Bienvenue à Saumur!

Bienvenue à Saumur!

Hello families! Here's an update about our departure from Chicago and our final arrival in Saumur.
Hope all of you are doing well after saying goodbye to the participants. Here's a group photo of the students with and without families. I know some of you had already left by then so we couldn't get you in this picture, but it was great meeting each and every one of you there.

         

All of us went through security check without any problems and then the students went off in groups of 3 to explore the airport. We set a meeting time at the boarding gate at 6.40pm CDT and after a quick group huddle and a last minute pep talk in English, everyone boarded the flight and headed to their seats. All students got seats either together or near each other, so nobody was too far away. 

The IUHPFL t-shirts were a big hit with a lot of the passengers and the crew because they asked me lots of questions about this program. The crew encouraged the students to speak in French and despite being intimidated, the students did very well. Everyone wished them luck for the program too!

After a long journey of movies, games and lots of chatter, we finally landed at Paris CDG at 10.30 am local time. Everyone was sleepy and tired but excitement levels were soaring. We got our luggage and took a few pictures in front of a "Bienvenue à l'aéroport de Paris" sign. Unfortunately, we can't see the sign but we can see all the lovely faces so I'm sharing the picture with you here. 

Martin was waiting for us right outside with the bus. He was also kind enough to bring us some yummy croissants, pain au chocolats and pain au raisins along with apples and bottles of water. This snack was the perfect beginning our bus journey to Saumur. Here are a few shots of everyone settled into the super comfortable bus. 

 



We stopped en route to have lunch which was a rather large serving of some delicious roast chicken, garlic sautéed potatoes and bread. They also had a nice vegetarian option for our veggies lovers. And finally, at 5.20 pm local time, we all reached Saumur where the host families were braving the sudden bad weather, winds and rain to greet all of us. It was lovely to see excited host families and excited students meet each other for the first time. Every student was taken away safely to their new homes. Tonight is going to be some much needed rest and recuperation for all of us.
That's all from us here at Saumur!
Until the next update! Ciao!