all men in their late 20’s-early 30’s. One of them looked like the guy from that new show, Undercovers (don’t judge- I saw five bazillion commercials for it this summer) and talked in a low “I’m trying to be alluring” kind of way. I couldn’t understand a word he said; maybe because I was trying not to laugh. Flight was beautiful, land in Guernsey, all is going according to plan. Come out of the arrivals, see Yasmin and Paul, everything still going smoothly. Then, almost one of the first things out of Yasmin’s mouth is “Were you sitting in seat 18A?” *woah!* “Uh, yeah! Why?” Turns out a friend of theirs used to be in Iraq and was on the same flight. They asked him if he’d seen a single girl; he was able to describe my hair color, hair style, clothing, height, and seat. Wow. Pretty cool. Slightly creepy. But pretty cool. :)

On the way home, we drove around the island- I of course, was extremely turned around by all the narrow lanes, but LOVED the stone walls, little houses and most importantly GREEN things! :) Paul and Elliott took me to the Little Chapel (made by a monk, it’s the world’s smallest chapel and is completely covered in shards of pottery and shells), got me a map (very important- I love maps!), and took me to St. Peter Port where we got stuff for dinner and saw the world’s closest pub to a church. Aftwewards, I met some of Elliott’s friends, ate some fantastic burgers, and managed to make it till 10pm mostly awake, despite having traveled on 2.5 hours of sleep. And thus ends the first day of Sarah’s trip to Guernsey.



Sunday: Running on much more sleep, I had an extremely enjoyable day. Slept in, ate some fantastically delicious croissants and pan au chocolat (yum!). For lunch, Paul made a delicious meal of lamb, couscous, and a delicious apple tart. SO GOOD! I was full for quite a while- until I decided to eat a delicious onion and cheese sandwhich. Haha. In case you haven’t found the theme yet, most of my break consisted of walking and eating. After lunch (and time playing Uno with Erica/digesting/losing at Uno too many times), we went to Pembroke Beach for a walk. It was one of the most gorgeous sights I have ever seen! The water was a deep turquoise blue. The sky a bright blue, the clouds puffy white. The sand and beach grass on the dunes blending in together into a light green/white. It was one of the most enjoyable moments thus far.




Monday: Because Yasmin had a client in the morning, I was able to take my time waking up and catching up on all things facebook related. Later, Yasmin and I went for a walk along the cliff paths at Le Gouffre (pronounced “goof” which made me laugh every time). One of my goals for this semester was to see cliffs by the sea. I feel like every essential English adventure novel has at least one scene where they are on a cliff with the sea behind them and they are battling for the well-being of the world. I wanted to see something like that. : ) And I definitely succeeded. After the walk, we had lunch at a cute café with Yasmin’s friend and then went to pick up Erica and her friend from school. In the afternoon, we were able to secure a tour of Victor Hugo’s house. Now, I am no great fan of classic literature. If you had asked me who he was, I would have given you close to the same answer Erica did at the beginning of the week. “Who is Victor Hugo, Erica?” “He’s famous.” “Yes, but what is he famous for?” “How am I supposed to know? But he must be. He has a house named after him.” For those of you who are like me and don’t know, Hugo wrote Les Miserable and the Hunchback of Notre Dame. He was also a Republican during the time of Napoleon and was exiled from France due to his beliefs. He came to live during that time on Guernsey, which was the only house he ever owned. Having been on my fair share of random historical tours during my homeschool days, I felt like I was back in 3rd grade for a bit. But this guy’s house was fantastic! He used household items like tables and chairs to make ornate wall decorations. He had tapestries on the ceiling and, in the corridor to the dining room, giant plates on the ceiling. There were all these hidden cabinets behind ornately carved panels of dragons being slayed and flowery patterns. It was so cool! Also, technically the house and the land it is on were given as a gift to France and now house a consulate to the French British embassy, so technically I’ve been on French soil. : )




Tuesday: Another great day! Started off with a traditional English breakfast of bacon, sausage, baked beans, toast, fried egg, and a toMAHto with a mug of tea at the White Rock Café, which is located on the pier. And yes, there were lots of old Guernsey fishermen there. And yes, Yasmin and I did stand out a big. And yes, it was super funny. After our hearty breakfast, we took a 20 minute boat ride to Herm Island. Herm Island is a mile and a half long and half a mile wide. There are no vehicles allowed on the island, except for farm equipment (so, tractors and quad runners). We spent the day walking around the island. It was SO pretty! There were cliffs, a view of France way off in the distance, little trails, beautiful flowers, a nice beach, and best of all, this outcrop of rocks that I climbed and had a panoramic view of half of the island. After hiking for about 3 hours, we went to the Mermaid Tavern where I had a delicious brie and toMAHto sandwhich with chips (aka fries). The day ended with souvenir shopping at the little tourist attraction near their house.




Wedneday: The first few days were BEAUTIFUL, but Wednesday was great too. It was gray and drizzly, so I was able to relax, curl up with a book and some tea for most of the morning. After the girls got home from school, we ventured out into the wet, almost went to the German Occupation museum (one of the main events for which Guernsey is known is their occupation by Germany during WWII), and then we went for more tea. I also got to try Guernsey Gache (pronounced gosh) which is like a raisin/fruit bread. It was delicious, especially with Guernsey butter and tea on a rainy day.

Thursday: I slept in, ate lunch in this cute cubby hole at a restaurant with Yasmin, had my last croissant and pan au chocolat from the Boulangerie Victor Hugo, drove around Guernsey a little bit more (we drove through this posh neighborhood that was built INSIDE of a old fort- it was pretty neat, but weird. The houses looked American and very out of place) and then Yasmin dropped me off at the airport.

All in all, it was one of the most relaxing, fantastic weeks I’ve had in a long time. What could have been potentially awkward (“hello, family. I’m related to you!”) was such a blessing. I loved the chance to be a part of a family and to eat good food (I’m definitely living a college student diet over here- soup, hot dogs/lunch meat, fruit, and bread. Yum!).