Huoi Trieu

Deerfield students, three chaperones, and one romantic city: these were the ingredients to a wonderful exchange program in Paris. Jet-lagged and exhausted, students and chaperones Claudia Lyons and David Dickinson landed in Paris, ready for three weeks of adventures in a foreign country.

Before our brains could register that we were truly in a French-speaking country, we were sent out in shuttle buses to our home-stay families. Half-dazed, yet extremely excited, we met our host families and began settling in for three weeks of French conversations and wonderful French cuisine.

The following morning, with a metro map in one hand and directions in the other, we boarded the metro to meet the rest of the Deerfield group at ACCORD language school. We began each morning with French classes from nine until one to learn not only the language, but also music and culture.

Every day after class, we went on excursions throughout the city of Paris. Some of the attractions included le Tour Eiffel, Notre Dame, le Louvre, la Musee DOrsay, la Musee Rodin, le Jardin de Luxembourg, Versailles, the world-famous cooking institute Cordon Bleu, and the Champs-Elysees.

Weekend trips to Bretagne and Normandie were also highlights. In Bretagne, we saw stone roads and houses that were older than our whole country. In Normandie we saw the D-day beaches and the American cemetery. Walking in craters left behind from World War II bombings, hearing the retelling of stories and events from the time, and seeing the rows and rows of white marble tombstones in the American cemetery is something that all Americans should experience to better understand our history.

Hannah Blunt

"Proxima estacion: Sol. Con respondencia con: lineas uno, dos, y tres." I can think of nineteen students who will appreciate that expression, heard only on the metro trains of Madrid, Spain. With chaperones Stephen Taft and Jesus Lopez Diez, our group joined students from Greenwich Academy, Brunswick Academy, and the Stony Brook School for the Hola Espana! program.

In Madrid, each student lived with a host family in apartments spread throughout the city. The first few days proved tedious, as we began to learn the metro system, to communicate with a Spanish family, and to understand the eating habits of another country. But soon we were zipping around the city, attempting to share stories with our madres, and eating endless bowls of gazpacho and plates of Spanish tortilla. "It's kind of a big risk to just hop on a plane and fly to a foreign country for an entire month of your life, not really knowing how prepared you are or what to expect," said Peter Berg '02.

After weekday classes from 10:00 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., everyone would hop the bus or metro home to their families for lunch, the largest meal of the day. Spending time with a host family, although not always easy, turned out to be valuable and memorable for most. Conversation often contained many gestures and creative explanations, but turned out to be one of the best learning experiences.

Despues de la comida (after lunch), a siesta was often in store before heading back out to meet the group and visit Real Jardin Botanico (Botanical Gardens), Parque Retiro (Buen Retiro Park), El Museo del Prado (Prado museum), El Palacio Real (Royal Palace), or one of the other city sites. Weekend excursions included trips to Segovia, Pedraza, Seville, Toledo, and La Plaza del Torros, for a bullfight.

Each day had its highlights and Senor Taft did his best to capture it all on camera. The last weekend was completely free and we all wandered about the city, shocked that our four weeks were over. "The trip was so much fun," said Kate Bertles '02 and Hillary Brooks '02. "It went by way too fast."