Just Your Average Spring Break

Or not. For the past two weeks I was was staying at this beautiful castle in the middle of nowhere about an hour south of Paris helping out at Chateau Anand, which is owned by an organization called 3HO, which is devoted to Kundalini yoga! I found the place on a site called workaway.com, which is basically a database of places that need volunteers and provide food and lodging, in exchange for 6 hours of work a day! So this place needed help preparing the retreat area (an old hunting castle, no big deal) for a festival with yoga workshops and all that jazz, then they needed help in the kitchen to cook 3 meals a day for 60+ people! But first I  had to get there haha... First, I got to the airport crazy early, as usual, but they hadn't posted the gate number. I asked at information and the women said that easyjet (the airline I was taking) always takes off from terminal F, which is about 15 minutes away walking, separated from pretty much everything. So, I headed over there, since I wanted to be where I needed to be, even if it was crazy early, and it was completely deserted. There was literally no one in the terminal. So eerie! 

Just my luggage and jacket. That's it. No other workers, passengers, anyone. 

So that was odd haha. But, eventually people came and the gate was announced and it was all fine, but, then I needed to get from the Paris airport to a train station in the middle of Paris, so I could catch the last train going to the little village I would be staying out. A good friend of my, Rachael, is staying in Paris and told me what public transportation I should take, but, I found a shuttle bus that takes you directly from the airport to the station I needed, and since I'm borderline terrified of public transportation, I took it. Turns out, that took over 2 hours. So I missed the last train out of Paris. And definitely almost freaked out. But! I got my ticket changed for the first train the next morning and luckily Rachael and her host-mom were kind enough to let me sleep at their place for the night. So, that all worked out, but definitely stressed me out ahah... But, I finally made it to the chateau! It it was beautiful.

There were so many beautiful trees. I think I edited most of them out, but there may be several pictures that look basically the same haha...

We were right by the river, so after work I could just go lay there and relax. It was so lovely. And, since it was in the middle of nowhere, I could just sit there in near complete silence, with the occasional bird or insect calling every once in awhile and just the calming rushing of the river. It was so picturesque.  

Yeah, lots of trees ahah... But, anyway! So, for the first week or so, we were preparing the castle for the festival. They had restored dormitories for the people to stay in, but there was construction going on up to the day people arrived. So they all needed to be swept, mopped, windows and doors cleaned (drywall dust my be one of the worst things ever. Slight exaggeration, seriously, it takes at least three times through to even get most of it out. So frustrating), and then the beds to be made. Plus, there was the attic, which was being turned into a meditation room, but still had drywall sheets going up. And you can have all that dust where people were going to be deep breathing and such! I also realized just how bad I am at deep cleaning. I would vacuum, decided it's fine, then another person would pointed out about 10 or 15 places I missed haha. I mean, it's not exactly a new realization, but definitely an old one reinforced haha.  

Anyway, I was cleaning and mopping up to when people were arriving (woops), then it was time to get in the kitchen to prepare food! That night was pretty difficult, since I was cleaning since 8:30 in the morning to 4:30 in the afternoon, then there was dinner and cleaning up and such, which was until around 9. So, that was rough. But, after that, I got up at 6:30 to help with breakfast, worked on lunch, then had a few hours in the afternoon off, then worked 4:30 to around 8 on dinner. It was hard work to be sure, but I definitely got a lot out of it. Cooking was much more fun than cleaning, and I learned a lot, about how to work in a kitchen and prepare food for that many people, and several wonderful recipes (all vegetarian!). But, even the cleaning, even though it was hard and my back and arms were sore for that first week, I think there's something to be said about hard labor (which is even an exaggeration haha, it was hard and long hours, but there are certainly jobs that require much more efforts). I certainly couldn't do it forever, but it was a nice change of pace! My typically kind of work is sitting in front of  a computer, writing essays or reading scholarly journals, so it was nice to do something completely different! Plus, every one was so appreciative. I am not sure how devoted I will be to continuing to practice Kundalini yoga, but there are definitely things to it that I really love. For one, everyone was incredibly kind and helpful. After meals, we didn't wash one plate. Different people would come in and take everyone's plates, and wash them. It was always a group effort complete with singing and laughing, so great. They believe that everything should be a group effort, and that they should always help out (keep in mind that they paid a good amount of money too attend the festival too). It was just so kind! Then, the last night during dinner, they called us out of the kitchen and serenaded us with a song, complete with several guitars, just to thank us for all the work we did! I've never really seen much like it, but I really loved it. Plus, there is a lot to be said about yoga as a stress-relief and for general mental health, as well as physical. Again, who knows how often I will keep it up (it certainly won't be at 6 in the morning haha), but I think it was an overall wonderful experience, to meet new people with a completely different outlook on life and to help a group that was truly appreciative! It was also neat to get to spend time in the middle of rural France. I didn't get to see Paris much, after the festival we have 2 and a half days to relax, and got to see several other little towns in the area!

This is the main castle of the people who owned the hunting castle I was staying at (ironic, a hunting castle from the middle-ages now used as a vegetarian, yoga retreat haha). This was about a 10 minute drive and was so cool to see. 

I went into the town with the other volunteers I was working with.

This is Agnes, from Switzerland, and Catherine, from Northern Ireland. Everyone except from me and Catherine practiced Kundalini yoga regularly, so we certainly learned a lot aha.

Me and Michael, from Germany.

Michael and Sylvia, from Barcalona. Everyone was incredibly kind and just so interesting! They welcomed me into their group and weren't annoyed (I hope) by all my questions. They pretty much all also spoke multiple languages, which was so cool. The festival was all French, so I got to see how little I retained from French at Southwestern haha, but also heard Spanish and German regularly! Then there was me, with just english. And it was okay, since everyone did speak English, but definitely made me think about why I didn't know any other language. I took French for two years and Spanish for 3 and what do I have to show for it? Not much haha... It was just never a priority for me, but seeing how so many other people successfully learned english (one girl took a ten day intensive english course and help a full conversation with me, then told me that. It was amazing! Her english may not have been perfect, but was pretty great). So I probably won't go off and learn another language, but maybe I should!

Then there were these beautiful caves. Easter Sunday I had to work most of the day, but I took the afternoon off and went to explore! They were only about a 10 minutes walk, and absolutely worth it.

Again, lots of trees. As always, half of my pictures look exactly the same haha...

Then, there was this church in another little French town. The original structure dates back to the 800's, and was so beautiful.

The whole ceiling in the center was painted with different scenes from the bible!

The rest of my pictures are from random walks around the grounds of the chateau. It was just so calming and absolutely wonderful. So, my spring break was far from normal, but I think it was a great think to do! I worked hard, learned a lot, and met new people! 

Oh, and windmills. As an environmental student, I feel like I have to take a picture every time I see one haha...