INTERNATIONALADVENTURE - Northampton Community College

new classmates because much of what we say is taken verbatim.
We tried not to use slang and when we did, explained the true
meaning behind our comments. Is American life like life on
“Desperate Housewives?” To some degree yes, but isn’t French
culture also?
Pop Quiz! Madame Delaroque’s advanced
English class was discussing American history. We realized we
weren’t on Wisteria Lane as conversations shifted to the streets
of Philadelphia, Japan and Baghdad. Much discussion centered
on Clint Eastwood’s “Letters from Iwo Jima” and “Flags of
Our Fathers,” as well as the movies “Philadelphia” and “Saving
Private Ryan.” The French students were reading newspaper
analyses of these movies, and quotes from the scripts were
discussed: “War heroes are manufactured.” “There is no glory
in war.”
After much discussion on war topics, we began to talk
about Philadelphia. We thought we would be OK with this part
of history – when asked what Philadephia was known for, we,
of course, answered: the Liberty Bell, Independence Hall, the
Declaration of Independence, cheesesteaks and sporting teams.
But our host class wanted to talk about the fi lm “Philadelphia,”
featuring Tom Hanks.
After classes each day, we explored the sites of Paris with
the students from our host school. The itinerary was ambitious
(and constantly in fl ux), but we covered many of the major
tourist attractions with a little free time for our students to
venture out on their own.
22 NCC ● SUMMER 2007
A view from our trip on
the bateaux mouches.
Dimanche (Sunday)
A day of rest for some. A day of sightseeing for others. But it all
began with our host families introducing us to their city. As you
can imagine, our hosts were excited and proud to have visitors
to Paris.
Lundi (Monday)
We arrived at the school early and were greeted with a welcome
breakfast of authentic croissants and pains au chocolat (dark
chocolate-fi lled pastries). Joined by faculty, students and the
school’s headmaster, Madame Daupin, we talked about the travel
plan for the week and were introduced to the school grounds.
Next, it was off to class and lunch in the school’s cafeteria
– well, at least for most of us. Sandy and one student spent the
bulk of the morning on their own adventure, looking to retrieve
a prepaid debit card that was eaten by an ATM machine after
the student forgot the PIN. They were both able to practice their
negotiation skills in French, since the bank was at fi rst unwilling
to release the card. Perhaps even more impressive, they
navigated a tricky sequence of walking and public transportation
to rejoin the rest of the group just as it was exiting the metro stop
to start our tour.
Happy to be together again, we were ready to visit our fi rst
“offi cial” stop: the bateaux mouches. These large excursion
boats traverse the river Seine, separating Paris into two distinct
areas: the Left and Right Bank. While on the boat we relaxed,
fl oating by many of the major attractions in Paris, such as the
Capturing the moment outside
Notre Dame.
The gargoyle
watch over t