Another great day!

Breakfast (and therefore my wakeup time) was even earlier today than yesterday… luckily though, I did not have any ridiculous dreams about professors that I was forced to share over the meal. 🙂

Soon after our 7:45 meal time, we loaded the bus for a trip to Saint Nazaire where we saw a former U-boat Nazi base.  To be completely honest with you it was just a lot of concrete, and I was a little bored.  (Just keeping it real here, people.)  The 45 seconds it took me to envision what it was like during WWII was pretty cool though.  And there was a nice view from the top:

After we left Saint Nazaire, we drove up the rocky coast and also got to see some salt marshes, which were pretty neat.  Now I’ve seen the Atlantic ocean from both sides!  Fun stuff.

A man working in the salt marsh.

The coast!

Tim jumping around on the rocks.

We sort of look photo-shopped into this, but I promise we were actually there.

Really pretty!

We continued our drive until we got to Guerande, where we were set loose for lunch.  We ended up in a cute little creperie (imagine that!) and had a very nice meal. 

The table we were seated at had this GIANT flower display which essentially made it impossible for anyone to see the person sitting directly across from them:

None of us knew how to request it be moved, since none of us know French (and even though there are lots of really weirdo phrases in my phase book, ‘could you please move the flowers’ was not one of them.)  Luckily for us, Brendon was also at this crepe shop, and due to the many French classes he took at a really great high school, he was able to help us ask the woman if it could be moved.  (It could.)

Once the flower situation was handled, we were able to enjoy our meals.  I had a sausage, onion, and tomato crepe, and Gretchen had an apple crepe, which she enjoyed immensely.

I also had 4 mini dessert crepes and coffee, which looked too nice not to photograph:

Our little group.

After lunch we headed back to the gates of the city for a guided tour.

Our tour guide needed volunteers to act our the story behind the construction of the wall… Gretchen was happy to participate.

On top of the wall… really neat.

After our tour we were given some time to wander the town and visit the little shops and things with instructions to meet back at the gates at 3:30.  We of course stopped in a chocolate store (among other places).

We arrived back at the gates at 3:30 only to find out that our bus would not start.  We were told to just keep coming back every half hour until it was fixed.  Oooookay then.  At 4 it was still not fixed and they were planning to just send another bus.  So, we decided to go wait out the rest of our time in a café.  Guess what we did…

…if you guessed riddles, you’re correct.  So many riddles over the past 2 days.  I’m unsure how there could possibly be any more riddles that I haven’t heard.  Unfortunately I will forget them all by the end of the week, no doubt.

Initially we had all coins in this dish to pay our 15.80€ bill.  Luckily Dave had a 10€ bill, so it looked slightly less ridiculous.  The server definitely laughed at us though.

Finally around 5 we were all loaded onto another bus and made our way back to Nante for a free night.  Our group headed downtown to get dinner and hang out and we had a great time.

Tomorrow is another free day and I have no idea what is in store for me.  Gretchen on the other hand is headed off to a French vet school with our professors, which should be a cool experience for her!  I’m sure she’ll give a full report.  Actually, I’m not sure of that at all, but we can hope.

Your Roommate Might Be A Chocolate Addict If…

… even though she’s allergic to it, she eats it every day.

… she has a (not so) secret stash of chocolate in a drawer under her bed at all times.

… on more than one occasion, you have received emails of the following nature:

… you borrow a book from her, and there are small chocolate stains on the pages where shavings fell and were closed inside.

… you look over just in time time to witness her pull a Ghirardelli square out of a SHOE.

… exclamations such as “I NEED PURE, UNADULTERATED CHOCOLATE, RIGHT NOW!” don’t even phase you anymore.

… she suggests trading chocolate types and then tries to give you one of her kind for two of your kind.

… you send her to following picture:
and she responds back that it’s dumb because, ‘every month is chocolate lover’s month.’

… she has told you that ‘ability to supply chocolate river’ is on her list of qualities required for a future husband.

… and followed that comment up with a declaration that she is going to be ‘like a cat lady, but with chocolate.’

… she has expressed legitimate desire to live on a cocoa plantation.  This desire was followed up with an email titled ‘future home’, containing the following:

In the basement of this house will be:

A CHOCOLATE RIVER. It will irrigate the plantation and flow through my house.

… she has complained that M&M’s are ‘tainted’ because of the non-chocolate coating.

… but, if she has to eat M&M’s, they better be regular’s, not mini, because the ratio of coating to chocolate is completely off with the mini’s.

And lastly, your roommate might be a chocolate addict if…

… in the time it took you to write this, she’s talked about chocolate 4 times, including telling you that, “My chocolate stash is dangerously low.  There is only one kiss, and I’m saving it for an emergency.”