When the students arrive at their first destination, Bordeaux, they will each be staying with pre-determined host families for a total of five days. They will be living in the French culture with their ‘families’, experiencing everyday life firsthand.
“I will be staying with people I’ve never met in my life,” said Senior Ashley Johnson. “Their culture is completely different than my own. I was anxious when everybody going started getting friend requests on Facebook from their host sisters and brothers, and one day in French class, she [host sister Benedict] sent me one. I was so excited that I almost started to cry.”
After Bordeaux the group will travel by train to Paris, where they will be visiting the Eiffel Tower, and shopping.
In preparation for the trip, the French students have had four informational meetings since finalizing the trip last spring. In the meetings they have gone over itinerary, and packing necessities. At one meeting, they played a “suitcase” game where they ran around school with 40 pound suitcases, in order to ready themselves for constant travel.
Despite the excitement the students have, there are still some nerves that come with leaving to an unfamiliar environment.
