Caen Day 4

Bonjour! Today was a special day in Caen. Every year, the University students attend "Carnival", where everyone dresses up in crazy, extravagant costumes (like our Halloween). The high school students dressed up today as well, with costumes ranging from "Despicable Me" minions, to Avatars, to bunnies.

In the classroom, no one was able to focus with all of the jokes and excitement in the air.

This morning, everyone had their own specific schedule to follow. Some of us went to an English class first period, where the students had to take a grammar test. We took the test with the French kids and found the test rather easy. It was interesting to see how the French students were learning our language. After taking the test, we watched a video on a language called "Globish;" a simplified version of the English language. An interesting concept where the English language is narrowed down to 1,500 words, and also excludes idioms and jokes to avoid confusion. The purpose is to be able to communicate with friends and colleagues around the world in one, unified language.

We had a delicious lunch after our morning classes: pasta, bread, cheeses, and desserts...ooh là là. After lunch, we walked to town to the Abbeye aux Hommes, also known as the City Hall. There, we went on a tour of the building and learned that the abbey was first used by the Benedictine monks. After the French Revolution, it was converted to a school and then converted to a shelter during WWII. 

While heading back, we found that the streets were crowded with university students dressed in silly costumes like the students at the high school. We even had to take a different route because the road was too crowded with Carnaval!

It was a beautiful, sunny day filled with laughter, excitement, and lots of pain au chocolat!