Aden Barton -- French Travel

France Trip

Arrival

Our flight from Nashville was slightly delayed because of rain. As a result, we arrived in New York only a little before our flight was scheduled to take off to France. We had to literally sprint through the airport in order to make it. We arrived at the gate just as they were closing it. When we arrived it turned out our baggage didn’t have time to transfer flights.  We wouldn’t get our clothes until two weeks later.

Owen and I both bought clothes from H&M to make up for our lost baggage

On the flight, I was sitting next to a family from France who had been in New York for vacation and we discussed the different schools and regions in France.

I rode back with my family from the airport to their house near Bordeaux. I met the parents, and the two little sisters of my host, Aurelian. The first meal I ate was a sign of things to come. There were different types of sausage, cheese, and bread, all of which tasted amazing.

It was disorienting and awkward at first to meet all the new people and not have any of my bags, but it helped me to learn to just go along with new experiences and people. A lot of the trip included new things I had never done before, and I think the most important skill was not my increased understanding of French Culture or Language, but the open minded nature the trip fostered. The repeated new food, words, and people showed me to never discount something or someone till you tried it.

First Week of School

The first week of school started with an early wake-up and taking the Tram to Bordeaux then a bus to La Saque. Once we arrived, we met the director of the school and immediately began going to classes.

The first class I went to was an English class where the students were having a debate on whether street art was vandalism or not. This was my first moment of many on the trip where I would hear French students speaking English. It was incredibly bizarre to see the inverse of my French Class, with students trying to use an American Accent. It was funny to see them speak English until I realized that’s what I must have sounded like the whole time to them.

The next class was something based around Politics and Elections. It was hard to tell exactly what the focus was, but I understood a lot of the teachers' descriptions of elections and democracy. The professor kept mentioning Trump and Obama to contrast their approaches which I found very interesting to hear from a French Perspective.

The history class I went to was also different than I was used to just because it was incredibly removed from American History. Even when discussing world affairs in history class, we will relate it to events that were occuring in the US at the same time. In this class however, they were discussing French History I had never heard of. The event that surprised me most was their discussion of the creation of the automobile without mentioning Ford or US innovation at all. It made me realize how US-centric our classes always are.

Similarly, the philosophy class was very different. Unlike the US, philosophy class is a regular car class for the French, just like Math or Science. We discussed Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason, the appearance of objects, and the expansion of the universe.

I could understand the most in all of the Math and Science classes I attended. Most of the technical terms were the same, and the straight up math or chemical drawings of molecules were the exact same.

The most bizarre moment of the week and perhaps the whole trip came at the end of the week when I attended my second English Class. Since it was friday, the teacher decided to show them an American Movie, called Bowling for Columbine. I had never heard of the movie so I was surprised to see it was about the gun culture and school shootings in America. The whole film shows very far right, gun loving radicals who are painted as crazy by Michael Moore. Coming from the United States, I knew it wasn’t completely representative of the gun culture but it dawned on me that the radical views portrayed in the movie must seem like normal America to the French. During the movie, I was incredibly uncomfortable to see the list of interventions and innocent populations the US government had killed. At that moment, being surrounded by critical French students, I had never felt more ashamed to be American.

The common theme of all of these classes is that it allowed me to see how other people see America and how different other cultures could be. I had never really been able to step outside my own bubble to critically examine the United States. It taught me a sort of self-reflexivity to be able to question my long-held assumptions like the greatness and superiority of the United States. Things I had taken for granted as basic as our class content to the benignity of our military.

All of the meals were amazing. At every meal there were bins of baguette and butter, and you could eat as much as you wanted. For Breakfast, there was hot chocolate, coffee, and tea, all of which tasted amazing.

At night, we would go back to the dorms and have some time before sleeping. I roomed with two boys I hadn’t met before, but they were very nice. Every night, we would argue about politics in French, which improved my ability to speak fast and respond in French quickly a lot.

One main thing I noticed about the students was how flippant they were with the rules of the school. It might have been that it was just the second to last week of school, but all of the terminales (seniors in French), we were with would show up to class late. During the class, they would talk and even sleep. Most of the professors didn’t seem to care at all. An example of this disobedience was the senior prank the students pulled. They spray painted the grounds with funny phrases, and moved all the chairs and tables from the dining hall into the nice courtyard. We weren’t even allowed to walk on the grass, but during the night they moved the tables so that we all ate outside that morning. The male seniors even peed in the sinks in the dorms of the female seniors.

Breakfast on the Grass

First Weekend With the Family

The first weekend with my host family was amazing. Friday night, it was just me and Aurelian and he heated up a pizza in the oven. Somehow, it was one of the best pizzas I had ever had even thought it was one you would buy at the store.

On saturday, we biked to a park to meet up with some of Aurelian’s friends. It was interesting  and informative to meet other French teens. Most of the other french students I would meet would always ask about Trump, which I thought was funny. Everyone, especially the other children, seemed extremely fashionable. As in, everyone was very cognizant of how they dressed and looked as if they had carefully cultivated their outfits. Another thing I noticed was the popularity of American Music. All of the French teens listened to artists like Drake or Lil’ Pump and would ask about slang or lyrics they didn’t understand.

The next day we went on a short road trip around Southern France to visit different Chateaus. We packed up food for a picnic and visited historic castles and buildings. What amazed me was the age of the places we saw. In the US, it would be amazing to see a building 200 years old. In France, a building 500 years old would be considered a relic. That night I was able to try French Oysters which were amazing. 

One of the Historic Castles We Saw

Second Week of School

The second week back at La Soque went by much faster because we were doing activities each day.

The first day we went to Arcachon which was a beautiful town that reminded me of small sea towns in the United States like Seaside. We ate some amazing crepes too. In the afternoon, we went to some huge dunes with amazing views. It was a hard climb, but was worth it in the end.

The next day we went into the wine village of Saint Emillion. We learned the history of the town and were able to tour the Catacombs underneath the hills. 

Countryside Views.

The views across the countryside were amazing as well. After the village, we were able to tour a Wine Chateau and see how wine is made.

The Wine Making Machine

On Wednesday, we went through the classes again. I went with a student who had grown up in California then moved to France. I learned that they do final grades out of 20, in which 18 and 19 are great, and 14 is average. The classes are grouped into different learning paths which are Language, Science, and Economic and Social. The learning system is incredibly intense in that if you do badly on one exam, you might not be able to go into the category that you wanted to. It was pretty much a major except in high school.

One of the most fun parts of the trip was playing Rugby with Owen and some other French Students. We did drills where they taught us the technique and skills, and then we played a full game.

Finally, we were able to meet with the mayor of the town near La Soque. We discussed the international partnership we had formed. It was a sweet ceremony and all of the officials of were very nice.

Last Week

I had more free time the second weekend as the family I was staying with was very busy. I had time to explore the little town we were in called Bourges. I biked around some and read in a park for most of the day.

On Sunday, we went to watch my host’s little sister play field hockey. The sport is very popular there, and there are whole leagues and teams for it.

Watching the Field Hockey Games

During the last two days of school, we didn’t have any classes. On Monday and Tuesday, there was just Olympiad, which was basically a field day for the juniors and seniors. The events were mostly the same but they also had dancing and an obstacle course. Monday night, there was a theater skit and a comedy play.

It was sad seeing all of the friends we made for the last time. It was great to meet them and I felt like in the short time at the school, we all had made some very good friends. I am still in contact with some of them.

The last week with the family was amazing because I had time each day to do whatever I wanted.

The first day back, Aurelian and I went into Bordeaux and had lunch with some of our friends from La Soque. Over the next couple of days, Aurelian had an internship, so I was able to go into Bordeaux alone. I went to a Modern Art Museum, and just explored around the city for hours. It was amazing to see all the historic places and amazing restaurants. On one of the last nights, there was a festival of wine in Bordeaux. Aurelian and I went and were able to see fireworks and different french food trucks.

A Historic Church in Bordeaux

It was fitting that during the last few days I was able to explore the city alone. I felt like all of the French I had learned the weeks before had made me more confident in navigating the city. Whether it was speaking with the museum curator or just ordering food, I could tell that I had learned a lot and become more independent in working through the language. 

Merci

Thanks so much to the Wilson family for giving me the opportunity to be able to travel internationally. I learned so much and was able to experience things I would have never been able to without the trip. I am so glad I was able to go and won’t forget the time I had. 

Thanks,

Aden