In Flanders Fields

Location: Le Havre, France

Hey everyone, guess what? I'm back at the ship! That probably isn't very exciting without context, so read on:

Remember when I wrote that I was trying to plan what to do in Belgium? Well that actually required some extra thought, because the ports at Antwerp, Belgium and Le Havre, France are unique in that they are close enough together that there are no classes held while the ship is sailing from one to the other, so students are allowed to either travel with the ship or (dun dun dun) travel by land and meet the ship in the next port. Guess which one I wanted to do? Why waste a whole day on the ocean when you can spend it in Belgium or France, right? Anyhow, I was having a tough time because none of the people I spoke with wanted to do the same thing as me (many of them had decided to stay on the ship, and others wanted to go to Amsterdam, which I didn't feel there was enough time for.) So guess what? I decided to forge out on my own! I know, I know––everyone try to quell the urge to cringe at my traveling by myself. Is the urge quelled? Good, because I actually had a great time and I'm glad that I did it!

So hopefully I can try to reign in my rambling tendencies and get through this story without having to spend all night at it, but here was the gist of my plan:
1. Spend the 12th (first day in Belgium) on the field program for my World Literature class (I'll talk about that in a minute.)
2. Get up early on the 13th and head to the small medieval-style town of Brugges, Belgium
3. Take a bus to Paris, France the next day (remember that many countries in Europe are the sizes of states in the US, so that trip isn't as crazily distant as it may sound)
4. Arrive via train at Le Havre on the evening of the 15th.

Well, it's the evening of the 15th (actually it's past midnight right now, but we'll let that slide) and I have made it to the ship where it is docked in Le Havre, France! You can be excited too, now that you know how much time/traveling was required to get here (yes, that's your cue to go check google maps. Don't worry, I'll wait.)

Edit: There's no way I'm going to finish this tonight, so here's an account of my first day in Belgium, which actually has very little to do with what I am describing above. The rest will be along eventually, though it will probably be a while, since I have an essay due on Tuesday.

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Day 1: Field Lab for World Literature

I think at some point I explained that field labs are required day-long field trips which count for 20% of the grade in any one class on the ship (we take four classes.) Well, my first day in Belgium was devoted to the field lab for my World Literature course! We went to the little town of Ypres, which is a very historically significant place in western Belgium. The city and surrounding countryside were basically ground zero for much of the fighting between Germany and France during World War I, and my class has been studying poetry about the war in preparation for our trip there. One thing that is interesting about WWI poetry is the variation in tone between the works of different poets––some were angry and bitter about the senselessness of the war, while others were actually coaxing more people to sign up and fight in it. The following is a very famous poem in the latter category, which I think that everyone should read:

In Flanders Fields
by John Macrae

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

The WWI museum that my class visited was called "In Flanders Fields," after that poem. It was a very well-constructed museum, and there was a lot of interactivity in the exhibits. Everyone went through at their own pace, which I much prefer to having to speed-walk along behind a tour guide (though I ended up having to rush toward the end anyway so that I was not late to meet the group.)

Afterwards we had a quick walk through the town. Ypres is an interesting place. It is riddled with beautiful historic-looking streets and buildings, but during WWI (which is almost 100 years ago now) the entire town was quite literally flattened. Very little remained, and according to our guide, when Winston Churchill saw the ruins he actually wanted what was left to stay as it was: a kind of monument to the war. The displaced citizens of Ypres weren't thrilled with this plan, and insisted that the city be rebuilt as close to the original design as possible (which it was.)

Next we went to the Menin Gate, which is a monument to fallen soldiers whose bodies were never found. Some 50,000 names are carved into the walls of the giant memorial, and every night (yes, every single night) there is a "Last Post" ceremony to remember the fallen. This has been going on since 1928, and that night (though we couldn't stay for it) was to be the 29,334th time the bugles sounded.

We then drove to see the surgery bunkers (can't think of a better description) in which John Macrae, the Canadian Doctor who wrote "In Flanders Fields," worked during the war. We also went to see the largest Commonwealth cemetery in the world (Tyne Cot), in which almost half of the graves bear only the words "A Soldier of the Great War" with a cross below and the inscription "Known Only to God." These were unidentified soldiers whose regiment or even country of origin could not be ascertained.

Our last stop was along the river Yser, at what was once a trench on the front lines of the Western Front. While the original sand bags have been replaced with concrete replicas, the trenches themselves remain essentially unchanged (well, as unchanged as you can get on a beautiful summer day a hundred years later), and we were able to walk through them and look over the river at what was once German-occupied Belgian territory.

All in all I am glad that I had that field program, because I learned a lot about WWI that I didn't know. For example, did you know that the Second Battle of Ypres actually marked the first time in history that poison gas was used as a weapon in warfare? Scary. With that note, I really need to start the essay reflection on this trip for my World Literature class.

Oh! And if anyone wants a movie recommendation, rent "Joyeux Noël," which is a film set during Christmas at the WWI trenches. The first time I saw the movie was when Ms. Lockhart showed it in my World History class in high school. I later rented it to show my mom, and then just a few days ago it was showing on one of the ship's TV channels so I got to see it again. Obviously I think it's a really good movie, so you should watch it if you get a chance. The events that unfold actually did take place (though perhaps not in quite so sentimental of a fashion as is depicted in the movie.) Okay, I've really got to end this post now.