Medieval city of Provins: Sourdan boarding school
One of my courses, International Education Policies and Social Inequalities was canceled for three consecutive weeks during the semester--my professor is the head of the "experiment" department for the French Minister of Education (which basically makes her too busy to also run our class). However, she made up for her absence by organizing a class fieldtrip to one of France's newest boarding schools. The school, Sourdan, is in a little city called Provins, about an hour and a half train ride outside of Paris. I was so excited for the opportunity to get an "insiders" look at a French boarding school.
Unlike American private schools, tuition for a private education is actually quite cheap in France (around 100euros a month). This school we visited was created to target students from the poor suburbs of Paris,so most of them have the fees covered by the government. The school is housed in an old military base in the middle of the beautiful Provins countryside!
We began our visit by sitting in on a class. I was in an English language course where the topic of the week was Martin Luther King Jr. This school has CRAZY resources. The language course is taught in a "lab," which means every student has a laptop under their desk.
It's really a great resource because after working of reading and writing, they can focus on oral comprehension (for example, they were watching the "I Have A Dream" speech).
After sitting in the classroom, we got a tour of the school, which is rather huge considering they only serve about 300 students. I continued to be amazed by the facilities: swimming pool, full track and field, horse stables, fencing studio, music room, art studio....and on and on.
We also got the opportunity to ask questions and chat with the teachers and principles. Definitely came away with mixed feelings about the school, but I refuse to go on a political tangent here. If you are interested, send me an email :)
Towards the end of the day, we got to tour around the medieval city for a bit before heading back to the school for dinner and a military tribute concert, which just happened to be organized for the same day. Even though I'm conflicted about the school, it was such a fun/informative day!
Fountainebleau The less famous castle than Versailles near Paris
After many fails of availability, I finally made it to Fontainebleau!
I went with my housemate Julia and her mom who was visiting in town. It could have just been the mood I was in, but I think I definitely preferred it to Versailles. It was much more relaxed and less swamped with tourists and the gardens, though not as expansive, are a bit more manageable.
We began our day with a quiet, delicious picnic lunch with some wine, which, now that I think of it, probably made me a bit biased of the place from the start. Overall, I think I just liked that it was more quaint and less “in your face” than the golden laced Versailles castle.
Unfortunately, as of writing I am still in the midst of finals. However, the end is imminent, the last one tomorrow at 10:30! After my first final this week, I went to a French production of Mamma Mia with some of my housemates—the translations were incredibly entertaining haha. Post-final plans begin immediately when I get out tomorrow at 12:30. Having brunch with friends and then heading to a movie in the afternoon (the movie is called Midnight in Paris, new Woody Alan film, supposed to be awesome!). There is also talk of a bar that is hospital themed—we’re talking drinks served in IV’s :). My soon to be travel buddy Jackie arrives on Sunday in the morning and we take off for Amsterdam Monday! I already can taste the freedom now…hence the blog writing instead of the studying.
