At times Deauville will
seem like a small town without much to do, especially during the
winter months. In fact, once you arrive at the house, you'll find a
folder of old letters tucked away on a bookshelf from previous
teachers, and most warn about the long winter months from December to
early March. Mais pas peur. You'll have a car at your disposal, and
we suggest that you use it wisely.
You can't take the car
just anywhere, though. It can't go beyond the Calvados region, but
you have permission to take it to Caen, Rouen, and Le Havre. (There
are plenty of other Normandie cities to explore, like Honfleur,
Falaise or Lisieux.) In Caen you've got everything you need as a
young person: shops, restaurants, and bars. You can go see a movie
for relatively cheap, and always be on the lookout for concerts.
If you decide to get a
SNCF youth card, and we recommend that you do, you can take the train
to spend a weekend in Paris and explore the shops and museums. You'll
have about 7 weeks of vacation time and make the most of it.
Collectively, the Americans managed to visit Norway, Germany,
Finland, Scotland, Portugal, Luxembourg, Bosnia, Serbia and Bulgaria
on their vacations.
On weekends, when the
weather is nice, the gang likes to go hiking. Hiking in Normandie is
muddy and wet, and you might want to consider buying rubber boots at
the beginning of the year to make it worth your while. You might also
want to consider buying a cheap bike for the year. Biking along the
coast on a warm day is one of my best memories of this place, and I
highly recommend it.
Beaches are everywhere.
In the summer months you can go swimming, and we were lucky enough to
have many warm days in September when we arrived. Take advantage of
those days - they'll soon disappear!
