MERCI

Thank you to everyone who helped make this such an awesome trip, but especially to Madame Éloré in Liffré. It is hard to believe that we have been doing this exchange for five fantastic years.

MERCI 🇺🇸🇫🇷🇺🇸🇫🇷🇺🇸🇫🇷🇺🇸🇫🇷🇺🇸🇫🇷

Monday, our last day at the Collège Saint Michel

After following first period classes, we went to the Liffré town hall where we were welcomed by Daniel's host mother, Me. Borde. We viewed an exhibit of paintings and sculptures by two local artists, and learned about the role of the mayor and the municipal council, before being treated to an awesome goodie bag.

After the morning recess, we joined the entire 8th grade on a walking field trip to the Liffré cinéma to see an interesting documentary about the Famous German choreographer, Piña Bausch, working with a young group to produce a modern dance performance. 

Back at school, students and teachers alike,  enjoyed our last lunch from chef Olivier.

The students' lunch was comprised of a choice of appetizers (including shredded beet salad), and a main course of chicken wings - not your usual  chicken wings, but baked in a delicious sauce and accompanied by either wax beans sautéd in butter or a purée of carrots. Ms. Schneider and I are going to lobby Ms. Bazer for similar lunches for our students at LLA, and for a teachers' lunch room with lunches like these:

This is just the appetizer! Assiette de la mer, avec terrine de poisson blanc, terrine de saumon (two different fish pâtés) & saumon cru (marinated raw salmon). The main course was braised cow's cheek, puréed carrots and a sautéed mix of peas, snap peas and asparagus.....

...followed, of course, by a cheese platter, featuring six different cheeses including goat cheese and Roquefort, the most famous of the many French blue cheeses, made from raw ewe's milk.

The gentleman in the background is the principal, Monsieur Floch. 

HOW DO THEY EAT ALL OF THIS AND NOT GET FAT?????? A good discussion topic for class. 

After lunch and recess (with a rousing "Joyeux anniversaire" sung for Isabel), we spent the rest of the afternoon doing a homework check, and then an awesome craft activity - Iris Paper Folding. We made greeting cards for the holidays. 

Un très grand merci to Madame Sylvie for teaching us how to do Iris Paper Folding and providing all the materials to make these lovely cards.

(And yes.....on our last day, I finally learned how to do accents on the iPad - I will not be adding accents to the previous posts - désolée!)

Soirée

The parents of the French students put together a lovely party for the kids tonight.  They rented out a room for the party and supplied food, drinks, disco lights and music. 

 A few groups of students prepared music mixes for the party.  The kids had a fun time dancing and singing along to popular songs.  It turns out that teens all over the world know how to "whip" and "nae, nae".

It was a great night and an awesome opportunity for all of the kids to let loose and celebrate their new friendships.

Oysters and walking in the rain in Mont Saint Michel

STUDENT BLOG POST ABOUT THE OYSTER FARM TO BE UPLOADED HERE.

Our afternoon at Mont Saint Michel was definitely a gloomy one, but being from Chicago, we could handle the wind. Once we got to the island, after what seemed like forever walking in the rain, we were all so relieved. It looked like such a cute village. Then Madame Elore led us up killer stairs to the monastery. My legs felt like pudding! We got our little audio tour and we were off! 

Cold and really tired, we trudged through the beautiful rooms, learning about the history and prior use of the monastery. It reminded me a lot of Hogwarts! The history intrigued me and made me invision what the monastery must have been like back then.

After the tour, we went down to the little village to get ...... crepes and hot chocolate. It was so satisfying. I think this was my favorite trip so far. (Irene)

Our tour guide at the oyster farm showing an oyster sack. 

Two pictures of the oyster farm at low tide. We did not see this as it was high tide when we were in Cancale. 

A plastic tub of baby oyster shells

Washing the mud off the oysters.

This is the tank where they plunge the oysters then repeatedly raise them to train them to stay tightly shut, which is important for transportation.

Sorting the oysters.

Tasting he delicious oysters. Miam, miam! 

Glorious day at Saint Malo

Today, our class took a 45 minute bus ride to Saint Malo, a fortified coastal city surrounded by thick walls and filled with beautiful buildings from hundreds of years ago. We walked to Saint Malo's castle (which is now a museum) and viewed a lot of old furniture and Saint Malo-inspired paintings. We learned a little more about the slave trade back then and got to see how things were done a long time ago. Most of the things shown in the museum supported the fact that Saint Malo was completely dependent on the sea. We climbed narrow stairwells all the way to the top of the castle. The view was breathtaking and we got some great pictures. Then we climbed back down and took a stroll to the beach where we sat and ate on the rocks. After we finished our meals, we kicked off our shoes and ran along the beach - my personal favorite part of the trip so far. The weather was just perfect. After that, we left the beach and did some shopping at a few little shops in one area. Everyone bought a  treat from a bakery near one of the gift shops we went to. We were all stuffed and happy. After all of our shopping, we walked back through all of the narrow streets with lights strung along them to get back outside of the walls where our bus was waiting for us. We returned to College Saint Michel knowing we wouldn't forget the day we spent in Saint Malo.   (Julia)

 Vue de Saint Malo, du haut du Chateau de Saint Malo

Quelles vues spectaculaires!!!

Comme c'est plus facile de descendre que de monter! 

Pas de pluie, toute la journee :)

Un petit coin parfait pour un pique-nique...

...un peu de sport...

...et quelques achats...

...dans la ville ou a eu lieu "All the Light We Cannot See".

Bref, une belle jourrnee!