Author: sam_goeuriot

Last night, my exchange family and I drove two and a half hours away to the beach city of Royan. We spent the whole day at a half-hotel, half-country club called Club Med, where we played tennis, ping-pong, and bocce. We also competed in tennis and ping-pong tournaments and my exchange student got 1st place for tennis! Afterwards we went to have drinks (non-alcoholic, of course 🙂 ) and see a singer perform outside for all of the guests. After that, we went and had a nice buffet-style dinner and sampled a lot of different cheeses!

Today was the start of our first weekend with our host families. With no organized plan for all of us Americans, we each did something different. I, as well as the rest of my host family, started the day by sleeping in. Later, because it was so nice outside, we ate a huge, delicious lunch on the back porch. Tomatoes, mashed potatoes, fillet mignon, cheese, bread, and fruit salad! In the afternoon, my exchange student, Lucile, had synchronized swimming practice, so I went downtown with Sarah,  Lucy and their  exchange students to shop. We went into a few  stores and stopped by a bakery along the way. It was very fun!

In the morning, we all went to school with our exchange students depending on what time their classes start. Then we sat in on their first class. For example, I went to German class. We then watched a documentary about the history of France’s chateaux. Afterwards, until lunch time, we went over French history in preparation for our quiz next week. For lunch, I ate at the cafeteria with others, while some went out for lunch. I ate a quiche lorraine and it was very good. Afterwards we left the school to go on a boat ride on the Loire. On the way we stopped by the Chateau de Tours. The river was incredibly beautiful and the weather was very nice. The Loire is the longest river in France. My favorite part was seeing the hotel by the river, which had rooms inside the natural limestone of the cliff. After school, I went shopping at the Galeries Lafayette with Kristin, Lucy, and Sarah along with their exchange students. After shopping we finished the day with dinner at a French-Italian restaurant. It was very delicious and it was a great opportunity to practice my French.

In the morning, all of the American students got to go to the exchange students classes. After that, the American students all gathered together in a classroom to discuss the words we’ve learned so far. We watched a documentary about the castles and then had an informative review about the history of France that helped us better understand the castles we viewed yesterday. In the afternoon, we went on a river ride and got to see castles and houses that were built into the mountain. It was so cool to see that people lived in the caves that were excavated a long time ago for limestone to build castle. After we split up, I went to Latin class with Constance my exchange student. Then, I went shopping with Taylor, Sarah, Lucy, and our exchange students. We stopped by a cafe right after school to get a snack and then went to a restaurant together. It was super fun!

Today was super duper fun!! We went to the French exchange students classes. Then we watched a video about the history of France chateaux and castles. The chateaux from the Renaissance period were built out of limestone from inside cliffs. We also learned vocabulary for our portfolio project. After we ate lunch, we went on a boat ride on the river La Loire. The river is the last wild river in France, meaning there are no dams blocking it. On the sides of the river, there were people who built houses in the caves in the cliffs. It was so cool. After school, I went with Kristin, Taylor, and Sarah and their exchange students to get coffee and pastries at a coffee shop. Then we went shopping and it was a lot of fun!

today we visited two beautiful castles outside the Tours area. first we stopped by the château de Langeais. The interior design of the castle was absolutely amazing. It was awesome to hear about the history of it and how it is crucial to the culture of France. After munching on some yummy food prepared by our French exchange students’ parents, we visited the château de Villandry. The gardens were so gorgeous. Although we didn’t get to go inside the castle, the gardens were perfect for walking around and taking a refreshing nap.

Today’s agenda was essentially castles, castles, and a lot of castles. There were only two. The first was Château de Langeais and it was the home of Anne de Bretagne who married Charles VIII to make sure the province of Brittany became a part of France. Then we walked and ate lunch at Château de Villandry. The gardens were exquisite even though the clouds were hanging over us, then not, then there again. After we got back some friends and I went shopping and tried to bowl (we are awful at bowling). Finally we ate a delicious dinner at an Italian restaurant and went to sleep since the jet lag is still very real.

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Today we visited Ste. Ursule and got an official tour of the school. We saw the many different classrooms they had to offer in addition to how it benefits the students. After having a tour of the school, M. Jones led us on a tour of downtown Tours where we visited the street markets that are a great source of produce for the inhabitants. They had flowers, crepe stations, meats, and bread among other things. During this visit we were able to try many cuisines native to both France and/or Tours. Next, we went back to Ste. Ursule to have lunch with our exchange students. Some students went home for lunch, into town for lunch, or stayed at school for lunch. After, we went back to downtown Tours and shopped for a little bit. From there we went to the cathedral. The cathedral was quite big and had many intricate designs. These designs included many stain glass pieces that told the story of the founder of the cathedral. Finally, we went to the musée des beaux-arts. At this museum we saw the story of Jesus Christ portrayed through a series of paintings done by an Italian painter. Then our tour guide showed us paintings done by well known French painting, including Claude Monet.

Today was our first day at the school with our exchange students. First we had a group meeting and then we took a short tour of the school. After, we walked to a small market where we were able to buy delicious food like bread, fruits and all different types of pastries. For lunch we were with our exchange students and most people ate food in the town. Later that afternoon we visited a cathedral and the Musée des Beaux Arts. Both of these were very beautiful and interesting.

Monday, May 23, we boarded the direct flight to Paris. With individual TVs and a fantastic window view, the eight hour plane ride didn’t actually feel that long. They served us dinner and gave us the options of either chicken ratatouille or cheese ravioli, along with a dinner roll, salad, brownie, and cheese. They also served us a small breakfast which consisted of a blueberry muffin, cheese, a biscoff, and Greek yogurt. Throughout the flight we were offered Coke products, tea, coffee, juice, and water. The plane ride itself was very bumpy and we hit a lot of turbulence, but in the end, we arrived safely to Paris. We arrived 20 minutes early and everyone went through customs smoothly, “which is amazing what we just did,” as Monsieur Goeuriot put it.