Bonjour! Le Voyage France est Presque la! Hi everyone – the France trip is almost here!
Thirty-seven students are counting down the days until April 16th when they will hop aboard a seven-hour flight to Paris, France! Since October they have been mentally packing their clothes, spending time researching the amazing sites they will be visiting and trying to figure out all of the essentials they need to grab before the trip. Senior Brittany Gest says, “I’m looking forward to travelling to a different continent and seeing the Eiffel Tower!” Just one of the many activities we will be squeezing into the nine-day trip.
The idea of exploring the culture and traditions of another country all started in 2007 when art teacher Mrs. St. John was approached by former French teacher Ms. Sturner who wanted to taker her AP art class to Paris. The tradition has stuck ever since! This year juniors as well as seniors are allowed to partake in this adventure. The school extended the trip to junior AP bound students, just incase the trip happens only every other year. Language teacher, Mrs. Petroski said, “I wanted to make sure that as many students would be able to go this year.” Her goal is that “each student who goes on this trip will have a life changing experience, that they will have the opportunity to visit a place that they may never have another chance to visit.”
Why France? Of course this won’t be Mrs. Petroski’s or Mrs. St. John’s first time to France. Mrs. Petroski is a big fan and loves the language, culture, incredible food, and the incomparable museums and she wanted to take the students she had her first year of teaching on the trip this year! Mrs. St. John was able to visit Paris this past January as well as four years ago with the school. A new addition to the trip is the AP Euro students and teacher Mr. Wiznoski. Mr. Wiz wanted to experience Versailles and Normandy with his students; his daughter lives in Paris as well!
Our experienced travelers gave us some good tips for travelling! Mrs. Petroski said that it’s important to have a few key phrases to begin a conversation when going to a country you are unfamiliar in. “Research before you go-food, currency, culture, map of the city, points of interest. Wear comfortable shoes!”
Mrs. St. John says you’ll have the best time if you’re open to new experiences, new food, and different customs, “If they do not have what you are accustomed to, relax you will be home in a week to eat your mac & cheese and pop-tarts, but you may only be in France once, so go ahead and try the snails!” Being open to new things not only allows you to better yourself as a person but you may come to love something that you had no idea you even liked before!
The point of this ten-day expensive trip is to give students an experience that they will never forget. Mrs. St. John said, “Cultural education, to experience another country’s people, art, food and history. Enrichment, we often visit the museums and take trips to enrich your art, history and foreign language education.”
Not only is it a fun trip, but also it gives students an incentive to study hard and challenge themselves academically and artistically. Most schools don’t have this amazing opportunity, so we are more than lucky.
The weather should be lovely as well, just like New York City in April! The thirty-seven students, teachers and administration are beyond fortunate, as Mrs. Petroski said, “They will see the world in a different light and realize that there is so much more out there.” I can’t wait to see all of the pictures!
