Author: sam_goeuriot

This morning, Irene and I woke up at 6:30 and did our usual routine of walking through the beautiful streets of Tours with Alexandra and Cindy. The rest of the day was packed with a ton of fun activities. In the morning, we took the bus for one and a half hours and arrived in Bourré, France at around 10:30. The bus ride was really nice and peaceful as we looked outside into the vast, green farmlands. We got off the bus and soon walked into a big, cold underground cave. Inside the cave it was 12 degrees celsius and it stays this temperature at all times throughout the year. They grow mushrooms in big crates in these caves because the temperature and darkness assures slow growth, which is best for the taste. After that, we visited le Château de Chenonceau (Castle of Chenonceau). It is one of the biggest and well-known castles in the area! In 1547, King Henri II donated Chenonceau to his favorite lady, Diane de Poitiers. My favorite parts of the castle were The Gallery and the beautiful gardens outside. 

At five, our exchange students picked us up.  It soon started raining and we took cover under the train station. When it stopped, we went by the briocherie (brioche place called La Briocherie) for a quick snack. After that, a few of us went shopping (again)! We went to Bershka, H&M, and more. We then went to a really cool restaurant called Mamie Bigoude’s for dinner with Niki and Mathilde, Adithi and Solenne, and Shiloh and Alix. We had fantastic crepes in the theme restaurant, where the entire restaurant was decorated with grandma’s house styled things.

This morning, all of the american students went to a cave. Before going, I wasn’t sure what to expect, but it turns out that I had the most fun today by far. In the cave, there was a village carved into the limestone. The building style represented the architecture from 1914, the start of WW1. There were many ornate buildings, but several animals and people as well to illustrate the livelihood of the scene. Four types of mushrooms were also grown inside the cave, and we got to sample one! Next, we went to Château de Chenonceau. Wow. The architecture and history was stunning! I can see why this castle was the favorite of many french exchange students. The balconies overlooking the gardens were probably my favorite part, because I could see every detail of the beautiful area.

After that, my exchange student and I went to laser tag with her class. It was about 20-25 people and we split up into two teams. The game was the same as it is in America, except that here I’m terrible at laser tag and I kept ending up near last place. We walked to McDonalds after (Mc do to the french students) with everyone. This McDonalds is so much better than its American counterpart! It had clean touchscreens for ordering and wedge fries! After eating it, I’ve decided that American Mc Donalds cannot compare the Mc Do.

In the morning, we visited the Musée du Compagnonnage. This museum was all about how craftsmen who became masters in their profession. They chose if they wanted to pursue their craft (such as shoe making, iron working, wood working, etc) in 7th grade and if so, they then studied said craft in a house/dorm with other workers. They would travel around France and study under different masters of the trade (sort of like an apprenticeship) and they would learn the different styles/techniques of their craft. In their free time they would work on their personal masterpieces which would take hundreds of hours to complete and were very complex. These masterpieces were displayed in the museum. After the museum we visited the market. It resembled a grocery store mixed with a farmers market and it offered many different types of fresh foods. My favorite was a pain au chocolate (chocolate croissant) from this cute boulangerie, as well as and the fresh strawberries which were so good and so sweet. The market was both inside and outside! Inside had things like a butchery, a bakery, fish shop, cheese stands, etc while outside they had tons of fruits, vegetables, and flowers.

After the market, we all returned to Ste Ursule to meet our exchange students. With a couple friends I went down to a little café where we got bagels and some drinks. We then walked to a beautiful park where we sat and ate our lunch, got ice cream, and looked around. Then for the next two hours or so we walked around and visited different shops. Some of my favorite stores that we shopped at were H & M and Bershka (we all bought lots of clothes here!). Later, my exchange student and I went to Maddy’s exchange student’s house. We tried some French snacks there- my favorite was “Bueno Bars” which are like chocolate covered wafer cookies with cream inside. We then went out to dinner with both of our families at a beautiful restaurant called “Tours sur Loire” which was- unsurprisingly- right next to the river. The view of the Loire was amazing and I really enjoyed getting to know the French families.

My morning started by having a breakfast of crepes with my exchange student and then taking a 10-minute walk to school. I attended a history class at the school, and once this was finished, all of the American exchange students walked to a nearby museum called Musée du Compagnonnage. This museum is dedicated to students masterpieces that are created based off of their chosen profession. These masterpieces are very intricate and can take multiple years to fully complete. Next, all of us walked to a market which was half inside and half outside, I purchased some pastries and fresh strawberries. Everyone ate and walked around for a little while. After this, we walked back and returned to the school to meet our exchange students for lunch.

Once I met up with my exchange student, we then went with a group of students from the exchange to buy some lunch at a cafe, many of us got sandwiches and brought them to a park where we had a picnic on the grass with the food that we had just purchased. After we were finished eating, we hung out at the park for a little bit and just relaxed. Some of the students had to return to school for class, but many of them had the afternoon off. The group of people still left at the park all split up and went shopping down multiple streets near the center of the city for a few hours. Once we had finished our shopping, we all walked to a movie theater where we watched the film Deadpool 2, and once this was finished I walked home with my exchange student.

Today was the first full day in Tours! For me, the day started off at 6:20 (which was very hard given the jet lag). After a very good breakfast we drove to school. We stood outside the school in their courtyard until 8:10 when we had a meeting with all the people involved in the exchange. During this meeting we went over the schedule for the week and talked about the different field trips we will be going on. Then we went to class with our correspondents. The first class I attended was math. The students were reviewing there homework which was geometry based and then did some in class practice problems which I got to try as well. The second class I went to was Spanish. The beginning of the class was homework review and then the students read about an event in history and discussed what they had read (I found this very similar to what we do in French classes at CA). Classes ended at 12:00 and then we went to lunch. The lunch system was very different then CA. They have to swipe student ID’s and get food single file in a lunch line. Regardless, the lunch was very good .  Then we took the bus to a boat tour on the river Loire. There are many houses, buildings and even a castle that sit right along side the river. The tour guide talked about the history of these buildings as well as some of the wildlife found in the river. There are lot of beavers found in the river and we got to see the how different beavers bite the trees. One of the coolest things you can see is a very old and rustic hotel. Many of the rooms are actually built into the caves that run along the river side. After the boat we went to a grocery store to purchase a variety of drinks, french cookies and sodas before taking the bus back to school.

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Today was our first full day in Tours! This morning, Julia and I woke up, got ready and had breakfast. We had vanilla and almond cereal and orange juice, and by the time we finished breakfast, we still had twenty five minutes until we had to leave for school.

Our correspondents’ father drove us to school and made a small detour so we could see a huge and beautiful tree in a park nearby. When we got to school, everyone was gathered in the courtyard. Once everyone was there, we moved to a classroom for a quick presentation about the schedule for our stay. After that, we followed our correspondents to class. I went to Physics-Chemistry and Biology. In chemistry, the French were learning about stoichometry, and in biology they discussed blood pressure. It was cool to see how much I could understand.

After class, we went to lunch. The lunch was very different than CA, but very good! Then, we left our correspondents to take a bus to Rochecorbon. While we waited for the bus, we enjoyed a different part of the river and took lots of pictures. Once in Rochecorbon, we took a boat cruise on the Loire river, where our guide told us about the beavers that live on the little islands throughout the river, and the crumbling silk factory that could be seen from our boat. The river was very beautiful, and I really enjoyed the boat ride. Because we had some time to spare before our bus back to Tours came, we bought snacks at a local store.

When we got back to school, we met up with our correspondents again. My partner, Perrine, had classes until 6pm today, so Julia’s partner, Olive, took us back to their house on the bus. It was a big first day, and I’m looking forward to the days to come!

Arriving in France at 7:30, we stepped of the plane having slept none. You can imagine how this played out. Upon arriving, we stepped down onto the runway and were soon shoved into a bus and shuttled to the airport. Once through customs, we were informed that our original bus was not coming, and a replacement was coming… in 2 hours. Then 3 hours. Then 5 hours. Finally, our bus arrived at noon! Which felt like 6 am to a bunch of grumpy, sleepless, teenagers having passed je time with alphabet games and aimlessly walking around the airport. I don’t think we made it out of the airport before we passed out. 5 hours and a hidden bathroom later, we arrived at St.Ursules. We then drove to my exchange students house, and called it a night. Overall, the trip was fun as long as we were all together, and that is the story of how I got 3 hours of sleep in 36 hours.

Our trip started off with a very rough start. While on the plane, a few of us got sick. A majority of us did not sleep. We managed to overcome our problems long enough to land. After we landed we waited in a long line for customs. I don’t think we’ve ever been that excited that early in the morning. We then got past customs and got lost, but managed to figure things out. We then found out that our original bus had been in accident so they had to send another one. In addition to the bus already coming at a later time, there were strikes going on in Paris today with public transportation, which led more people to drive today. The one perk of the bus being late is that we got to see the famous supermodel Emily Ratajkowski. When the bus finally arrived at around 12:50 , we were all tired. We got on the bus and slept like babies (ALL of us!).

When we got to Tours, it was too late to do anything. We each got picked up and did different things with our families. My exchange student and her brother, her sister, and her dad picked me up at the drop off location and drove me to their beautiful home located in Vernou Sur Brenne.

Yesterday and today were hectic days for the entire group. We started off the day yesterday all gathered together at the RDU airport at 2:45 PM. From there we were presented with the opportunity to bond with each other while excitedly waiting for our flight around 5 PM. Once our flight arrived, we all found our seats and began our tumultuous adventure. While for some people sleeping came easy, for others, not so much. Whether it was the endless selection of movies or an unfortunate in flight ailment, many of us did not get a chance to slumber. That paved the road to our action packed time at the airport once we landed. After searching for and securing our luggage, we grabbed some food, found some celebrities, and waited around for our bus for a good couple of hours. Once we boarded the bus, everyone fell asleep until we excitedly awoke to embrace our French friends in Tours.

Due to my exhaustion and late arrival, not much was done with my family. We waited for Axelle’s sister, and then drove home. Once at home, I got a nice tour of their house, ate some sweets, and unpacked. After unpacking, we headed downstairs to prepare what was a surprisingly small yet filling dinner and chocolate and caramel cakes. We discussed our schedule, I got to meet the whole family, and I had the utmost pleasure becoming acquainted with the dog and 3 chickens. Overall, it was a fun and relaxing time.