Written by Eleanor Lilly ’18 to recount Wednesday, March 8, 2017:
Today was our first full day at St. Dominique! The day started in the Chapel where we introduced ourselves to the sophomores at St. Do. At first, there weren’t many nervous among
The chapel at St. Do
us because it didn’t seem like a big deal, but then we got to the school. The chapel was an actual catholic chapel, complete with stain glass windows and pews. So when we had to introduce ourselves, there might have been a bit more of an audience than just the students!! I’m laughing as I’m writing this, and don’t worry- no one messed up!
We had two hours of classes- I got to sit in on math and English with Carissa. Math was quite easy to follow because it was basically just a review of what we learned last year. For their English class, they had to present their thoughts
A class with Madame Thibault
about a poster advocating for action against climate change. After each presentation their teacher would turn around and confer with Carissa and me, asking us what we thought, if we could understand it, etc. The teacher seemed very cool to us, but she pushes her students quite hard and I would be nervous about her class if I were a student at St. Do! We each obviously have different insights about the French classroom versus the American one, so I speak for myself when I say that the most apparent one was the difference in the relationships between students and teachers.
We had lunch in the cafeteria at St. Do, and then we headed to the metro. We met a guide for a beautiful walking tour of Le Marais! She was so knowledgeable about the history of all the architecture. She lead us through the narrow roads that existed long before the wide avenues and boulevards, pointing out the “good” street art- the ones that would fade and not leave permanent marks on the walls. After a few hours we made it back to St. Do and waited in the student lounge for our friends. We all had dinner with our host families and enjoyed an end to our second day in Paris!!
A tour of the Marais