Park School: France 2026
May 16, 2026
A short blog from a short day.
After a very long flight and an even longer layover into another flight ending in a bus ride we finally made to Avignon! When we arrived, we decided to get dinner at Le Vintage. The food was very good. Most of the group had the classic Steak et Frites. The French flavors were so exquisite and tasty. After dinner, we took the bus to the hotel. Everyone is ready for a good night’s sleep.
By Khairi & Chayce
May 17, 2026
Hi parents! Today we started out with a very good breakfast at the hotel and later moved on to visiting Le Palais de Papes in Avignon. This was our first full day here and it has been very eventful. After Le Palais de we walked around a market to make a picnic altogether. We were split up into different groups and each group had to buy an ingredient for the picnic; drinks, bread, fruits/vegetables, charcuterie, olives, spreads and desserts. We were given money tasked to order the foods en Francais. We then walked to a park and set up our picnic! Overall this was so much fun (even though there were a lot hungry pigeons) after that we went to see a art exhibit in a cave about Frida Khalo and Picasso. It was une tres grande cave!
Next we visited le chateau de beau where we explored gardens and ruins of a castle and got some très delicious ice cream and crepes! Then we separated for some shopping. After that we took a bus to a cooking class where we cooked and prepared our own dinner with the help of chef Rafael and chef Charlie! We prepared chicken, potatoes, zucchini, tomato’s, a salad, and for dessert we prepared chocolate strawberries. Then we played hacky sack and Uno together “it was a very large game”. After we took the bus home and started packing up for the journey you will hear about it tomorrow!!
Bonne nuit!!!
Emma, Elodie et Maeve
May 18, 2026
On our last day in Avignon, we woke up in the morning and packed up our bags. After breakfast, we headed off to the Pont d’Avignon. On the bridge we walked around, as well as sang and danced to the song, “Sur le Pont D’Avignon.” After also reenacting the video and scenes like Jack and Rose from the Titanic, we headed off to the Pont du Gard, a Roman aqueduct that changed many lives. We first watched a video explaining the history and dimensions of the Pont before hiking to get a better view of the whole thing. We headed down to the river bank where we ate lunch with a great view. Post-lunch we participated in a quiz to get an extra cookie (which Athena won), and skipped stones along the water. When we had enough fun, we boarded to the bus, and started our journey to Carcassonne! In Carcassonne we had some time at the hotel to get dressed up for our dinner in La Cité where we had pizza and traditional cassoulet. We ended the night with a stroll around the medieval city and some ice cream.
By Athena, Noura, Scarlett
May 19, 2026
Today was an eventful and fun filled day. We started off bright and early with a 7am breakfast, and then swiftly left the hotel to visit a French school. When we arrived we were quite nervous, but slowly each one of us felt more and more comfortable with the French students. We played 20 questions, zip-zap-zop, and exchanged many numbers. We met 7th, 8th, and 9th graders as well as our pen pals. Many of us went outside of our comfort zone and found ourselves making many new friends, some of us were even asked for autographs. We tried a French school lunch followed by an energetic recess where many of us hung out with our new French friends or indulged in fun games like soccer. For dinner we had Spanish tapas, yum! After a bit of downtime, we met up with our host families over snacks and drinks. We spent time getting to know them through a fun game of trivia. Next, we headed over to the bowling alley to continue getting to know our hosts and enjoy time with each other. We returned to our hotel and prepared for our action packed day tomorrow.
By Amaya and Shyla
May 20, 2026
Today we had breakfast at 7:45! We had a variety of croissants, drinks, and much more. It was really yummy! Then, we drove to a farm and worked on various tasks. We all worked very hard on mowing, tilling, and cleaning up around the farm! We had a lot of fun and one person discovered her passion for mowing the fields! We then had a quick snack of applesauce, baguette (we can’t get enough baguette), and granola bars! Then we rode to lunch at a pizza place in the city. We had been to this pizza place before and went back because of popular demand. It was just as delicious the second time!
We then spent a little bit of time exploring and shopping in the streets of La Cite the medieval part of Carcassonne. It was very nice! We then went on a guided tour of the Carcassonne castle. Our tour guide was very nice and informative. We went to our hotel to get ready for the visits with our host families. These all went very well! We will keep you informed! Goodnight! 😀
Teya & Aanya
May 21, 2026
Today was our final day in France! We woke up early got packed then headed out to breakfast. We surprisingly were almost on time and we got on the bus. After everyone slept on the bus, we finally got to our destination which was the cave Limousis. We saw a cool light show and learned so many new things about caves! We had some much needed quiet time on the bus for 2 HOURS! We unfortunately all fell asleep in very uncomfortable positions in the bus. We soon arrived in Toulouse where we checked into the hotel then went for a two hour walking tour around the city. It was very, very, very hot and we learned a lot about the history of the city. After that, we had an hour and a half of shopping. After that, we were all really tired so we headed back to the hotel to get changed for dinner. At dinner we had a was an extremely long wait for the appetizers to come and when they came, many of the steaks looked uncooked, apparently raw beef is a French delicacy, so we were brave and tried it. The rest of the food finally came and was good. We did the very American thing and stopped at McDonald’s on the way back to the hotel to get ice creams and shockingly didn’t lose anyone on the way back. It was a very fun and action packed day, and we are so sad to leave so soon!
By Samira Isla and Layla
