The Flights
Leaving from the Nashville airport, Aden, Bela, and I said goodbye to our families and Mr. Trotter as we were soon to embark on our 15 hour journey to France. We left from Nashville May 26 only to arrive in Bordeaux the next day extremely tired from our chaotic travel; our flight from Nashville was delayed due to thunderstorms and bad weather. The weather caused our flight path to be rerouted and took longer than expected. Landing on the runway at JFK airport, the three of us only had 45 minutes to make our connecting flight to Paris. Not having a gate for the plane to land at, we were forced to get off the plane then onto a bus. The entire ordeal took about 30 minutes. The bus ride, having taken 10 minutes, left us with only 5 minutes to board our next flight.
The three of us got off the bus and ran to a shuttle which would take us to a new terminal. With next to no time left we arrived and had to pass through security again. Sprinting to our gate, I arrived to see a big screen with the words Gate Closed. I began to speak to the man in French, asking if the plane had left and could the three of us still board. Reluctantly the man printed three new boarding passes for us and we boarded the plane. Having made our most important flight we felt relaxed for our 7 hour plane ride to Paris. Landing in Paris, we felt calm and relaxed. We missed our third flight due to the long wait at immigration. Though we missed the flight we rescheduled it, and we got onto the next flight headed for Bordeaux. We landed in Bordeaux and were welcomed by Madame LeClercq, the head of La Sauque’s exchanges. Prior to meeting her we received some bad news; our bags had not arrived because they were not advanced from JFK to Paris. The system had thought that we had missed our flight so they did not forward our bags. However, in the end we arrived at La Sauque and were reunited with our host family.
The three of us got off the bus and ran to a shuttle which would take us to a new terminal. With next to no time left we arrived and had to pass through security again. Sprinting to our gate, I arrived to see a big screen with the words Gate Closed. I began to speak to the man in French, asking if the plane had left and could the three of us still board. Reluctantly the man printed three new boarding passes for us and we boarded the plane. Having made our most important flight we felt relaxed for our 7 hour plane ride to Paris. Landing in Paris, we felt calm and relaxed. We missed our third flight due to the long wait at immigration. Though we missed the flight we rescheduled it, and we got onto the next flight headed for Bordeaux. We landed in Bordeaux and were welcomed by Madame LeClercq, the head of La Sauque’s exchanges. Prior to meeting her we received some bad news; our bags had not arrived because they were not advanced from JFK to Paris. The system had thought that we had missed our flight so they did not forward our bags. However, in the end we arrived at La Sauque and were reunited with our host family.
Week 1
After meeting with one of my host families, I met Sacha, one of my hosts. He was a huge soccer player and fan. However, he had exams during the week so he was studying, so I went with his father on their quad. As we drove around their forest where they hunt, we found some wild mushrooms which I ate in an omelet. The next day I was driven with Sacha to La Sauque, the school where I would attend. We participated in classes with "les terminal", students who were in their final year. I was lucky and got to be with Pierre, a student who had been to MBA the previous year. We attended many of their classes like math, english, science, philosophy, etc. Their classrooms were small and consisted of two person desks all pointing at a tri fold whiteboard. The seniors, knowing they were almost done with school, always joked with the teachers which created a light atmosphere. The teaching style was vastly different from the American one. In classes like history the teacher would just read off things which the students were expected to copy down. In classes like history I felt that there was a great lack of discussion between the students and the teachers. However, in classes like philosophy and science there was more open discussion of the topics at hand. The first week mainly consisted of going to classes with the seniors. Pierre invited me to go and watch their rugby practice because they had the big game of juniors against seniors on that Friday. We walked about thirty minutes to the field, stopping at the supermarket to buy snacks.
Upon returning, I met my other host Baudouin. Baudouin was a short red haired boy who like me shared a love for soccer. His favorite team is PSG and of course the French national team who are now world champions. We would sleep at La Sauque in a room with our hosts, me and Baudouin, Bela and Abel, and Aden and Aurelien. All of our hosts were taking their exams to go into their specialized areas of study. In France you take tests and based on your scores you can go into certain classes your junior and senior year. Baudoin wanted to go into L, language, so he was studying lots of French and English and little math. The reason for not studying math was because he would never take another math class again because L does not have any math courses. On Thursday the seniors decided to do their senior prank which consisted of moving all of the chairs and tables onto the famous grass. No student was allowed to step on the well kept grass and if a student did they would be punished. The entire school had breakfast on the grass because there was not enough time to move the the chairs back inside. The teachers were very angry with us, yet they could not accuse one person. The following day was the Olympics. We watched and participated in sports like basketball, volleyball, and the big rugby game between the seniors and the juniors. The game was stressful and we were cheering for the seniors. The game was violent with many injuries the started with the juniors who scored a try 0-7. The seniors equalized 7-7 followed by a senior kick which they scored making the score 10-7.The juniors retaliated with a try in which a player jukes three seniors 10-15. In the final seconds of the game the seniors kick the ball forward towards the try zone, and a fellow senior races against a junior to get the ball. In the end the senior won, scoring the winning try, the crow went crazy.The seniors had won the game. Many celebrations followed the stunning victory by the seniors. We left the stadium and got onto a bus headed for Bordeaux. With Baudouin, I boarded a train headed to Poitiers.
Upon returning, I met my other host Baudouin. Baudouin was a short red haired boy who like me shared a love for soccer. His favorite team is PSG and of course the French national team who are now world champions. We would sleep at La Sauque in a room with our hosts, me and Baudouin, Bela and Abel, and Aden and Aurelien. All of our hosts were taking their exams to go into their specialized areas of study. In France you take tests and based on your scores you can go into certain classes your junior and senior year. Baudoin wanted to go into L, language, so he was studying lots of French and English and little math. The reason for not studying math was because he would never take another math class again because L does not have any math courses. On Thursday the seniors decided to do their senior prank which consisted of moving all of the chairs and tables onto the famous grass. No student was allowed to step on the well kept grass and if a student did they would be punished. The entire school had breakfast on the grass because there was not enough time to move the the chairs back inside. The teachers were very angry with us, yet they could not accuse one person. The following day was the Olympics. We watched and participated in sports like basketball, volleyball, and the big rugby game between the seniors and the juniors. The game was stressful and we were cheering for the seniors. The game was violent with many injuries the started with the juniors who scored a try 0-7. The seniors equalized 7-7 followed by a senior kick which they scored making the score 10-7.The juniors retaliated with a try in which a player jukes three seniors 10-15. In the final seconds of the game the seniors kick the ball forward towards the try zone, and a fellow senior races against a junior to get the ball. In the end the senior won, scoring the winning try, the crow went crazy.The seniors had won the game. Many celebrations followed the stunning victory by the seniors. We left the stadium and got onto a bus headed for Bordeaux. With Baudouin, I boarded a train headed to Poitiers.
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| The Rugby Match |
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| The Senior Prank |
Week 2
We arrived late at night in Poitiers, and Baudouin and I watched the France-Italy game where France won 3-1. I woke up the next morning and met his brothers and sisters, of which he had seven of them. We went and played soccer in the park with his three brothers. The park was made on top of the city’s old medieval wall. The rest of the day was made up of playing with the little kids and participating in activities with the family. The next day was Sunday, so we attended church. The church was enormous and filled with paintings and stained glass. We would later take a tour of the church. We climbed up into the attic of the church and went down into the tomb of the church. Baudouin and I left that monday early in order to get on a train to return to La Sauque. We arrived at 9:30 to meet Bela, Aden, and the SCA girls and their hosts. The week was going to consist of excursions to Bordeaux and its surrounding cities.
On the first day we went to Arcachon, a town which had a beach. We ate lunch there and got to explore the town for a few hours. Later that day we went to La Dune du Pilland, the largest dune in Europe. Atop the dune we could see the water and the beach on one side and on the other a massive forest. On the next day we visited St. Emillion a medieval town known for their wine fabrication and Leonie’s chateau. Leonie, a girl who attended La Sauque, was part of a family who made wine. They gave us a tour of the chateau and taught us how their wine was made. We got to taste test their wine and they gave us a bottle as a gift. Still without our luggage, Aden and I went to classes because there was no excursion planned for the day. Now that the seniors were gone we got to change our dorm rooms. The senior rooms were rooms of four. I was in a room with three other french boys. There we ate food during the night in celebration of the last week of school. After the splendid night full of jokes and laughs, we went out to the city of Bordeaux. We had a tour guide who showed us the city. After this tour was over, we were allowed to visit the city on our own for three hours. On the last day of the week we went canoeing. After which I stayed with Sacha for the weekend, but that night he had a banquet for his soccer team which is just across the street from La Saque. We played soccer with many of his teammates and ate food. We even visited La Sauque after hours just to see what was going on. We went home that night with two of Sacha’s friends, and they decided it would be a good idea to play monopoly at 2:40 am. After a late night, Sacha and I went and played indoor soccer with his friends for three hours. Exhausted from the last day, Scaha’s father took me on a bike ride. The bike was a two man bike which required coordination between the two of us, making the ride difficult. The following day I would return to La Sauque for the sophomore's Olympics.
On the first day we went to Arcachon, a town which had a beach. We ate lunch there and got to explore the town for a few hours. Later that day we went to La Dune du Pilland, the largest dune in Europe. Atop the dune we could see the water and the beach on one side and on the other a massive forest. On the next day we visited St. Emillion a medieval town known for their wine fabrication and Leonie’s chateau. Leonie, a girl who attended La Sauque, was part of a family who made wine. They gave us a tour of the chateau and taught us how their wine was made. We got to taste test their wine and they gave us a bottle as a gift. Still without our luggage, Aden and I went to classes because there was no excursion planned for the day. Now that the seniors were gone we got to change our dorm rooms. The senior rooms were rooms of four. I was in a room with three other french boys. There we ate food during the night in celebration of the last week of school. After the splendid night full of jokes and laughs, we went out to the city of Bordeaux. We had a tour guide who showed us the city. After this tour was over, we were allowed to visit the city on our own for three hours. On the last day of the week we went canoeing. After which I stayed with Sacha for the weekend, but that night he had a banquet for his soccer team which is just across the street from La Saque. We played soccer with many of his teammates and ate food. We even visited La Sauque after hours just to see what was going on. We went home that night with two of Sacha’s friends, and they decided it would be a good idea to play monopoly at 2:40 am. After a late night, Sacha and I went and played indoor soccer with his friends for three hours. Exhausted from the last day, Scaha’s father took me on a bike ride. The bike was a two man bike which required coordination between the two of us, making the ride difficult. The following day I would return to La Sauque for the sophomore's Olympics.
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| La Dune du Pilat |
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| Bordeaux |
Paris
The fourth and final week was taken up by our visit of Paris. We boarded a train from Bordeaux to Paris, where we would meet Mr. Trotter. We visited the gardens surrounding the Louvre and visited the Musee d'Orsay. We dined in a room which had high ceilings which were painted--the atmosphere was incredible. The following day consisted of visiting Notre Dame. We were able to go to the top of the cathedral. We later visited the Musee de Picasso and the Centre Pompidou, which was filled with modern and contemporary art. On the third day, we visited La Saint Chapelle, La Basilique du Sacre-Coeur, Montmartre, and le Champs-Elysees. On the final day of our trip, we visited Le Louvre, the Eiffel Tower, and had an amazing dinner full of laughs.
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| On Top of the Eiffel Tower. |
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| In Notre Dame |
Thanks
I would like to give a special thanks to the Wilson family for allowing these trips to be possible. Without them my peers and I would not be able to make such great memories and have such great experiences. I would like to thank Mr. Trotter as well for his guidance when it comes to the language and his guidance on the trip. I am extremely thankful for the opportunity to go on the trip, and I look forward to enriching my knowledge of the French language even more.
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