Moorestown Friends School France 2024

March 22, 2024

Hello from France! Our busy day started with the arrival at Charles de Gaulle a little after 10 am. We then took a bus into the city center where we dropped off our bags at our hostel which is a really cool building with history dating back to the 13th century. We left right away, got some sandwiches at l’As du Fallafel in the Marais neighborhood, and set up for a picnic and orientation in the Rosiers-Joseph Migneret Garden.

After lunch and some time to freshen up at the hostel we went out for a sightseeing walk. It was warm and sunny and you could tell that the whole city was excited about the beginning of spring. During our walk we saw Notre Dame, Ile de la Cité, Shakespeare & Company, the flower market, the conciergerie, the Pont Neuf. All of this led us to the Louvre where we spent some time outside admiring the architecture and taking pictures. Once inside we all saw the Mona Lisa and then split into groups to visit some other collections. Some students went and saw the Code of Hamurabi, while some others visited the Etruscan and Egyptian collections.

After that we took the metro all together, and for some of us it was a first-time experience. Everyone did a great job navigating. After a dinner at another location of the MIJE hostel, everyone was ready for bed. We, being your Global Works Trip Leaders, Miriam, Nahely, and Caroline, so enjoyed getting to meet your lovely students. We had such a successful first today together and we can’t wait to experience the rest of this Parisian trip together. We have many fun things in store for your students in the next seven days so stayed tuned for following updates from each and every one of them.

March 23, 2024

Day Two France!
The wonders of Paris all in one glorious day! We started off at the Père Lachaise, the famous cemetery that holds the resting places of Jim Morrison, Edith Piaf, and Chopin. We then quickly had lunch in park not too far from the cemetery. After a couple of metro trips throughout the city we went to the Musee D’Orsay, an old train station that was converted into an art museum. We saw many famous paintings with the portrait of Van Gote and Monet’s greatest works just to name a few! Finally we went to the landmark of landmarks in Paris-The Eiffel Tower! We saw the breathtaking views in the chilly heights and then booked it back to the hostel after dinner to finish off the action packed day. More to come from France!

By Alec and Nick

March 24, 2024

Bonjour!
It’s Day 3! We covered a lot of mileage on our third day. 633 to be exact.
First, we woke up, packed up, and said a quick goodbye to our Paris hostel. We entered the common area to find two bags of fresh croissants and pains au chocolats from a local boulangerie, courtesy of Madame Bonnemaiso. Then, I (Dinah) along with a few other student volunteers took a stroll around the neighborhood of Le Marais to pick up lunch for the group. We returned to the hostel, loaded our bus, and made our way to l’Arc de Triomphe for our last stop in Paris.
Once we took in the Champs-Élysées from below, we trekked up the 284 stairs to the very top of l’Arc to soak up Paris from yet another angle. (The burn was worth it.) After we descended, we made our way to the Gare de Lyon to catch the TGV to Marseille. This high-speed rail was the first of two train rides to reach our destination of Carcassonne in the southwest of France. Students slept, worked, ate their lunch, looked dreamily out of the windows, or simply chatted and relaxed during this three hour and forty minute ride, and sooner than we could believe, we were on our second train from Marseille to Carcassonne — another three hour ride.
We spotted la Cité of Carcassonne from the train, and immediately, we couldn’t wait to see it up close in the coming days. After disembarking at the Gare de Carcassonne, we made our way to a local hotel to partake in a potluck with our host families. Each student group presented their host families with a rose (not unlike “The Bachelor”), and we began to feast.
Next, we headed to our homes for the next four days, and I (along with my partner Elina), enjoyed time with our host family over dinner, where we partook in du poulet avec moutarde, de la salade, and des patates and spoke—for the most part—entirely in French. We were also introduced to their three dogs and two cats, whose names we are sure to learn during our stay.
From Paris to Carcassonne, this day was filled with movement, both literally and figuratively!

By Elina and Dinah

March 25, 2024

Today was day four of the MFS France trip. We spent our first night with our host families, and woke up bright and early to have breakfast with the families. The big group then met together in downtown Carcassonne. We began our day with a walk to the famous Medieval Castle in Carcassonne. After visiting the castle we had free time during the first half of our day to roam the windy castle walls, enjoy ice cream, eat some crêpes, and shop in little stores. We then gathered in a park next to the castle to enjoy lunches made for us by our host families before setting off to our next destination.

Our next activity for the day was the start of the service aspect of our trip. We took an hour bus ride to a historical pilgrimage site from the sixteenth century. There we met Bernard and were informed of the history of the area and his interest in preserving the exchange of human culture over time through travel. We then began to plant lavender along the walking path to promote the health of the local ecosystem and to create sources of pollen for bees within the area. We worked on landscaping the area for about three hours and finished out the day together by reflecting on each of our personal feelings about the day we had. Some highlights being “fun”, “exciting,” and “collaborative.” We then proceeded to head home to our host families and finish up the day with some dinner. That’s a wrap on day 4 of the France IL!

By Chelsea and Mikelle

March 26, 2024

We started the day with breakfast in our homestay. Everyone had something different prepared by the family they were staying with. Then we met with the chaperones around 8:30am and from there we walked to a small indoor market but because it was so early most stalls were closed. This did not stop us from trying some vegetables and practicing our French.

We didn’t let the rain stop us, so we went to a nearby supermarket to get pastries and then to a nearby cafe and got coffee. After, we walked to the Musèe des Beaux Art, which is filled with lots of different paintings and sculptures. The museum was founded in 1836 and was filled with art from the 16-20th centuries. It was founded by people who loved art and had a passion for it. We then got on the bus to go to La Grotte de Limoussis. On our way there, we had a picnic lunch on the bus. At our destination, we got a tour of La Grotte de Limousis, which is a cave outside of Carcassonne. It is 800 meters long but only 450 meters are accessible. This tour took about an hour, and it allowed us to immerse ourselves in the natural beauty of the cave. Our amazing tour guide shared fascinating insights into the cave’s history and its former inhabitants and visitors, which gave us a new perspective on La Grotte de Limousis and its past. Finishing our time there, we made our way to the gift shop where many bought cute souvenirs to bring home. Our last activity before returning to our host families was a trip to a family-owned paper-making business. There we got a full tour of the place, which included the current machine techniques, as well as the ones used by those who worked there many years before. Throughout the tour, we got to watch the owner make multiple different kinds of recycled paper. Then, we closed our time there off with a trip to the gift store, as usual.

Tired but happy, we made our way to the bus to return to our host families. To finish off the long day, we spent quality time with our families (for example, making homemade pasta or playing cards together) and relaxed before tomorrow.

By Arianna, Chloe B. & Foluke

March 27, 2024

This morning we met at a parking lot after having breakfast with our host families. We had a short bus ride to meet with Bernard again. Unfortunately, because the fields were so muddy, we couldn’t continue with service, so Bernard gave us a scavenger hunt for yellow shells around the village. Each of these shells had writing on it, each with a brief description of the surrounding area, in which we took turns reading the information in French aloud to the group. This also gave us an opportunity to do a nice tour of the village and the beautiful meadows surrounding it. At the top of the village we had a beautiful view of the mountains. We ate the delicious lunch provided by our host families at a park and then hopped onto the bus to make our way to a beach town called Gruissan.

The beach was beautiful, but very cold and windy, so we all took comfort in walking around the water and some people dipped their feet in the Mediterranean. We also collected many unique shells. We got back onto the bus and rode a few minutes to the downtown section of Gruissan, where there were cafes and shops open for us to walk through. There was also a tower to get a better view of the ocean and city below. After about an hour we headed back to Carcassonne to have our Franco-American football (soccer) tournament. However, we were unable to play football as we had no soccer ball to play with, so we had to improvise. Instead, we learned how to play a French game (1, 2, 3, soleil) and played a round of capture the flag. The park we were at had a great view of the lake. We then went home to have dinner with our host families and packed up to go to Toulouse tomorrow.

By Bela & Benjamin