5/28/2025: Travel Day and Catacombs

 Bonjour from Claire and Allison! Today began with an early morning start at 7:45am to catch our train. Throughout the duration of the train ride, we spent time napping, journaling, sketching, and getting some work done. We also spent time signing books for our future classrooms, which felt like a special way to commemorate our trip. After arriving to Paris, we lugged our suitcases through a series of hectic and crowded metros to our hotel. Thankfully, after the experience, we had some much-needed down time. Some of us went to get food and explore while others relaxed at the hotel, and some us even got pooped on by a pesky pigeon (Claire). 

The Poopetrator:

After regrouping, and a shower for one particular person, we continued our adventure to the Catacombs of Paris. We began by heading down a seemingly endless flight of stairs into the depths of arguably Paris’ most unnerving tourist attraction. The catacombs stretch over 170 miles under Paris and hold the remains of over 6 million people (that’s a lot of bones!). As we walked through the long tunnel that is open to the public, we gazed in awe upon carefully arranged human skulls and ligaments, sometimes in fun formations like hearts! 

After walking through we emerged from the dark depths to engage in some more free time! Most of us spent time shopping and exploring until dinner time. We finished our day at Le Mimosa where many of us ordered chocolate mousse and tiramisu, a sweet way to end a sweet day! 

5/27/25: School visit and porcelain!

Bonjour à tous! This is Juliet, with an update on our final full day in the town of Limoges.

We were able to have a little bit of a relaxed start to our day, since our school visit was scheduled for 10:30am. We walked just a few short blocks from our hotel to l'Ècole Élémentaire Montmailler, where we were greeted by the directrice, Sylvie. We split into pairs and Sylvie led us to 5 different classrooms for the morning. 

Maggie, Yelena, and I all went to a 2nd grade classroom, and the students were very excited to have us there! We read the Vermont book we'd prepared, taking turns with the French and English words. After we finished, the students asked us a lot of questions about Vermont and the United States. They were very interested to hear that Lake Champlain often freezes enough that people can walk on it and go ice fishing, and they were also very intrigued by the idea of free cone day!

 

After fielding numerous questions from the students, Maggie and Yelena took turns reading another book (Go, Dog. Go!) to the class. Even though the book was entirely in English, the students were able to follow along with a lot of the simple text -- colors, numbers, etc. And they were excited to hear that the book was a personal favorite for Yelena -- the first book she was able to read on her own!

The three of us then found seats at the side of the classroom and stayed for a while to observe a math lesson. The teacher was teaching the class about different 3-dimensional shapes (e.g., cones, pyramids, spheres, and cubes), leading them in counting how many faces, sides, and vertices each one had. The students were proud to show us that they could do a lot of their counting in English!

Around noon, we all left our individual classrooms and joined up as a group to talk briefly about what we'd observed. Sylvie thanked us for our visit, we gave her a huge merci (and quelques petits cadeaux!) for her hospitality, and then we all split up for some lunch. Leo remembered a good spot for sushi from his visit to Limoges last year, and others were happy for the helpful tip!

  

After lunch, we had a few hours before our next activity, so some people took the time to do laundry or rest at the hotel, while others ventured into the heart of the old city to do some shopping and touring. Patrick and I walked through le quartier de la Boucherie, which is a historic neighborhood known for its narrow cobblestone streets and buildings dating back to the 1400s. We also stopped by the botanical gardens (Jardin Botanique de l'Evêché), which are next to the lovely Limoges Cathedral and just above the Vienne River, which cuts through the city.

      

Our group gathered together at 3:30 for a guided tour of the Four des Casseaux, which is a museum dedicated to the history of the Limoges porcelain industry. During our tour, we learned a lot about the history and manufacture of porcelain and the role that the porcelain industry has played in the history of Limoges and the Limousin region. A Limoges resident had told Abby and Claire earlier that Limoges was the "capital of China," and now we all have a better understanding of what they meant by that!

We were all amazed to hear about the amount of time and effort that went into making a single batch of porcelain items in the coal-fired kilns. It was a multi-step process, and it took 3 days just to get the fire hot enough (1400° C, or 2500° F! -- enough to make sure that Philip did not show his face) to fire the porcelain, so the kiln could only produce about two batches of porcelain per month. The museum had a temporary exhibit of porcelain from the 1925 Paris Expo, and we enjoyed looking at the beautiful pieces that reflected the transition from art nouveau to art deco. The museum is attached to a porcelain shop with work by local artists, and some of our crew picked up souvenirs before we headed out.

 

After leaving the porcelain museum, we split up into smaller groups again for some touring and free time before dinner. It was a lovely, sunny day, and a group of us walked down to the Vienne River to check out the scenic and historic Pont Saint-Étienne, which dates back to the early 13th century! We all met up at Le Bistrot Jourdan for a group dinner, then walked up the hill to our hotel to get some much-needed sleep.

Here are some final photos for our busy day: Leo on the Pont Saint-Étienne, Limoges City Hall (Hotel de Ville), and the Limoges Cathedral.

  

À demain!

-Juliet

5/26/25: Oradour & Classroom Visits

Bonjour! Maggie here- and welcome to today’s blog post. I want to start by saying that today’s visits and topics are quite heavy. We found the visit to Oradour to be completely heartbreaking, infuriating, surreal, shocking and so much more. This will be discussed further in the blog. 

“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” -George Santayana

We started the day bright and early, hopping on the bus and driving out toward Oradour. As we pulled into town, visions of the remains of the village could be seen peeking over hills. A once lively safe haven for all of its habitants. We arrived with some time to spare, so we headed to a small cafe.

We finished up and it was time to make our way down to the memorial museum portion of the morning. There we were handed a special device which played English dialogue that matched the exhibit. As we made our way through the exhibit the heaviness really set in. Images of children, families, young adults my age, and elders really emphasized the identities of the innocent souls taken. 

The Story of Oradour: 

On June 10th, 1944 just a few days after D-Day. The German military, feeling pressure from the French resistance began to gear up for action. It is unclear if they believed Oradour to be a place hiding resistance fighters or if they wanted to “send a message.” But regardless, 200 soldiers woke up that morning and surrounded the innocent town. 

Every person was ordered to gather in the center square of town. The men were then separated from the women and children. Most of the men lives were taken in a near by barn whether that be by fire or gun wound. The women and children were then locked inside the church. Their tragic ending starts with a series of hand grenades thrown into the building, smoke filled the air. It is reported that at this point they were all panicking and trying to get out. The Germans then entered and shot rounds at them. It was a haunting sight to see bullet holes in the wall when walking through the old church. They finished off the village by setting fire to almost everything. 

It was reported that only 6 people escaped this massacre. 642 people were killed. 247 women. 205 children. 190 men. 

Walking through the village: 

After the memorial we entered the old village. Cobblestone streets, sidewalks and brick buildings sit there broken and burnt. We all took our time to go through the streets and reflect on what we just learned and were currently feeling. The burnt cars, melted in place as well as one of the children’s schools and the church were the most difficult places to view in my opinion. 

Here is a picture of the children’s school.

The visit as a whole served as a really important reminder that World War II and this specific event did not happen that long ago. These people had vehicles and sewing machines. We all agreed that there are events happening right now in the world that in some way, resemble this event. 

So with heavy hearts, we made our way back to the bus stop, glimpses of the rubble still visible. It was quite a quiet ride back into town. 

We then had a small break to find some lunch. Several folks opted to go into the grocery store, others found nearby restaurants. Feeling a bit better after eating, we boarded a bus towards Condorcet & Roussillon (two schools!) 

Upon arrival we split into groups and went off to different classrooms. Yelena and I went to a first grade room where we read our presentation book about UVM & Vermont. The children were so excited to ask questions! We also were lucky to observe some songs as well as a vocabulary lesson! 

As we finished up in the schools, we walked over to a library dedicated to education. Here we met Sandrine Simon (faculty at the University of Limoges), who gave us a tour and introduced us to some other education students. At the library, books on curriculum, children’s books & special topics like physical education could be used. 

           Preschool curriculum books!  

It was lovely to view such a wonderful place for educators & students to access information, methods and resources needed to succeed! We said a quick “see you later!” to Sandrine and walked to our bus stop. 

We also learned the French sign language for bathroom! If you notice the hand makes a “WC” which stands for water closet aka toilet!

After freshening up at the hotel, we walked up to our dinner spot where we met back up with Sandrine! We were hoping Philip would have arrived in Limoges by now. After all, pasta is his favorite food -- unfortunately one chair still remained empty. Nonetheless, it was lovely to chat with Sandrine a bit about special education and how it’s taught and practiced here in France! 

It’s safe to say we are all ready for bed after such an emotionally and physically busy day. 

Bonne nuit! 

Maggie 

5/25/25: Travel Day to Limoges!

Bonjour! This is Abby! Today we had a pretty chill, relaxing travel day. We started our morning in Nantes. Simone and Yelena went to the botanical gardens in the morning and saw goats and chickens!

Others spent the morning packing up, showering and preparing for the travel day. I took advantage of the late wake-up and slept in as much as possible. We walked across the street to the train station and boarded. Some people got snacks before getting on! The first train ride was about 2 hours and 45 minutes. We spent the time sleeping, journaling, looking through our pictures, or working.

We stopped at Vierzon to get lunch. Some people got lunch in the train station grocery store and others went to a nearby restaurant.

We were running a little late for the train because the restaurant was taking a while. Philip tried his hardest to keep up with Yelena and Juliet, but he was too short to keep up. Legend has it that Philip is still waiting for his hash brown sandwich. We had another train ride, about an hour and a half to Limoges. 

We had a bit of a walk to the hotel, but were able to relax once we got there. We had dinner at Le Versailles. There was a fixed menu and it was delicious!! 

Then we headed to a restful nights sleep!! Erin didn’t even have time to fully lay down before she was out!

5/24/25: Open House and Down Time!

Bonjour from Claire and Allison! 

For our last full day in Nantes, we began our adventurous day with a later start; Some much needed sleep for our group! We then hopped on the tram to an open house at École Diwan de Nantes where we were greeted by one of the educators who introduced us to the schools’ headmaster. We visited two classrooms, furthering our knowledge on the multilingual school system in Bretagne.

(Translation: When I grow up, I will be bilingual in French-Breton!)

The classrooms were colorful and full of life, even including two pet stick bugs! 

Since this was the first time going to an open house in the history of this trip, even Patrick and Juliet were unsure of what to expect. As it turns out, they had expected us and a radio journalist was there to take notes on our experience! Many of us volunteered for a speaking interview, so make sure to tune in! We were also treated by school children who offered us pastries, as well as crepes that were being made in the downstairs of the school.

After our school visit, we took the tram to the slavery abolition memorial and museum. As Americans, it was interesting to see how France views its dark history of exporting slaves to other countries. In the memorial, they had names of the ships that were used for slave exportation that left from Nantes on the floor, as well as a wall that displayed a timeline of important events related to the implementation of equal rights and anti-slavery.

After our opportunity to see the memorial, the group broke off to freely explore Nantes. Many of us started by wandering the Nantes market fest that we were luckily in town for! Vendors had jewelry, cute clothes, food, and much more. Others went back to the hotel for refreshing showers and to get our best outfits on for an informal museum castle tour.  The Château des Ducs de Bretagne (the castle) is known for its historical significance in Nantes and allowed us to explore the castle along with hands on activities that show different timelines of the castle.

Juliet, Patrick, and Abby took a free boat ride to a nearby fishing village where they were able to experience colorful houses and beautiful murals!

Also during our ventures around the market fest we finally found Philip!!! (He looked a little upset he’s had a rough week).

Finally, after our period of free time, we went to a creperie for dinner. We spent dinner trying to solve Patrick and Leo’s riddles—a perfect way to conclude our eventful day! 

Au revoir!

5/23/2025: Nantes school visits and barbecue

Bonjour! This is Georgi and Simone and we are so excited to share our second day in Nantes with you! 

We started our day with a bus ride over to our first school visit! During the first half of our day, we observed an École maternelle or a preschool! The first class we observed was a monolingual class taught only in French. We interacted and played with the students and also listened to them sing songs to us! 

After our observation, we had some time to ask the principal of the school Flore some questions. The second class we observed was a bilingual class taught in both French and Breton, the heritage language of the region. We got to see how they went though a lot of their daily schedule throughout the day which had a lot in common with the US. The students in this class also sang some songs for us in Breton!

For lunch we went to a local bakery/sandwich shop and got some food to eat at a local park. We loved watching all of the dogs walk by us and petting the sheep that live in the park!

After lunch, we went to our second school visit at the École elémentaire. For this visit, we split into three groups and went to different teachers classes. Almost all of the teachers and students spoke very little English, so Juliet, Patrick, and Simone had to be translators. We read a little book about Vermont to the children in English and in French and then they had the opportunity to ask us questions. We then observed and interacted with the students for the rest of their school day, chatting with them, learning games from them, reading to them, and letting them read to us. It was a great experience!

After a long day of being in and out of the schools, we made our way over the grocery store. Patrick decided it would be a good opportunity to look for Philip so we took the long way there… no signs of Philip unfortunately.

While the grocery store may sound uninteresting, you can never have a boring time in a place that’s three times the size of a Walmart super center. (I said it was like Guy’s Grocery Games on the food network.-Georgi)We split up into teams for the main course, dessert, salad, and the charcuterie board and we were off! Once we found everything we met up with Juliet’s sister Laura and got ready to depart. Unfortunately Claire did not get to ride the Segway because the guy would “lose his job” 

With the help of Alicia to guide us to the bus stop, we took the bus to Laura’s house for a barbecue dinner! We had so much fun laughing about loose cows, eating, and jumping on the trampoline. After such a lovely night, we tiredly made our way back to the hotel to prepare for the adventures of tomorrow!