Potluck farewell dinner at BLS, by Elias and Diane

Tonight was the farewell dinner during which teachers, parents and students could say goodbye and thank you to each other.
Mrs Lapointe and BLS students made very touching speeches in English and French about that fantastic exchange.
The choir of BLS and some student volunteers sang the national anthems of US and France and then the song "Vois sur ton chemin". That was very nice and the singers looked a little moved.
The step squad also made a very impressive performance with dance and singing.
Mrs Audhuy and lycée des Pontonniers' students made spechees about how they were happy that the trip went well and to thank everybody.
We ate together the potluck dinner, with specialities from different countries. The whole buffet was very appetizing. While we ate, we could see a slideshow with pictures taken during the trip, which reminded us the good times.

The freedom trail-Tuesday,13th October 2013 posted by Oscar and Cécile

On Tuesday, in the afteroon we did the freedom trail.

We saw a cemetery where Samuel Adams and Benjamin Franklin are burried.

 

 

To do the freedom trial we had to follow a red line on the floor. We visited Paul Revere's house. We saw in front of this house a man from the museum of the USS constitution who told us how to do a rope.

 

 

Classes at Boston Latin School and flight home (Friday 18th of October) posted by Lélia and Daniel

Interview of a Boston Latin School student

Kim, a Boston Latin School student, agreed to answer our questions about the American school system.

Which are the positive and the negative points of the American school system and of your school?

I like the fact that in the United States we have a lot of different school subjects, we have therefore many choices. The school tries to make us happy with activities such as sports and art clubs. Taking care of the garden is an opportunity to think about something else.

But there are also some negative aspects. The atmosphere is tense because we have too much work. That’s the reason why the subjects are very large.

We need to excel to go to good universities and have interesting jobs opportunities. We have to separate ourselves from the other candidates. That’s the reason why we are afraid of the future and have a lot of pressure. Unfortunately we can just learn one foreign language.

What do you want to change at your school?

At my school I want to change many things such as the atmosphere, because the pressure to excel is scary. Furthermore some teachers should go further into their subjects instead of broadening many different topics. The teachers teach us too many different themes superficially instead of concentrating much more on the aspects of one subject. 



What we did today

The last day! ( 😞 )

Time flue so fast, we all didn't see this day coming. But all good things have an end! So today, we went to school with our correspondents as we did on our first day here. Each one of us went in the different classes of our correspondents. Althought we were very tired, it was interesting to see one more time how the school days are in Boston. But, since it was the last day, we (french students) were allowed to leave school at 11.30 after lunch to go shopping one last time. For lunch we got to eat the same food as our correspondents at the cafeteria: pizza , potatoes and some salad. That was, I gotta say, much better then the food we used to have. So after that, all of us could go out of the school and do what they wanted. Some of us went shopping, others stayed at school, others were just hanging out together. At 2.15 we had to be back at school so that our correspondents could pick us up. Then we has another  two hours freetime with our correspondents where we could do one last thing with them. But at 4.40 we had to be at the airport and it was already time to go. After long (and hard) goodbyes, checking in and waiting, we went on the plane and had a 6 hours flight ahead of us. Most of us watched movies or slept because we were very tired. We landed in Paris without any problems, the flight didn't even have turbulences. Then we waited for our train to Strasbourg, got the train and the two hours passed very quickly. We were very tired when we arrived but also very happy to see our family and friends again. After thanking our amazing teachers for making this trip even possible and spending so much of their time for us, we all went home. We were all very sad it was over, I think, but we can look foreward to February, when our correspondents are coming to Strasbourg!

Massachussetts Institute of Technology(MIT) by Claire and Corentin

After visiting Harvard University we walked for an hour but we finally arrived at MIT, exhausted and hungry.
MIT is a research university in Cambridge, it is considered as one of the best in sciences and technologies.
It was 12:30 and we had two hours to eat and to have a tour of the university.
We did not have any guide like at Harvard so nobody saw exactly the same places.
Personally I went inside by the main entrance and explored the inside.
There one could see nice and very technical  labs. Outside f the building we could see the famous dome of MIT.

We did not have a guide like at Harvard so to learn things about the university's history or see what students were working on in the university we had to go to the MIT museum which was at approximately fifteen minutes of the university.
On the ground floor of the museum was exposed the history of MIT for example its foundation in 1861.
On the higher floor were very fascinating little robots and impressing

Interview

 We met one of the MIT Student when we were waiting in the line and asked him some questions:

- So you're a student at MIT? Yes, I am. - What do you study? Math and Civil Engineering. - Oh that seems hard.. Is it hard to get in to MIT ? Yes, I had to work a lot. And the exams we have are also pretty hard. - And are you from Boston ? No I'm from Michigan, but I've now lived in Boston for 3 years. - And do you like it here? I do! I will stay here as long as possible.

Museum of Fine Arts by Claudio

Today we woke up really early to go to the Museum of Fine Arts.  Unfortunately it opens only at 10 am so we went to the Starbucks. We walked there because it is near the school.

They were very strict, because we couldn't take our bags with us. Then we met our guide and she took us upstairs to see French paintings by artists such as Claude Monnet, Edouard Manet, etc. She showed us different arts like impressionism, pointillism, etc. Then we went downstairs and she showed us the artist Pablo Picasso and his cubism style, with The Rape of a Sabine Woman. Finally the guide took us in a chamber, and gave us papers and pencils to do reproduce the cubism style like Pablo Picasso. We were doing that until we ate lunch at the museum cafeteria. So from 12.30 pm to 14.30 pm we had free time in the museum to see whatever we wanted. 

What I thought was the most interesting thing was the contemporary art, especially the Andy Warhol art because it was very special and also nice to see. However the museum is so big that you cannot visit the whole museum. I also liked the Roman sculptures, with the Cesare and Augusto bust.

Andy Warhol masterpiece.

   

Museum of Fine Arts.

Museum of Fine Arts Boston: Interview of Marcela, a gallery guard (Quynh)

Today in the museum of fine arts, Pontonniers students had chance to create their own piece of art. But we didn't do it alone, we had so much help from Marcela, a gallery guard of the museum. At the end of our activity, I had a little talk with her.
_How long have you been working here?
  I've been working here for 1 year. Before that I was a teacher for 19 years in a school of art
_Do you have some others activities beside your work in this museum?
  Yes, I do. I have my own studio and I paint. I have 3 paintings which exhibits now in Chelsea gallery.
_What is art for you?
  For me, art is a creation, it's like a mathematical problem that I have to resolve. When I find an idea, I look for the different ways to show that idea. Sometimes when it doesn't really work, I keep looking for it until when the painting fits my thought, feeling and intention.
_What is your artistic style?
  It's abstract and realism. I'm a visiual person, so I usually paint, combine what I see and combine the different kinds of shapes. At the moment, I'm working on repeating motifs.
_How long does it take you to finish a painting?
  It usually takes me 3 months.
_Thank you very much for your help. I really hope that you will be successful in your artistic career.

Museum of Science : Interview of a visitor (posted by Tillmann)

So, with who are you visiting this museum?

-I'm visiting this museum with my wife and my two children, who are 3 and 5 years old. 

And where are you from?

-We come from New-York city it's take 4 hours with the train to come to Boston.

How do you know this museum?

-One of my friend recommend me this museum, so I think it's a good think to visit it.

And why is it a god ting?

-It`s a good think because I like very much science, I'm scientific, and I think it's important that my children learn something and have funny time together.

Do you find the price expensive?

-Yes but I think it's normal because is one of the biggest science museum I ever see and all the things here are very expensive.

And finally how do you find the museum?And why?

-This museum is really well build. It's very funny for the children and there can also learn something, I also learn something.

Sunday in Boston (Quynh)

 Sunday morning, I woke up a bit late. Kate's mother picked Kate's brother and one of the family's friend up and took all of us to a chinesse restaurant. The food was so delicious that I was super full after the lunch!
After that we went to a mall where some students were waiting for us. Unfortunately, the traffic was terrible because of the October festival or something...Therefore, we were late for 45 minutes! Then we went shopping and we went to the North End. 

Life in Boston (09/10/2013) posted by Johann and Claire

Today we went to the Boston Latin School, where we went to different classes with our correspondents. We noticed a lot of differences, for example the fact that they have to say "The Pledge Of Allegiance" every morning or that their classes last only 45 minutes, but there where also similarities. All the teachers and pupils were really excited to see us and we spend a really good morning.There we could see that the American teachers are so nice, that they even shake hands with us students. At 14:00, when the classes were finished, our correspondents showed us the school and after that everybody did something different and went back home to his family. Interview of one of the students:

So, Henry, how long are you already living in Boston ?
- I have been living in Boston for my whole life. In fact, i was born just a few blocks down from BLS.

What do you think of this big city ?
- I really like Boston, because it is a major city in the U.S. but doesn't attract as many tourists as New York or Los Angeles. There is a lot of cool things to do too.

Do you have family in France ? If so, where ?
-Yes, my step-Grandmother lives in Brittany, in Western France.

What are the places, where you hang out most of your time with friends ?
-I mostly hang out with friends at a basketball court or at one of our houses.

How much time does it take to you to go to school ?
- It usually takes me 10-20 minutes to get to school depending on the traffic and when i wake up.

Finally: What is your favorite American sport ?
- My favorite American sport is football.

Interview from an actress of the play, Cry innocent by Aurelien Pasteau and Juliette Jeromin

Today, we watched the play "Cry innocent" in Salem and at the end of this, we asked some questions to one of the actress, Cathy.

Is being a comedian your profession or do you only do it for fun?

I am a student and I do this to earn money to pay my studies and also because I love theater.

When did you begin theater and why?

I began to do theater in high school. I subscribed myself at the theater club because a pretty boy proposed me to come and I immediately liked it !

Why did you choose to play this story?

It is a famous story in Salem and witch hunt stories are a part of the culture of this city. I also wanted to act in this real story because it was touching.

What are your plans for your future?

I'd like to continue playing theater because I really love it !

At the end of the play, does the public always find the suspected witch not guilty?

The most of the time, they decided that she's not guilty ! But it already happened a few times that the public decided to condemn her. 

At the end of our interview, she left quickly because she had to act this play one more time.

House of the Seven Gables by Lélia and Corentin

We left Boston Latin School at 8:15 and arrived to Salem an hour and fifteen minutes later.
We walked around town because we had to wait for the House to open (at 10:00) .
At ten we separated in two groups and prepared ourselves to visit.

The House of the Seven Gables is a well preserved old wooden house that was built in 1667. It inspired Nathaniel Hawthorne for his eponymous novel.
Through time the house changed ownership because of John Turner III, a descendant who lost the family's fortune gambling, and extensions were added to the house. 
In 1908 Caroline O. Emmerton bought the house and restored it during two years and added, for example, the little shop that was present in the novel but not before. She then transformed it into a museum.

During the visit we talked about the owners of the house, who were all wealthy merchants because Salem was a important port we also talked about the way of life at the time and we talked about the architecture of the house that was unusual for the time. 
Inside of the house can be found objects that were already there before and we also have a great view on the ocean.

Interview with an attendent of the museum:

-What do you know about the author of the book "The House of the Seven Gables"? He was born in 1804 in Salem, Massasuchetts and died in 1864 in Plymouth, New Hampshire. He was a famous american writer. He's most known for his novel "The Scarlett Letter" ; "The House of the seven gables" ; "The marbel faun" To write is novels he spend most of his time in Salem. One of his ancestor , John Hathorne was a judge involved in the salem witch trials. All his life , Nathaniel Hawthorne carried this guilt arroud and that's mostly what led him to writing his famous books. That's also why he added a "w" at his name, he wanted to hide his origins.

-And why that Titel for his book/ what does the house of seven gables comes from? Nathaniel Hawthorne was inspired by the house you just visited, witch actually was the house of his cousin, Susana Ingersoll. She kept entertaining him there and this hole place turned out to be the inspiration for his book. That way he created the Pyncheon Family, who are the main characters of his novel and live, in his book, in the house of the seven gables. There actually are seven gables on the the top of the roofs of the house ; that's where the name comes from.

-Could you tell us a summery of the book to give us a first impression? The book is about the Pyncheon Family living in that house. One of them, Culonel Pynchon, wants to buy some land from Mathew Mall but he won't sell it to him. So, after Culonel accused him from witchcraft, Mathew put a curse on the Pyncheon family. The story is about Pheobe Pyncheon, a descendant of the family, and her issues witch the curse.

-Did you like the book? What do you think of it? I liked the book but I would recommend to read the abridge version of it because the other ones gives really a lot details. Back then when Hawthorne wrote that book, authors got payed for how much they were writing, so if you're passionate, read the hole version but with the other version you can still get the same information.

-Why are you working here? I come from a little town called "Lin" and I am a college student in Salem. Since I'm passionate from history, and my mother is a former tour guide from here , I could get the job.

Sunday 13th October (Ghislaine)

At first Jih-Chieh's sister made us some pancakes with chocolate chips and marble syrop. It was very delicious! Then we waited for 3 of Jih-Chieh's friends, Victoria and Glenn. After it, we went to apple piking. It was very funny and we ate a lot of apples. Then we went home, ate pizza and went then to Victoria's house, where she made us an apple pie with caramel, which was a bit too soppy but even more tasty then it looked like. We played a little bit wii and went home for sleeping.
Sundays in Boston are very cool :D

Sunday 13th October 2013 - Cecile

On Sunday I went to the museum of science. It was really nice, we (Oscar, Trevor, Max, Jules, Ben, Daniel, Jordan,, Alice, Alicia, and I) saw a funny presentation on the electricity.
Then we went to the mall to eat lunch and do shopping. After that I went dinner with my correspondent and then we went to one of her friend's house to eat brownies. I really like Sundays in Boston!!!

Trip to New-York by Lena

On Friday the 11th, my correspondent, her mother and I left Boston to go to New-York by train. It took like 4 hours until we arrived to New York. We arrived at a normal train station and when I got out of  the underground, I was shocked how huge the skyscrapers were and how many people were still awake that late, but that's why she's called the city that never sleeps. After crossing overcrowded streets, we arrived at our hotel and slept soundly. When we woke up, we were motivated to go shopping and so we went to the probably nicest stores I've ever been to.

  Later in the afternoon, we went on the top of the Rockefeller Center from which we had a wonderful view above the city. We were able to see the Central Park, the Empire State Building, the reconstructed World Trade Center and a lot of other impressive stuff.

After this fantastic day, we went to a Greek restaurant, which was really good. Then we walked to the Minskoff Theater near Times Square, to attend the performance of the Lion King. It was an incredible reproduction of the movie, the caracters were played by humans but you had the feeling they were animals.

After this wonderful day, we took our time to enjoy New-York by night and walked trough the city. We saw a lot of interesting things like the prettiest member of The Smurfs, Smurfette.

To finish the day, I had to eat the fattest and biggest part of brownie in my whole life, he was not to finish.

On the second day, we took our time to go eat at a french "cliché" brasserie, that was quite good. After brunching, we went to the Central Park. It was a sunny day, so we could really enjoy having a walk together.

After visiting this wonderful park, we spent time watching a parade of people representing their south- american countries. The music and the vibes were good.

After this journey, we packed our things, finally went to a cubean restaurant, that had really good food and then we took the train to get back to Boston. 

Salem Witch Museum by Philemon

After we saw The House of 7 Gables we went to the Salem Witch Museum. We first saw a presentation in a big dark room about the history of Witch trials and the people of Salem who were accused to be witches and who were mistreated just because of superstition. 

After this we listened to a citizen of Salem who was explaining how she healed people and helped gave birth. Also, the guide explained that at first she was a normal lady, but then over time her image changed so people thought she looked like a spooky witch.

Then , we saw a timeline of things that happened in history and have a link with witchcraft.

Then, we listened to fake people talk about their "witchcraft religion" and saying that they were nice normal people but that they just have a different religion.

Salem witch museum

Salem Witch Museum

Interview of two young people working there :

After our tour of the museum Philemon and I interviewed two young women working at the entrance, named Rachel and Meg .

-How do you like the museum?

(Rachel) : I really like it, it's very interesting. It shows us the story of the witches in a funny way (with some figurines representing a scene), even if it's supposed to be dramatic.

-Isn't it a little bit creepy to work at this museum?

(both) : No, not really. We aren't often alone in this museum, so we quickly forget that we are surrounded by creepy figurines. 

- Do you have friends practicing witchcraft?

(Meg) : Sure, my best friend is practicing witchcraft. She doesn't say any spells or things like that. But her witchcraft is based on charms...

-Do you think that this building is haunted? 

(Meg) : It might be... Some people say that the handicapped's restroom is haunted ; it seems that they have heard some strange noises, you know like steps on the floor even though nobody was seen there... And sometimes we can see some doors opening by themselves. It's very strange...

-It's Halloween soon. What do you think about this celebration?

(Rachel) : In Salem it's a very big party. Millions of people are coming and all the streets are closed. Everyone is disguised and dances in the street. It's a lot of fun! Oh did you know that a Halloween comedy, named "Hocus Pocus" was filmed here, in Salem? If you haven't seen it yet, you should watch it! But there were also many others movies made here.

Alice LE COZ

My American Sunday (13th October) posted by Daniel

This Sunday I went to the museum of science with Ben and other French and American students. We saw a lightning show. It was fantastic! After that we went to Cambridge for lunch and we took the train to get desert in the North End of Boston. Then we walked around downtown. At the end of the day we went to the top of the Prudential tower and we saw the city lit up at night. It was beautiful!

Daniel

Sunday 13th of October of Victoria Shkolnikova

This day was good, me, my correspondent and her cousin went shopping in the huge Natick mall. This mall is just awesome!!! They have a lot of shops like American Eagle, Bath and Body works, Abercrombie, Hollister : all of the awesome american brands! We had a lot of fun, I bought some presents, clothes and other big deals because they had a lot of things on sale. Then we ate there and lastly we went home and drunk chocolate milkshake and saw a serie. 

Cry Innocent by Aurelien Pasteau and Juliette Jeromin

Today, after having visited the salem witch museum, we went watch a short play called "Cry innocent". It started on the street when in 1692, a suspected witch was arrested. The actors  brought  us so into the theater. It is actually a big room where the actors play in the middle of the public so that the viewers can participate to the play. 

It is a real story that happened in april 1692. The woman they arrested on the street is suspected to be a witch and we attend to her trial. Each actor played several persons because they were only 5 actors. During the trial, witnesses are made against the suspected woman and the public can ask questions. At the end, the public has to vote guilty or not guilty. We found that there weren't enough proves to prove the guilty of that woman, so we voted not guilty. She got free again but before she leaved, she spitted on the ground. 

The Blue Man Group show posted by Sandra Greber and Julien Gueth

Saturday afternoon, we went to the Charles Street Playhouse with all of our correspondants to see a Blue Man Group show.

The Blue Man Group is an organization founded in 1987 by Chris Wink, Matt Goldman and Phil Stanton. They are known for their popular theatrical shows and concerts which combine music, comedy and multimedia theatrics to produce a totally unique form of entertainment.

The presentation begun immediately in the darkness with the mixing of the paints, the music, and the comic show. Playing on drums full of red and yellow paints which splash in the public. This combination is totaly unique and their goal of make have fun the public is succesed. Then they start a theatral show playing with giants iPhones scanning them and changing their clothes.

They also invites two people. One for a theatral show with some food and the other one to be totaly painted to produce a giant painting. Then they continue with a music show playing on tubes to get a creative sound accompanied by a rock band.

The interaction with the public is really an important point of their show. For examples before the show we can read some sentences to prepare the public laughing like "today it's the birthday of John say happy birthday to John" or also, two people came late and we listened to music singing "you're late" with the cameraman showing the two late people .

Finally they made a very crazy interaction with all their public using hygienic paper and also giants balls which we can push in the air.
And so finished the show. On the exit people can take photos with the artists.


Here some pictures from the show and after :

At the end of the show, Julien and me interviewed a woman who was choosen to go on the stage and she said that she had fun. It was her first time on stage, but she had already seen them many times.
It proves that they are appreciated by the public and that people come back to see them !

Trip to Manchester NH : Celtics vs Knicks

Big day arrived : the famous basketball team of Boston - Celtics vs Knicks from New York in the verizonwireless Arena. We took the bus (a good one instead of the yellow school buses that we used to take). The arena was practically complete with fans and most of the fans were for Celtics team. So the Celtics team was green and Knicks were orange and blue.
The game was  played by two teams of five players on a rectangular court. It was in four quarters of 12 minutes. Overtime periods were five minutes in length.

The starters were Jared Sullinger, Brandon Bass, Jeff Green, Avery Bradley and John 

Crawford for the Boston Celtics team. 

Boston Celtics won New York Knicks 111 to 81. 

Thoughts about the game : 

(Victoria) : I thought that the game was very interesting and I'm happy that Celtics won. But in the beginning the game was good but in the end it was a little bit boring. I think that there was a lot of people and especially a lot of Boston Celtics fans of all ages. 

MAYFLOWER AND PLYMOUTH ROCK by Glenn

After going to the plimouth plantation we took the bus to go to the mayflower II. There we could visit the reconstruction of the first ship that settled on new England.
It was certainly hard to survive on that little ship with around a hundred people but they had no choice as they were running away from religious persecution. They had mostly just beer to drink and bad food to eat. They were supposed to go to Virginia but they ended up in Massachusetts where it was cold. So many of them died during the winter.
We could visit every floor of the ship and there where people in costumes that talked about the ship and the living conditions of the people who were in the ship.
The mayflower first landed on the plymouth rock on which the settlers wrote the year of their arriving in new England: 1620.
We were able to see the rock too. It was in a pit and around it were columns.
Then we took the bus to go home.

The Plymoth plantation posted by Théo Schirch and Diane Laurent

Today we took the bus to go to Plymouth but it unfortunately broke down .... By chance we could take another bus and go to the Plymoth plantation (www.plymoth.org)There, we formed groupes and visited that charming place. It was really a time travel :

we talked with english people of the 17th century and with Ameridians, the Wampanoags. They wore traditional clothing and spoke about their lives.

We interwied an Ameridian :
-Where are you born ?
-I'm born in a reserve , where there is my family. I often go there to see them.
-What is your native language ?
-It's the Wampanoag. I have learned English later.
-What means the name "Wampanoag" ?
-That means "people of the dawn", it's our name because we live in the east  of America.
-Do you like your job ?
-I do, I think people can discover a little bit of the Wampanoag culture thanks to my job
-What do you especially love in the Wampanoag culture ?
-The food : we eat a lot of maizes, beans, squashes and fishes and we have a lot of really excellent specialties.

Interview of a "real" settler on board of the Mayflower 2 by Aurelien Pasteau :p

Inside the mayflower, I saw a woman who was dressed and spoke just like a settler. She was answering to people's questions, so I decided to ask her a few questions.
Her name was Doliphie and she told me we were in 1620 and the boat had just arrived on the coast of the new world. It's only at that moment that I understood she was playing the role of a settler.

What are you doing here and do you like it?

I am a passenger of the mayflower and I'm glad to have reached America. This situation is different from the ones I've been used to live and is also very difficult.

How were the life conditions on board of the mayflower 2?

We had very bad life conditions during the trip: it was dark, cold, wet and there were like 100 people on the same deck. Beds were layout everywhere on the ground and there was no place anymore. The hygiene was also very bad during the whole trip.

How long did it take to sail from Europe to here?

It took us something like two months.

Why did you choose to leave Europe and to begin a new life?

People told me there were a lot of opportunities in America. I will have a new land that I will be glad to give to my future children.


After this last question, she said me good bye and I left.

the Duck Tour

interview from our tour guide :

After our duck tour, we quickly interviewed the guide, named Dana.
Because of his good mood and joy, the first question we asked him was what he loves so much about his job. This was his answer :
"I really like the contact with the people on the duck and meeting people from all around the world. I have a lot of fun doing these tours!" By saying that it wasn't really hard to understand that he isn't ready to leave his job even if he could do it.
Then we asked him how he became a tour guide he responded with a little smile :
"My wife told me that I would be perfect for this job, but first I didn't want to listen to her. Finally, after three years, my wife won and so it's thanks to her that I have this job.  Now I've already done around 5000 the Duck Tours! I 'm doing this work for ten years and around five tours per day. But I still love it!"
Dana is a really good example of someone who loves his job and who shows us doing it. Thanks to this he shares his good mood with us and we all had a lot of fun at the Duck Tour!

The Duck Tour

    The first excursion we did in Boston was this morning, the famous Duck Tour ! The idea is really simple: we make some sightseeing in a bus, that later becomes a boat ! It is inspired of the amphibious boats that were used during the Debarquement in Normandie in 1944.

The tour we made was 80 minutes long, and it went through the most important places of Boston. The exact track we followed is showed below (red track):

http://www.bostonducktours.com/media/tour_map.jpg

    Our driver (and later captain) was positively crazy: he made a lot of jokes, he let some people from the bus drive it when it was in the water !

Here's the photo of our group:

    And after this tour, we took our lunch, to have some power for the aquarium !

The Aquarium, posted by Ismaïl and Ghislaine

10th October 2013 at Boston.

   After the Duck tour and the lunch, we all went to the Aquarium. For that, we had to take two different subway lines. We arrived there at 1:30 pm and were welcomed by a man who worked there. At the outside of the building, we were able to see some very cute seals, and than we entered into the aquarium. The presenters took a picture of us, and then we really entered. It wasn't a guided tour, so everybody could see what he wanted. At first, we went to the rays, and we were allowed to touch them : their skin is very sticky, but it wasn't so unpleasant. In the entry, there were auks and penguins who were swimming. There was also a very high aquarium with a lot o kinds of fishes and turtles, and also anemones, and we could go up around this cylindrical aquarium means of a way which went up all around in spiral. At the end of the visit, we had the right in a show, in which some divers were given food to the fishes and the turtles.
   At 2:50 pm, we met together in front of the aquarium to go to the IMax 3D movie theatre to see a movie about the fishes and the ocean. The screen was very big, and the 3D effects very well done, so that the movie was great and very interesting. That's also because it was told by Johnny Depp ! It lasted 45min, and at the end we took the subway again to go to BLS to meet the correspondents. Now it's 8 pm and we all are in the families.
   Return tomorrow for a new article, and don't forget to read the interview about the aquarium !

Here is the link of their website, if you want to glance at it :

http://www.neaq.org/index.php

Ismaïl MAJJAD.

Interview

We interviewed a lady, Mandy, who took care of the rays :

-Why do you do this job ?

-Because I like educating people about rays and ocean animals. So I like it very much.

-And what is so special about rays ?

-Contrary of what people think, they are not aggressive animals. Their bodies is completely made out of cartilage and eat small fishes, but don't have a lot of ennemis.

-How many type does the aquarium have?

-It has got eight or nine type of rays.

-And why have they different colors ?

-So, the grey rays are dark or light, it's in their genetic. But the other ones is because of the environment.

Ghislaine DEUTSCH

Trip to Paris and flight to Boston. Tuesday,8th October 2013 posted by Cecile and Leo

Today we took the train to Paris and then we took the airplane to Boston.
Everything is OK.
We interviewed an hostess:
- For how long have you been doing this job?
- For 25 years.
- Do you enjoy it?
- Yes I do.
- Is it difficult?
- Yes because of the jet lag.
- What can be easy?
-  Identify people, know  who they are.
- What are the advantages of being an hostess?
- Sometimes we can visit countries, but in this job they are not a lot.
- What are the inconveniences of being an hostess?
- We are tired and have a family so it`s difficult. There are also risks when we go to dangerous countries. Standing up all the time is difficult too. We have to smile always.

Now we are all in our families and we are really happy!

Sponsors and benefactors

THANK YOU TO ALL OUR SPONSORS

To start with, we would like to thank all  those who have helped us either with generous donations, logistics or thoughtful advice. As you can see from the long list below, such an exchange is a real team work!

First of all, we are most grateful to Mrs Quelen, Head Master of the Lycée International des Pontonniers  and Dr Lynn Monney Teta, Head Master of Boston Latin School, for giving us the green light and for their support.

We were very lucky to meet Mrs Carole Lapointe,  French teacher at Boston Latin School,  in 2011and we want to thank her for her unwavering enthusiasm and countless efforts to make this exchange a real success!

We also want to thank:

the DAREIC (Délégation académique aux relations internationales et à la coopération, Rectorat)  and we would like to thank Mrs Miller,  in particular, for her support and precious advice

the City of Strasbourg  through its Direction des Relations européennes et internationales for their support and their help with organizing the Boston Latin's students' stay in Strasbourg in February

 the City of Boston and in particular Mrs Bethany Wood, director of global education for Boston Public Schools, for helping us plan our visit and creating so many opportunities for us in Boston

the Strasbourg Boston Association and its president Mr Hirn for keeping the Strasbourg Boston bond alive and strong, and for their financial support

the Boston Strasbourg Sister Cities Association and its President Mary Louise Burke, for their financial support and for igniting the first sparkle in 2011

the Fulbright Commission for their formidable financial contribution, which enables us to do so many wonderful activities

Mrs Kim Caverly, French teacher at Andover High School, for using all her connections - including the Fulbright Commission - to find the best deals and help us do so many things in and out of Boston!

the association des parents d'élèves du lycée des Pontonniers for their financial support and help with technical matters

Mrs Imbs and the Crédit Mutuel Enseignant for making financial matters easier for the chaperones

Mrs Robyn Cnokaert for sharing her experience in Indianapolis and helping us create this blog

Mrs Zoeller for her support and patience





Welcome!

 

 

Welcome to the Pontonniers - Boston Latin School Exchange of 2013!