France and Belgium Battlefield trip!

So I got back from France last night, I spent a few days there and their neighbours Belgium. Despite the hours on the coach it was actually a really good trip. I think the worse part would definitely have to be the singing on the coach, after two minutes it became tiresome and dire, I compensated with putting in my iPod and blocking the world out.

The first day was spent in Belgium and we went to the Mein Gate, followed by the night and two days in France. We visited several memorials and graves, ranging from German cemeteries to British, to French and to Anglo-French cemeteries. We also visited the National French memorial, where over 40,000 people are buried, and an incredible amount of fallen soldiers. It was all an incredible humbling experience and some of the memorials are breath-takingly pretty, however their beauty is bitter sweet given the purpose of them.

We were also able to go the site of the Somme, again that was incredible but we were also able to go into persevered British and German trenches and it was shocking to see how close they actually were to each other!

It was also very interesting, the difference in the memorials and the cemeteries. For example, the difference between French and British cemeteries, the length and the effort the British went too, to honour their dead despite harsh opposition and a troubled economy.

In the night we went for meals, I had some mussels, they were nice. They hotel was also nice and the drinks cheap. I was very happy. Not as happy as when we went to the local French supermarket and I was let loose on the BN’s, Lays and the ridiculously cheap alcohol (it’s the simple things in life).

All in all it was an amazing trip, and one I would recommend. It was organised by the History department, for a reasonable price. It was a complex itinerary and must have been a hell of a trip to plan. However to all of the lectures and staff credit it was a smooth and very slick operation. I would just like to say how grateful I am for them organising this trip and giving me the opportunity to go and to be able to see how amazing and humbling things that I would not be forgetting in a hurry.

Tomorrow I go to Amsterdam! This time with friends, not the university, if you, my glamorous readers can control yourself until my return I shall give you the pleasure of another blog.

Have a good weekend.