Students travel to French Canada

At every start of a new school year, Spanish students are abuzz about their trip to Spain. German kids can’t wait to recount their experiences in Germany. But, the Decatur French students never had a comparable experience.

 Until now.

On Sept. 16, around 20 students traveled to Quebec, Canada for four days. Students, teachers and chaperones visited Montreal, Quebec City and less urban areas in between.

Traveling abroad is something French teacher Agnes Wells hoped to organize for a while. She found the perfect fit in French Canada for this first trip.

“We thought we’ll start small and just do a regular touristy kind of trip with French students,” Wells said. “We decided to go to French-speaking Canada because we like the idea of it being very similar to a European city without the jet lag and without an ocean between us and the school.”

Trip excursions included visiting “Cafe Graffiti” where graffiti artists taught students about legal graffiti, taking in scenic waterfalls and much more.

To round out the the trip’s culturally Canadian aspects, the students also visited a sugar shack where maple syrup, a Canadian staple, is made.

For senior and French student Emily Park, this trip represents a door to a new experience.

“I’m excited for the exposure to a culturally French community, which I’ve never really been exposed to before,” Park said.

With students like Park who looked forward to the trip, Wells hoped by visiting this part of the world, her French students experienced something eye-opening and unforgettable.

“Just being in a place where English may not be the first language of everybody there gives you a real sense of how big the world is, and that the United States is not the center of the world,” Wells said. “There are plenty of people who disagree with us or who do things differently than us, and it’s okay.”

Contact the writer, Gwynivere Schooler, at [email protected]