“Remember when we jumped off that make-shift diving tower into the English Channel?”

I must first point out that there are many stories to recount before coming to an explanation for the title of this blog. Yesterday, IES Nantes took a day trip to Mont Saint Michel and Saint Malo, two areas in Normandy, which is located in the north of France. Both areas are on the coast, so they are near the south-western parts of the English Channel. Mont Saint Michel is an iconic landmark that was built before the year one thousand at the request of Archangel Michel, when he asked the Bishop of Avranches to build and consecrate a church. The church was built on what was at one time a huge rock, and throughout many years, people settled, protected, and developed the abbey. When driving up to Mont Saint Michel, it seemed we were in the middle of nowhere. All that surrounded the buses was a gray sort of mud that extended for miles and miles. Suddenly, Mont Saint Michel appeared, as if from out of the clouds. The sight is absolutely amazing, and I so hope that everyone will get to experience this at one point in their lives. In the middle of marshland, there is a huge abbey, a huge church, with a tiny village surrounding it. There is so much history at Mont Saint Michel. At the request of an Archangel, the abbey was built, and it was protected throughout the Hundred Years War by the people who inhabited it. At one point in its history, Mont Saint Michel served as a prison to house prisoners of the French Revolution. When our huge group of ninety finally convened at the same place, we were able to enter the abbey and venture around inside. There are no words to describe it. The light in the Abbey is fantastic. The windows and the ceilings are so high, and light passes at perfect angles through the stained glass windows. There is moss covering the thousand-year old stones that engulf the abbey, and the gardens surrounding the abbey are overgrown with perfection. The chapel rooms are full of history and love, and I felt the need to pray and dance all at the same time. After spending about two hours at Mont Saint Michel, the group headed off to Saint Malo, which is a port city to the west of Mont Saint Michel, located right on the coast of Normandy. Saint Malo is the perfect beach village, surrounded by huge stone walls that once served as protection. At one point during World War II, the majority of Saint Malo was destroyed as England and Germany fought across the English Channel. They have rebuilt the buildings, and they continue to look the perfect amount of old and new. The walls that served as protected surround the entirety of the village, and you can walk around the walls to obtain views from every angle. Saint Malo is filled with boats, islands, beaches, and perfect small streets and plenty of places to sit and relax. While walking the “wall” of Saint Malo, I saw the one thing that could have possibly saved my swimming career. Saint Malo is home to a pool in the English Channel. Probably many, many years prior to my arrival, Saint Malo constructed an ocean pool by placing walls around a section of the beach. Water stays in and flows over the walls by its own accord, but none of the ocean’s waves can get into this little pool. On one of the walls that make up the pool sits a small diving tower, with three different levels, off which one can jump. The levels were note excessively high, with the highest standing at only about three meters. For some odd reason, this was the most beautiful pool I have ever seen. In my lifetime, I have seen my fair share of pools, but this make-shift pool and diving tower was the most beautiful I have ever seen. Upon seeing the diving tower, I immediately knew I had to find some way to jump off of it. My one big obstacle: not having a bathing suit. This would not have been such a big obstacle if I had been wearing the appropriate underwear for such an adventure. Boys have it much easier than us girls. After making sure the water was indeed deep enough to withstand someone flinging themselves off of the tower, I was determined to have this adventure. With innovation on my mind, I finally found a way to be able to go swim and jump off of the tower. After my two friends Peter and Ryan had swam and jumped off the tower, I borrowed Peter’s bathing suit. I tied his swim trunks way above my waist so I knew they would not fall off, and I ran towards the beach. My first jump was absolutely liberating, because of the jump and because of the cold water. After multiple jumps and a few swims up and down the beach, I finally returned to my waiting friends. The only remnants of my adventure were a huge smile on my face, wet hair, and a partially wet shirt from my wet bra. In exchange for an amazing experience, I looked as if I had been nursing a child for a few hours. Our day trip to Saint-Malo and Mont Saint-Michel ended with an Indian restaurant back in Nantes. Sitting on the streets of Nantes, lit by the lights of the Opera House, I sat and chatted with my friends saying “Remember that time I jumped off of the makeshift diving tower into the English Channel?” I can and will own that quote for the rest of my life!