My family and I accompanied 4 High School students to France on an exchange trip. The French teacher in my school planned the trip but he was unable to go along. Since I had been with him on 2 other trip to France he asked if I would go instead. He also pointed out since the trip would be in June I could take my son and wife and only have to pay for their travel and everything else would be covered. So I decided to go with it! Its a little stressful being responsible for 4 other children in a foreign country (and I don't speak French), but everything went really well! I don't have a desire to do it again anytime soon. this is my 3rd foreign trip with students and I have had some ups and downs with it. I want to travel more, but not as a chaperone of students. The students we took this time were super and it was a great way to "end" my travels with students (for now at least).
We ended school on a Tuesday and then we all left for 19 days in France two days later. We met at the bus station around 7:30 am on Thursday morning. The parents said their goodbyes and we boarded the bus. An hour and a half later, we stopped in Portland. We arrived at Logan Airport in Boston almost two hours after that. I was surprised how short the security line was and we were through with 2.5 hours to go before our departure time. We flew on Icelandair which meant we would have a brief layover in Reykjavik, Iceland.
We left Boston at 2:30 pm and flew about 5.5 hours to Iceland. Iceland is 4 hours ahead, but further north. The sun basically doesn't set in Iceland around the Summer Solstice, so we landed at 11:30 pm local time and the sun was still up. We left Iceland at 1:30am local time and it was darker, but more like twilight. We flew south and east and the sun kept getting stronger the whole trip. It was 6:30 am local time in Paris when we landed. I slept maybe 20 minutes on the plane. From there we started our exploration of the city. On day one we saw Notre Dame Cathedral, the Eiffel Tower, and did a river cruise tour of the city.
After getting some much needed rest Friday night, we took the Metro out to the famous Paris Flea Market known as "Les Puces". My friend and mentor Gib, who lives in Geneva, took the train up to Paris to spend the rest of the weekend with us. The students had a chance to find good deals at the market and use their French skills to barter. My son even got a couple of soccer jerseys at great prices! Saturday afternoon we did a tour of the Opera Garnier and then went out to the Arc de Triomphe.
On Sunday morning we went to the Louvre before it opened and stood in line about 30 minutes. That meant we barely had to wait once it opened to get in. I really enjoy seeing the Mona Lisa, the Venus de Milo and the other treasures there. But its so big, it would take many days to see the whole museum! Sunday afternoon we went to Montmartre and the Sacre Coeur. Then we went back to get some rest and prepare for our morning train ride to the city of Vannes in Brittany. There the students would be staying with host families for two weeks and my family would be in our own Flat.
Monday morning we took the TGV from Paris to Vannes. It took about 3.5 hours. The French woman who was organizing the exchange on their end and all of the host families met us at the train station. The students went with their families, and the French woman took us to our flat. We were exhausted! So other than resting and going out for dinner, we didn't do much the first two days! We did meet up with the students and their families after a few days at a BBQ. this gave me a chance to make sure they were all doing fine and they were. The French woman and her husband also took us for a boat ride in the Gulf of Morbihan one day. Another day we met with the students and they all paddled out to alittle island in the Gulf.
While my family were on our own for a few days we did several things. We explored the Medieval parts of Vannes which are still in good shape. We went to the open market in Vannes and found some bargains! We also went to the local mall and experienced some of modern Vannes. One day we rented a car and drive to Normandy to go to Omaha Beach and visit the museums as well as the American Cemetery. Another day we took a bus to a nearby city called Carnac. In Carnac are strange alignments of massive stones dating back to 3000 BCE. No one knows why or how they were placed there or what meaning they may have had for those ancient Celtic people. But the Megaliths were quite impressive!
After 9 days in France, the time came to return home. The French families were sending their children with us to be hosted by the American families. So 12 of us left at 5am on Monday July 6 by train from Vannes. It was a 3.5 hour train ride to Paris where we had to catch the Air France bus. this bus drives across the crazy Paris traffic to the airport and took about 1.5 hours to do so. Once at the airport we had to find our check in kiosk and go through security. This took a very long time. We finally got to our gate with an hour before departure. Around 2 pm our flight left for Iceland. It was a 3 hour flight but we arrived around 3:40 local time. The Iceland airport is quite small but there are lots of people there! Only one cafe was challenging, but after standing in line we all got some food. We left Iceland at 5:30 local time and after 6 hours in the air, we arrived in Boston at 6:30 local time. We had to split into 2 groups because one line of customs was for US citizens and the other for non-citizens. The line was long, but eventually we all made it through and got our bags. We were just in time to catch the 8:30 pm bus from Logan airport to Portland where the American families were waiting to pick up the students. When we finally arrived in Portland it was 11:10 local time, but felt like 5 in the morning to us! We had been up 26 hours with barely any sleep and were all very exhausted! The families were happy to see us and all took their French student and American student with them. We hopped in our car and drove another 1.5 hours home where we collapsed!
It was a wonderful trip that my family and I will never forget! Though we were "working" as chaperones responsible for the students, we also had some time to do some things on our own. I believe its very important for a Social Studies teacher to travel and experience real history. Its equally important for students, but not always possible. I had been to the Rhone American Cemetery and so getting the chance to visit Normandy was truly a dream come true. It was extra special that I got to share it with my family.
For the rest of the summer we aren't doing much. We will do some fun and relaxing things close to home. I have a few days of training for various things to improve my teaching. I also need time to read and prepare to teach AP Psychology for the first time. I will blog again next month about the work I did this summer to prepare for the new school year!
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