Day after the terror : Mont Saint Michel : November 2015

I couldn't sleep the night before I left for Mont Saint Michel. It was 9pm, 13th of November, a Friday. I saw a few breaking news in my Facebook feed. It said : Paris attacks kill nine. I refreshed the page and saw the same headline with a different number, increasing every single time...32, 40, 50... Something did not feel right. I turned to my computer, clicked on a streaming news from BFMTV, and to my horror, I saw the headline, I read : Paris under terrorist attack, about a hundred dead. I froze. I did not know what to do nor feel.The first instinct was to tell my family, who were probably asleep at that time, that upon waking up, they would most probably see the disturbing news in all international channels. And to tell them that I was okay and far from the incident. Then, I started contacting friends who are in Paris, or in France. Shortly after, I would be receiving messages from all over the globe asking if I were okay, if I were in Paris (I was just there a week before), and that I should try to stay away from it.My family knew of my scheduled trip and advised me not to go. I still went anyway, together with two other friends. Going to Mont Saint Michel meant I would be a few more hundred kilometers away from Paris. The following day, there was an eerie silence everywhere. Trains to and from Paris, all cancelled. Everywhere you go, there was either fear, terror, confusion, sadness, or anger. 

I spent eight years under Benedictine formation. I lived by the words 'simplicity of lifestyle' and the latin phrase 'ora et labora' (pray and work). When I knew years later from French history class that Benedictine monks settled here (for years!), I knew I needed to go see this myself.

The first time I took a glance of it from afar while I was on the train, my heart literally skipped a beat. Could you just imagine how I felt when I stepped on Mont Saint Michel-ean soil ? Literally, goosebumps. I was too amazed that I could feel the twin saints Benedict and Scholastica with me there ! No kidding. Since I don't think I can visit Nursia or Monte Casino any time in the foreseeable future, I'll be ok with this.One more dream destination checked off the list !