Day 4- Chloe

Hello friends! I started my day with a delicious piece of bread with jam and juice. After, Clémence and I took a five tram to school. This was a new experience, but it was very cool and is a typical way of transportation for people in Tours. We even saw a couple of friends from my class on it! At school I visited two classes, mathematics and physics. In math class the students reviewed their test with the teacher. The teacher stood at the front and lectured the students like a normal class and they only used pencil and paper to write notes. Something that I found interesting is that when they were given an assignment, they would glue the paper into their notebooks. This was interesting to me since we usually only use our computers at Cary Academy. The students did not have a strong connection with the teacher, but they asked questions and were engaged. Physics class was very relaxed. The students were given a single worksheet and the professor gave us exchange students one to try. I tried my best to use my chemistry skills I learned this year, but I did not succeed much. The teacher left the class after the first five minutes and did not return until the end of class, so we socialized instead of them doing any work. I suppose since it was the last day of school today, the work was not necessary.

At 11 AM our class visited the market where there was just about every food you can imagine. It was pretty similar to a fresh market in North Carolina: there were various kinda of fruits, veggies, cheese, flowers and bread. As we walked through the aisles filled with food I had the benefit of devouring a juicy orange while listening to beautiful music coming from a man and his accordion. There was also an inside section of the market where we found cooled fruits and veggies along with many intricate and beautifully displayed meals. My favorite section in the market was the station designated to croissants. Here I tried my first French croissant, and it was by far the best one I’ve ever eaten!

Afterwards, we returned to school and I enjoyed lunch with Clémence. We had some free time to socialize and i was able to meet new friends. After cramming our stomachs with more bread and delicious food, we visited ‘Le Musée du Compagnonnage” or the museum of companionship. This museum held exhibits and art collections created for the purpose of companionship through manual work. The class embarked on another scavenger hunt through the exhibits and learned all about the rich art inside. It was a great learning experience and I was blown away by how rich the history of Tours is.

To wrap up the school day, we visited Clémence’s last two classes in which were both end of year parties and socializing time. I had a lot of fun getting to meet every one of Clémence’s friends and formed several lasting relationships with so many people. It was a lot of fun not only bonding with my exchange student and the class that came to America, but also meeting other students at her school.

After school we walked around the center of town which was only about a 5-10 minute walk from school. We saw several churches and buildings including the oldest one in Tours, Saint-Gatien De Tours. We stopped for nutella flavored ice cream on the way, and it may have been the best ice cream I’ve ever had! I also had the pleasure of shopping at one of my favorite stores, Zara. Zara is only available online in America, so it was very cool being in the story for the first time. I had such a great day and learned so much about Tours and the wonderful people that live in it. I can’t wait for tomorrow!