Day 13 by Eric

After a late night yesterday, today began with exhaustion blended together with excitement. I was just beginning to feel homesick, as I missed both my parents and life in North Carolina and really could use a refresher and reminder of home. Thus, I applied sunscreen and a copious amounts of bug spray and began to head to the golf course. The course was massive and it was in pristine condition. Their club house looked like a mini castle. The grass and sod were in excellent condition, well trimmed and very green. Breathing in the fresh air of a golf course removed all of the homesick feeling that I had and filled it with excitement and contentment. When beginning to play, I started out playing a bit poorly, I was using borrowed clubs and I had forgotten to bring my golf shoes. But, as we continued on and after getting used to different golf clubs, my game sharpened and I began to play well. There were many differences between the course and those I’ve played on in the United States. One initial difference I saw was that the course was much shorter in length than the courses in the United State. Also, the fairways are a bit narrower and the greens are a bit smaller. There also aren’t that many water or bunker hazards, which made playing a bit easier and less frustrating. What also confused me was the fact that there weren’t any starters or facilitators going around making sure that speed of play was kept. Usually in the US, there are 3-4 facilitators always at my golf course regulating pace of play. Yet, here in France, even without any starters the speed actually felt faster, and we finished the round much faster than I had thought. I’ve noticed a general trend just in France, in general, is that they just a higher degree of trust in citizens to not cause issues. All in all, it was really tiring, but I came out with brand new knowledge and an experience that was extremely refreshing and fun. When we came back home, we had a great family with, grilled duck, baked potatoes and a choice of multiple different flavored sorbet. It all tasted great. After that we drive to tours to walk and shop.