Written by Scarlett Baughman ’19 to recount Tuesday, March 13, 2018:

Today we started the day by singing “Happy Birthday” to John Leo (in French, of course), and then we got to go to classes before having a bus tour of Paris. I went to a PE class and a class for young autistic children. For PE, we did Zumba and steps so it was quite different from the PE classes in the US. Meg and I then were able to go to a class with young boys and girls (no older than 6 or 7) who were somewhere on the autism spectrum. Each of the kids was adorable, and we got to play with them, help them get their snacks, and sit with them for their circle time where they sang songs and changed the date on the whiteboard. It was amazing to see those teachers at work, and I’m still so impressed at their levels of patience and care for the kids. After that, we had a free class and explored the area around the school and bought some food for lunch.

After lunch we took the metro to the Louvre-Rivoli stop and caught a private tour bus where we were driven around Paris and given commentary about the city. At one point, we stopped in front of the Eiffel Tower for a long time, so we decided we would ask Sydney to go downstairs to ask the driver if we could move on. It turns out, though, that he had left the bus to get a crepe! We then returned to school, and some of us went with our correspondents to see the Eiffel Tower up close. We all took photos together and enjoyed the view. Then we all got together for a birthday dinner for John Leo where we just hung out, ate, and celebrated. Overall, it was great day!