Lycée (high school in France)

Okay so their school is literally amazing!!!  There is so much I want to say in this post, so sorry in advance for all the writing.  There are just so many differences between school in France and in the States.  Here is a little background about my host sister, my school, and the purpose of this trip.

So I am not here for three weeks just to sight-see, eat amazing food, and see the best city in the whole world....I also go to school.  Yes I know ugh school right.  Well no, school here actually rocks (as much as school can rock)!  The purpose of this three week exchange is to experience learning in other cultures and become culturally aware.  I go to a school in Montauban called THEAS.  It is the last name of some guy who saves homeless people during the winter.  The school is very new, has only been around for five years or so, and is the result of all the private schools in the area coming together to make one perfect one.  It is a smaller, private school with only about 1,000 students.  My host sister is the equivalent of a Sophomore in high school.  It is kind of weird to be 17 staying with a 15 year-old, but my host sister is so mature I don't notice it at all.

Here is her class schedule.  There is no rhyme or reason so don't try to find a pattern.  The best correlation I can make is if you combined high school and college you would get high school in France.  They have much more freedom than our high schools at home, but their classes are more structured than college classes.

DNL: a history class in English
EPS: PE class
ECJS: a research class
ESP: español short hand
MPS: something similar to a forensics class
SES: economy class
AP: a class where they discuss various historical and cultural events.  The teacher changes every three weeks.  When I was there the event they were discussing was the Rwandan Genocide.
SVT: biology

Each blank in her schedule is a free period.  Each two lines represent an hour of class.  Lunch is every day at noon.  When classes are split in two it means that on week A she goes to that class during that time and during week B she goes to the other class.  This is similar to A day and B day that we have in the states, except for weeks.

This is the front of the school.

Here are two panoramas I took of the school.  It is basically a giant square with a huge courtyard in the middle.  There are two food areas.  One is like a quick order window where you can get a sandwich or coffee and is open from 10-2.  The other is your typical cafeteria called the self.  Here is where Clara and I normally eat.  You get a five course meal complete with all the food groups.  It is incredibly fancy and delicious food.  To give you an idea of just how fancy it is, the first day of school I ate calamari.  And yes it was DELICIOUS!!!!!

So here is a list of the differences I have noticed between my school in the states and their school in France:

1. They don't have bells at their school.  Instead they play music between classes.  It is a new song each week.
2. The teachers rarely use technology in the classroom.  Most of the time there isn't even a powerpoint, let alone smart boards in every classroom.  The classrooms simply have whiteboards.  All the teachers lecture.
3. Teachers move rooms, not students.  This means that, with the exception of a few special classes that require specific rooms (like art and some science classes) you stay in the same room all day.  These rooms are very bland too because teachers can't decorate them at all.  Just white walls.  I must say it can get rather boring.
4. Their attendance is done all electronically with each student having a barcode that they scan, very similar to the grocery store.  This is weird because this is hi-tech when the rest of the school seems to not be.
5. All the steps are on the exterior of the buildings.  There are three floors in the school.
6. There are 15 minute breaks every two hours of school.  School officially starts at 8am and ends at 5pm.  That is very different than my 7:20 and 2:20 start and end time, but I like it better.  There is a break at 10am then lunch at noon then another break at two.  Although school is long, most days the students have free periods.  These can be during lunch for an extended lunch, in the morning for a delayed start, or in the afternoon for an early dismissal.  Also students have the option to take extra classes.  For example Clara loves art (she wants to be an architect when she grows up) so she took an extra art class on Monday.  This means that school does not end until 6pm for her that day.
7. Since school is so long, they barely have any home work.  Most of it is to study for exams and tests or complete one exercise out of a textbook.  Rarely do they have a lot of homework to do every night.  
8. So lunch is an hour long every day...AN HOUR LONG!!!  I am so used to cramming food down my throat in 30-35 minutes before running back to class.  It is so relaxed here during lunch.  Some days you even have more time for lunch because of the free periods I mentioned earlier.  Also, it is normal for everyone to go off for lunch.  People simply walk off campus and eat somewhere.  There is no age restriction on this like there is at my school.  The cafeteria food is the best (and doesn't cost extra) so my friends and I usually eat there.  Clara thought it was bizarre when I told her I leave campus every day for lunch.
9. Every Wednesday is a half day for all students and teachers.  That part rocks!!

Selfie of my host sister and her best friends in the courtyard.  We had a thirty minute free period between lunch and Spanish class!

We usually have to wait for the bus because here the driving age is 18 and like I said my girl is only 15.  We usually take a lot of selfies during this time so here are some of those.  We also like to play games, sing american songs so I can teach them the right lyrics, or quiz me on how to say body parts in French.  I have to say I am now fluent on body parts in French haha!

Usually what my face looks like because these girls are quite crazy...but a bunch of fun!

From left to right: Clarisse, Claire, Clara (my sister), and me

I just thought it was cool to share this.  These signs are all over the school and in front of almost every classroom door.  It is very cool to see such support coming from a school.

<never stop wondering, never stop wandering>
Marian