I woke up Tuesday morning filled with excitement for the day to come- we were going snorkeling! I have never had the opportunity to do this before, so of course I was extremely eager to experience it. My roommate and I, along with many of the other kids in the program, decided to take the morning off from classes to be rested for the busy afternoon to come, which definitely paid off.
The journey to Villefranche-sur-mer, the location of our activity, was an easy one- it might’ve been the first time that the train arrived on schedule and there weren’t any particularly long walks to tire us out! When we reached the beach I was overwhelmed with the beauty of the water, it was a beautiful shade of turquoise and was transparent enough that you could see the pebbles on the sea’s floor. As we arrived to the boat, which would take us out on the water, we were immediately sorted into two groups and the first filed on. I was in this group with lots of my friends, and we were all anxious to hop in the water. Before we could do so, we had to squeeze into tight, neoprene wetsuits and put on our goggles and snorkel. Once we were done putting on our gear and listening to our guide recount the rules, we carefully slid off the boat and plunged into the turquoise sea!
The water was just as pretty from below the surface, and we were able to see many different types of plants, anemones, and fish- even a couple of starfish! Swimming around and breathing underwater turned out to be much easier than I expected, undoubtedly due to the crazy amount of salt in the Mediterranean that helps to keep you afloat. After about an hour of swimming, floating, diving, and “go-proing”, we paddled back to the boat and went to shore, all sad to leave the beautiful views.
When we arrived back at the beach, we went and ate some very American (feeling nostalgic) food from a snack bar on the beach and tanned for a while on our towels while the second group went out on their adventure. Overall, I think this was the best day so far- and I definitely have a newfound love of snorkeling!