First day in France!

 Sunday, June 9th, 11:30am

Bonjour from Saint-Brieuc! 

We arrived yesterday in Saint-Brieuc at around 7pm local time (1pm EST), after a long bus ride. Students and Shannon landed at around 10:30 in Paris, and were welcomed by Laëtitia, our onsite coordinator, her dad, who is part of one of the host families, and myself (Corentin). Students took a quick picture with the Saumur group who landed at the same time, and took time to stretch their legs after the transatlantic flight. We then said goodbye to the other group and boarded our bus, headed west to Saint-Brieuc.

At first the excitement of being in France (and a game of Uno) kept some of the students awake, at least until our lunch stop at around 1pm local time. Speaking only French was a challenge at first, but they quickly got used to it! The first few hours in the country were full of students finding round-about ways to describe specific words to express themselves.

For lunch, Laetitia and her dad had prepared sandwiches, chips, apple sauce, and water for everyone. One student (who shall remain nameless) told me she already preferred French food to American cuisine! Some students also went to the convenience store at the rest stop to buy coffee and some snacks, including pastries and macarons.

However, as soon as we got back on the road, the long trip caught up to them... most of them dozed off and all of a sudden the bus got really quiet!

 

 

While some were getting some rest, others were discussing their upcoming week and were listening to French music:

 

 

 

Henry (and Avocado!) kept busy playing sudoku:

 

 

 

Nicole, Evie, and Sabina decided to play the alphabet game (and finding a French animal starting with W was challenging for sure!) while Carson and Max were sound asleep:

 

Pocket dictionnaries were quite a popular item to help students maintain full immersion:

 

 

Grace and Kelley chose to relax with a coloring book (pay no mind to Alena in the background, she's working on something super important):

 

 

 

 

When we arrived in Saint-Brieuc, everyone started to get a bit nervous and eager to meet their host families. Within a few minutes of unboarding the bus, students had found their host family and were on their way to discover their respective homes for the next four weeks!

Today, they will be spending the day in their new homes getting to know the families. The weather is beautiful, so I am sure the day will involve some visits of the town, but, as I am writing this, most students are probably still recovering from the time difference and the long trip...!

Tomorrow is day 1 of classes, and we have a long week of work and fun activities ahead of us. We will be doing a city tour and a school visit, and the students' first week in France will be punctuated by a visit of Mont-Saint-Michel and the Château des Montgommery on Saturday !