Day 13: Day of Departures and Arrivals

Sadly, our final day in Montdidier finally arrived. We were so sad to leave our friends and their families, and yet so grateful for our wonderful two weeks with them. We have seen so much, learned so much, shared so much, laughed so much! Now it was time to cry together and bid farewell. None of us will ever be the same. This blog entry cannot begin to capture the emotions we felt today. 

So, consider it a partial glimpse into our day as we left Montdidier, met up with our friends from Southmoore and Moore High in Amiens, and then left Amiens to head into Normandy and finally settle at our home for the next three days in Bayeux.

 This advertisement for Ben & Jerry's ice cream seemed particularly well-placed when Madame Robillard came across it the night before we left. It reads: "Before going, a farewell serving?" (Let's be honest, Ben & Jerry's is the best thing for anyone going through a difficult experience.)

As Madame Robillard packed her bags on Sunday morning, her host-cat Merlin (a.k.a. Pim-Pim) helped from the window sill where he could watch the rain and manage the suitcases. Such a sweet kitty! And the rain seemed so appropriate for the mood and the farewells.

 We met up at the train station in Montdidier to take the train to Amiens. In this picture (above) are two of the teachers (Madame Robillard on the left and Madame Soucaze to the right of center), the students, and their host families. In the picture below, are the students with their host brothers and sisters. Thank you for your hospitality! Please come see us soon! We can't wait for the sharing and the fun to begin again!

  The students put their feet together: May our paths cross again soon!

 Jacob in the train, holding back tears, and the Pierre family outside the train with other hosts families waving to us as the train pulled away.

 Carly's tears of sadness mixed with smiles of gratitude as the train pulled away.

 Allison gives us the thumbs up sign to let us know that we will be okay as we look to the adventures ahead.

 This is what we looked like as we changed from exchange students in to tourists. We were sad to go, but so happy to have made great friends and fond memories. More adventures lie ahead!

 As soon as we arrived in Amiens, we went out for lunch at one of the only restaurants open on a Sunday near the train station: A Turkish restaurant, of course! We ate kebabs and debriefed about our time in Montdidier. (Notice all our luggage lined up in the distance. We kept a very watchful eye!)

 Caroline's family had given her a bag full of snacks and treats. Inside the Kinder egg was a toy that Caroline worked very hard to put together. She is so proud! (These eggs and their toy surprises are banned in America --- go figure!)

 In Amiens, we met up with the rest of the Moore students and Madame Worster, who all had their own tearful good-byes with their families. Here above is Madame Dangreville with her son Maël who is penpals with one of the young Canadians Madame Robillard tutors back in Oklahoma. 

Merci Madame Dangreville pour tout ce que tu as fait pour nous offrir un séjour inoubliable à Montdidier et en Picardie!

 Hamming it up in one of the train stations where we had to transfer trains on our way to Bayeux, France. You know what happens when you stand too close to the tracks and a train comes roaring by faster than a speeding bullet? You fear for your life!

We made it to Bayeux without any problems (although many items were left on trains, none of them were of much importance). It was a good train riding experience for the kids and a hectic time of managing baggage and seating, but we made it!

As soon as we got settled at our hotel, we set out in Bayeux to go get dinner. This is such a beautiful and old Normandy town! The streets are quaint and history is everywhere!

 Genasee on one of the streets near the cathedral in Bayeux.

 Michaela and Genasee were proud to have finally found a Protestant church in France! The "Reformed Church of France" is known in our history books as the place of worship of the Huguenots.

 Valeria put her own Catholic pride on display in front of the south portico of the cathedral of Bayeux. The stonework above the portico tells the story of Thomas Becket whose life story you can read at this link. Make note: His family was from Normandy.)

Right outside our hotel is a small movie theatre. Their showing Hangover 3, but since the French couldn't understand that title, they had to translate it into French. So, of course, they settled on Very Bad Trip 3  --- a point we all find hilarious. Our trip has been the Very Great Trip so far!

Day 11: Our Last Day at Lycée Jean Racine

Our last day at Lycée Jean Racine began with a display of our artwork blending the flags of France, the United States, Picardy and Oklahoma.

Then, while the Westmoore students went to English class, Madame Robillard and Madame Worster went with Madame Dangreville to the train station to pick up Monsieur Philip Simmonds who is the Director of International Relations and Programs for the Académie d'Amiens. (Basically, it is thanks to him that we have the chance to work in partnership with the Lycée Jean Racine and we are very grateful for all of his work on our behalf.) Before returning to the school we took him out for a ver French lunch. Madame Robillard had canard confit (aged duck) and it was delicious!

As soon as we returned to the Lycée Jean Racine with Monsieur Simmonds, we showed him our flag projects. Here he is with Madame Worster and her inspired creation using Langston Hughes' poem "A Dream Deferred".









We were all pleased and surprised to learn that Monsieur Mickael DuFossé who led our students in this art project was also a former student of Monsieru Simmonds! What a small world. In this picture they are standing next to Monsieur Simmonds' personal favorite among the students' projects (it was made by Carly and Allison and their French partner).

Then we went to the theatre performance room to sit on a theatre workshop the Westmoore students were doing in French with some of the theatre students from Lycée Jean Racine. Katie owned the show! Clearly, this girl is made for theatre! All of the kids were amazing in their performances and both Madame Worster and Madame Robillard regretted that they had to lead the workshop to see Monsieur Simmonds off.

Here are a couple of things about Lycée Jean Racine that we were interested to learn:

1) They have a "Safe Hall" just like Westmoore (although it's probably not build to resist a tornado).

2) They have a cat. Actually, this kitty mascot wanders the school campus, greets visitors, chases bugs, and basically leads a cat's life and all the students at Lycée Jean Racine know him and love him. Since French schools don't have true mascots like ours do, we've decided that this kitty is the new Lycée Jean Racine mascot, although not as ferocious as a jaguar and not as black, either.

After an afternoon of theatrical performance and fun, it was time for the party to begin! Our hosts put together a "Going Away" party and invited all the kids who have been to Oklahoma or who have hosted us here. Great times were had by all. Enjoy the pictures of our party fun!

There won't be a blog for Saturday, since we will all be off with our host families doing our own thing and packing for our departure on Sunday. But on Sunday evening, we will return with a blog about our farewells at the train station and our trip to Normandy.

Day 10: Compiègne

Today was a group field trip for all the Americans (from WHS, SHS, and MHS) to go to Compiègne, a  city of about 45,000 people on the Oise river in the heart of the Picardy region. Here's link to locate it on a map. The weather was beautiful and we, the Westmoore group, set off early from Montdidier.

Caroline and Valeria went to Amiens for the day to meet up with Sonia, one of the French students who came to Westmoore in October 2011. They would attend classes at her Career Technology high school and do some more shopping and exploring around Amiens:

 

This is the rest of our group in Montdidier at the train station preparing to board the train for Compiègne:

To help pass the time on the 30-minute trip to Compiègne, Madame Robillard returned to her favorite topic with Madame Worster: "Have you seen the horrible nail job I paid 45 euros for in Montdidier? Here, let me show you!" Madame Worster was a good sport about it all (for about 11.5 seconds).

Once we arrived in Compiègne, we went on a short walking tour and stopped on the bridge overlooking the Oise river. The bridge we were crossing was rebuilt after World War II. The bridge that had stood in its place was the bridge over which all of the French people passed who were sent to German concentration camps.

This is Genasee with a view of the Oise river and parts of the city of Compiègne behind her.

Katie and Carly ar standing at the commemorative sign which reads: "Remember! 48,000 French people deported towards the Nazi forced labor camps crossed on the bridge that stood at this point. This sad memory explains Katie's sad look. She agreed that we should not smile for such a sad picture.

This is the last vestige of what was once an tower of the royal castle which overlooked the Oise river in medieval times and served as part of the royal defenses of the city:

This plaque explains that St. Joan of Arc came to the help of the city of Compiègne in 1430 on the 23rd of May and engaged in a battle on that same day. She fell into the hands of the enemy during that battle at the walls of the city. The lord of the castle watched her from this tower as she was captured just across the river. St. Joan of Arc is quoted as having said: "Since God with help the city of Compiègne, I want to be there." So this is the city where Joan of Arc last fought and where she was captured. From here she was taken to the city of Rouen to be tried for witchcraft and it is there that she was burned at the stake. You can read more about Joan of Arc at this link.

Here is Allison at one of the tower's windows, perhaps the one from with the lord watched St. Joan of Arc being taken prisoner?

Our first place to visit was the Vivenel Museum. This collection was built by a wealthy French industrialist in the 20th century who built a magnificent collection of art from ancient times to the early 20th century. The entire collection was given as a gift to the city of Compiègne and the museum is in a beautiful home from the early 19th century.

Among the interesting site we saw at the Vivenel Musuem was the Egyptian mummy of a baby from the  5th century BCE.

Of course, Austin, Allison, and Katy had to ham it up for the camera when they saw the mummy!

Here are some other interesting art objects we saw at the Vivenel Museum:

This very old house, dating from the late Middle Ages, survived countless wars (including World Wars I & II) and stands today just across from the Vivenel Museum

Our next place to visit was the Church of St. Antoine:

This cathedral was build in the flamboyant gothic style and suffered some damage from wars, but it has been well-restored.

This is the very old baptismal font in the church. It is still used for baptisms.
There is a large basin under the brass covering

Michaela in front of an old door at the back of the church.

You really get a feeling for the age of the church when looking at the old, small doors there.

Allison kneeling in front of the Pietà in a decorated alcove in the corner at the back of the church.

While inside the church, Madame Robillard took a pause with the students and Madame Worster to explain the life and importance of St. Joan of Arc, the patron saint of France. Inside every French church there is a statue and memorial for St. Joan of Arc. Of course, the very next thing we came upon was this statue of St. Joan of Arc. There were also stained glass windows depicting her capture in Compiègne.

We met some lovely ladies from British Columbia, Canada in the church. Of course, they were thrilled to meet Chantal and to hear about our trip and our experiences in the May 20th tornado, which they had of course heard about.

After leaving the Church of St. Antoine, we walked a bit further towards the center of town and had a free half hour to shop and people-watch. Then, we went to have pizza for lunch. We were seated on the veranda of the restaurant. As you can tell, it was sunny and Madame Worster had to get resourceful. The pizza and dessert were delicious!

We then went to the Château de Compiègne, also known as the Château impérial, which you can read about at this link.

The rooms were magnificent and we wandered with hand-held electronic guides so we could observe and listen at our leisure:

This was a type of billiards-meets-pinball game from the early 19th century:

Since it was Napoleon who renovated and returned glory to this castle, his 

Madame Robillard would love a pair of sandals just like Napoleon's:

The decorative arts all over the castle were quite impressive:

Our next stop was the Cloister Museum (le Musée du Cloître) where many medieval gravestones, statues, and other art objets are on display. Honestly, we were so tired and thirsty by the time we reached this museum, and the students had clearly had they fill of churches and museums, that we did nit stay long. But what we did see at this museum was interesting.

The museum is housed in a cloister that dates from the first millenium.

The top sign reads: "Site of the Abbey of St. Corneille founded by the Emperor Charles the Bald dedicated to the Holy Mary in the 9th century."

The bottom sign reads: "Here were crowned four Kings
Louis II in 877

Eude in 888

Louis V in 979

Hugue II in 1017

Here were buried three kings

879, 987, 1025

and one crown prince 1417"

There is also a very touching and sad story of the Carmelite nuns from Compiègne who were guillotined during the Terror in 1794, after the French Revolution.
You can read more at this link.

Michaela with the gravestones of a husband and wife from the 15th century in the Museum of the Cloister.

On our way back to the train station, we came upon the town hall of the city of Compiègne, which was built during the Renaissance:

Across from the town hall was a statue of the victorious St. Joan of Arc:

For a bit of modern culture here a two signs we came cross in Compiègne:

"There is no [specific] age for being oneself."

And in a bathroom: "Please leave this place as clean as you would like to find it upon entering. Thank you."