I never like saying goodbye. This time it is going to be especially hard. When the Frenchies left Nichols on Febuary 22, we were all sad but we knew that we would see them in a few short weeks. This time we will be leaving for good, no one knows for sure when they are coming back.
I honestly loved every sinlge moment during this exchange. I got the chnce to get to know my Nichols friends better and see them in a whole new encironment. I had an experiance of a lifetime. I met so many wonderful people I am going to be extremly sad to leave behind. I am going to miss my French parents and their deliciously cooked meals. If i had to list all the things I would miss, it would take until dawn. Earlier today some of my French friends and I found ourselve brainstorming ways to keep me in Le Havre. We came up with getting an illness and loosing my passport. Both plan had flaws. =/
I just hope I will return to this wonderful country in the near future!
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
Rick Bryan in Le Havre
On Friday, Rick Bryan, our headmaster, arrived in Le Havre. Although this was not his first trip to France, it was his first visit to Institution St. Joseph! Over the last 27 years Nichol School has had 25 groups exchange with students of St. Joseph.
In the five days Mr. Bryan was with us, he toured Le Havre, got a French cell phone (the SIM card for his US phone had not been activated), was the guest of honor at a special reception at St. Jo, went to the local tabac to buy a newspaper, watched St. Joseph in action on a Saturday morning, ate a wonderful salad at Restaurant Poi in the Andre Malraux museum with his fantastic and gracious colleagues, visited Honfleur with a teacher from St. Jo, had dinner with his peer, Mr. Bernard Demeillers and his wife, went to Etretat on Saturday and had a fantastic meal--seafood--you should have seen the platter...he'll have the picture in his office I hope. Sunday evening, we were invited to dinner at Mr. Demeillers home where Madame Demeillers prepared a fantastic coq au vin, with a creamy sauce filled with Morell mushrooms. Rick had the pleasure of meeting the teachers who had accompanied the Italian students from a school outside of Florence. The roomed was filled with Italian, French and English, and I personally enjoyed hearing and watching us communicate to make ourselves understood.
On Monday, Rick joined us for the D-Day Beaches. Rick has family connections to the history here, and it was wonderful to visit the museum at Arromanches to get a sense of the engineering feats which led to the success of the "debarquement" and the eventual liberation of France.
On Tuesday, Rick also braved the visit of Le Havre's port by boat. We all got a bird's eye view of one of the major industries here in Le Havre. Le Havre is the #2 port in Europe for containers. It is #5 in the world. Lots of goods come through Le Havre, and I learned from some of our students that two of the French fathers in their host families were involved in managing some aspect of this industry in Le Havre.
At the end of the boat trip, we said farewell to Rick who went off the catch the train to Paris from which he would continue to Spain where he was planning to meet up with our exchange in Asturias.
I think we all enjoyed having Mr. Bryan with us. He asked tons of questions, and learned a lot from the students about their stay here. And yes Rick, your stock is way up for this French teacher because you totally immersed yourself in the exchange experience and awakened your dormand skills in French. You showed the benefits of just a few days in country and your willingness to experience a new culture close up.
Your presence in Le Havre was history in the making, and I look forward to hearing more about the visionary ideas you shared with Monsieur Demeillers.
Saturday, March 29, 2008
Etretat
Friday was spent following Arsene Lupin's track. Arsene Lupin is Marice Leblanc's fictional "gentleman thief", an equivalent to Sherlock Holmes. We watched the movie sometime last week, where we saw Arsene fighting men to attain three crosses that would give the key to open the hollow needle, all while seducing women and stealing necklaces. An interesting character, so on friday we walked around his town and visited a church that he had been in. Outside this church there was a large marketplace with meat and baguettes and seafood. Dr. Rockwell told us that this is where the sans cullotte has always been selling and working, so we took sometime to buy a few things before boarding the bus again.
Next we went to the house of Maurice Leblanc, where we received audio guides and toured the house. The audio guides were a tad peculiar because at one point Leblanc's fictional character began talking to us and telling us how he had to solve the secrets of the hollow needle and attain the treasures of France.
After that we went to the cliffs of Etretat which were gorgeous. We climbed up and there were a million photo opportunities, and we managed to see the hollow needle itself. At low tide people can actually walk out to the needle, but with the wind and rainy weather I don't think anyone was considering swimming. We did actually see some crazy guy in the ocean though on our way up to Etretat.
Next we went to the house of Maurice Leblanc, where we received audio guides and toured the house. The audio guides were a tad peculiar because at one point Leblanc's fictional character began talking to us and telling us how he had to solve the secrets of the hollow needle and attain the treasures of France.
After that we went to the cliffs of Etretat which were gorgeous. We climbed up and there were a million photo opportunities, and we managed to see the hollow needle itself. At low tide people can actually walk out to the needle, but with the wind and rainy weather I don't think anyone was considering swimming. We did actually see some crazy guy in the ocean though on our way up to Etretat.
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Paris 2
Tuesday night we were allowed some free time after the Eiffle Tower to find dinner. Given a curfew of midnight, we all manage to find ourselves restaurants to dine at. Rene and I found a little italian place where we shared tagliatelle pesto and a delicious pizza, but decided that this wasn't french enough we left after to purchase off the street a baguette, nutella, and frommage to eat back at the room. Having still a lot of time for our curfew however, we met up with Tarek and Larkin and attempted to find a spot where we could watch the Eiffle Tower twinkle every hour, but because of our distance from it we were unsuccessful and managed to waste an hour and a half of walking around Paris.
On Wednesday we went to another museum that had many artifacts, such as the Roman Baths and little keys and enfant toys. We also saw a grand tapestry with unicorns on it and a lot of ornate jewelry. On our way out from the museum, we passed the statue of Montaigne where we rubbed his foot for good luck.
On our way to the Arch de Triomphe we encountered a slight problem at the train station. Having all of our luggage with us, we could not find a locker or anywhere to keep our things. So we cancelled the trip the the Arch and made a rotation of luggage watch in groups of two at the train station so that everyone had time to go out and eat lunch and do some shopping. Most of us did manage to make it to the Arch though, for of course everyone wanted to check out the stores on Champs Elysees.
On Wednesday we went to another museum that had many artifacts, such as the Roman Baths and little keys and enfant toys. We also saw a grand tapestry with unicorns on it and a lot of ornate jewelry. On our way out from the museum, we passed the statue of Montaigne where we rubbed his foot for good luck.
On our way to the Arch de Triomphe we encountered a slight problem at the train station. Having all of our luggage with us, we could not find a locker or anywhere to keep our things. So we cancelled the trip the the Arch and made a rotation of luggage watch in groups of two at the train station so that everyone had time to go out and eat lunch and do some shopping. Most of us did manage to make it to the Arch though, for of course everyone wanted to check out the stores on Champs Elysees.
Paris
Tuesday and wednesday we took a train from the SNFC train station to Paris. There we stayed at the Luxembourg Hotel, right next to the Luxembourg Gardens. Here we all roomed in pairs and when we went out we left our keys with a gentlemen who refused to speak english with us.
Most of us were excited to be staying in a hotel for different reasons, but the biggest being the bathroom situation. On the way to Paris we discussed the pros and cons of the french shower and toilet. In most houses you will find two seperate rooms, one with the sink and shower, and another with just a toilet. The cons were that it promotes not washing your hands, it's an awkward distance away from each other, and it makes personal time more of a stretch. The only positive is that two people can be in the two different rooms at once. Overall, we prefer the American system of bathing, but this only shows that a small change in lifestyle really makes us think about how different our cultures are, because who really could expected us to have a half an hour conversation on bathrooms. Larkin was definitely the most excited though to shower because at his correspondent's house he can only take baths.
Arriving in Paris, we prepared to take the metro to our hotel. The metro we compared to NYC and even Buffalo's own one way subway, and we all agreed that the French metro was cleaner. There were even some metros that were double decks. Madame made us map out our route on our own before actually boarding so we could associate ourselves with it, and for those who are not used to the metro it was very confusing. The map handed to us consisted of a million different colored lines crossing and weaving all in a tangle, but of course with wonderful guides like Madame and Doc Roc we arrived at the Hotel with no problems.
Tuesday we walked around Paris a little where we saw many interesting statues and sculptures. We stopped to reenact a couple of these statues, before entering this grand church courtyard. There we found another statue that was currently dressed as snow white. This statue has gone through many outfit changes, because when the nurses our doctors go on strike, they dress the statue up as that occupation. The Show White outfit however was a joke played by the incoming interns.
We then went to of course, the Eiffle Tower. Here Tarek, Izzy, Illona, Will, Rene, Larkin, Caroline and myself chose to walk up all the steps to the top while Grace and Cokie took the elevator. around 700 steps to the middle deck, we had to take an elevator to the very tip top. With the wind, it was freezing! But we played the celebrity game to pass the time. The wait to get to the very top however was definitley worth it.
Most of us were excited to be staying in a hotel for different reasons, but the biggest being the bathroom situation. On the way to Paris we discussed the pros and cons of the french shower and toilet. In most houses you will find two seperate rooms, one with the sink and shower, and another with just a toilet. The cons were that it promotes not washing your hands, it's an awkward distance away from each other, and it makes personal time more of a stretch. The only positive is that two people can be in the two different rooms at once. Overall, we prefer the American system of bathing, but this only shows that a small change in lifestyle really makes us think about how different our cultures are, because who really could expected us to have a half an hour conversation on bathrooms. Larkin was definitely the most excited though to shower because at his correspondent's house he can only take baths.
Arriving in Paris, we prepared to take the metro to our hotel. The metro we compared to NYC and even Buffalo's own one way subway, and we all agreed that the French metro was cleaner. There were even some metros that were double decks. Madame made us map out our route on our own before actually boarding so we could associate ourselves with it, and for those who are not used to the metro it was very confusing. The map handed to us consisted of a million different colored lines crossing and weaving all in a tangle, but of course with wonderful guides like Madame and Doc Roc we arrived at the Hotel with no problems.
Tuesday we walked around Paris a little where we saw many interesting statues and sculptures. We stopped to reenact a couple of these statues, before entering this grand church courtyard. There we found another statue that was currently dressed as snow white. This statue has gone through many outfit changes, because when the nurses our doctors go on strike, they dress the statue up as that occupation. The Show White outfit however was a joke played by the incoming interns.
We then went to of course, the Eiffle Tower. Here Tarek, Izzy, Illona, Will, Rene, Larkin, Caroline and myself chose to walk up all the steps to the top while Grace and Cokie took the elevator. around 700 steps to the middle deck, we had to take an elevator to the very tip top. With the wind, it was freezing! But we played the celebrity game to pass the time. The wait to get to the very top however was definitley worth it.
Euro Disney!
It was so much fun even though it rained and snowed. We rode Space Mountain 5 times and made a differnt face for each picture.
It was really nice to spend a day with everyone. Usually Nichols kids are always touring somewhere else. I had alot of fun. The parents were so nice to go out of their way to drive us. (Thank you Cecilia's Mother!) And I want to thank Grace's exchange student's dad for accompanying us everywhere and waiting outside of the Space Mountain ride for an hour! =)
The French Version of Wegmans
Many people looked at me funny when I got really excited and took pictures of everything in the Supermarket. Quite understandable. The food is amazing. I want to buy tons of food before I come back!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)