Day 1 by Izzy

Today was the second day of the exchange trip and my 16th birthday! It wasn’t my first time spending my birthday without my parents but my first in a foreign country, making it especially memorable. I started off my day going to Fils Bleu with my exchange student Hadjar and her mother; they purchased my card for the tram, which Hadjar normally uses to commute to and from school. I took the tram for the first time! After less than 10 minutes, we arrived at Sainte Ursule where I was met with many joyeux anniversaire’s (happy birthday’s). Afterwards, the American students split into pairs (I was with Shriya) and participated in a scavenger hunt. After eight monuments, Shriya and I got distracted and began looking into shops, particularly the ones on a street called La Rue des Halles which also had a very beautiful open air market. We bought some éclairs and tarts. When we all met up again, the class gave me a card and a very delicious chocolate tart as gift. For lunch, we had Thai at a restaurant in Place Plumereau, a very popular plaza. When returning to school, everyone was very afraid of getting pelted by eggs and milk, a sort of end-of-year senior prank at Ste. Ursule. After that, the American students performed an experiment in an French laboratory with acids and bases (Brooke and Shriya were my partners). When school ended, I went with several other exchange students to La Loire, one of two of Tours’ rivers. In the evening, Hadjar’s family celebrated my birthday at their home with a traditional french cake. Overall, it was incredible and memorable