A week or so ago we headed to Paris, which is about two hours from the base. We were told to pack our backpacks with everything we "thought" we would need to live for four days...sounds easy right? Those were the only instructions. We filled out a medical waiver form with strange questions such as "Are there any medical conditions we should know about?", "What are your physical capabilities?".... needless to say were a little bit nervous. After this we packed our bags, all thinking we had everything covered. What we didn't know was when we got to Paris everything we "thought" we needed would change.
I can't actually put into words everything we did, but let me tell you - it pushed us in every possible way. Physically, mentally, spiritually...any part of yourself was tested. We walked 35km in one day, 14 hours of not knowing when we would rest. We were only allowed limited bathroom breaks...and I mean no bathroom breaks. So we didn't drink water, although it was scorching hot, we had 20 minutes for lunch and 20 minutes for dinner. We walked through every district of Paris, saw every monument, every street corner. I have seen Paris, all of it. We had blistered covered feet and wondered where we would end up sleeping...it was just in one word, rediculous. Four days of being in the exact same clothes, being sleep deprived and disoriented. My group was all French speakers so that even added another element to it...my brain worked overtime just to understand "turn left". By the fourth day I dont think I even tried to say anything in French, just was silent and followed. We walked through deserted tunnels where once trains bellowed through. We did anything and everything you could do in a city of Paris that cost under 5 Euros. No luxury hotels for us. At one point they asked us "Are you having fun?" I would look at them with this blank stare..."No, im not." They seemed shocked at the response. There were laughs of exhaustion, I have never wanted to sleep on concrete more in my life. Every single surface looked tempting. Camp did end, finally, and we all survived...barely, but we survived!
After this "camp" we had two days of classes learning about Paris, walking around Paris...a city we were not keen to walk around again, but I can say I saw it all...twice :) We were all thankful for real beds, showers and places to even sit down. Finally after being in Paris for just less than a week we arrived at Le Gault and the Big House was silent, we all slept and slept...and slept.
We were back on Wednesday night, and Friday I took the train to see my family, which is the next post :)
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