Get on the Bus
So, I set out on a bus with forty-eight French students between the ages of fourteen and sixteen and with just three other teachers. (Yikes !). However, the good news was that the bus ride was only TWELVE hours, traveling from southern France to the northern coast. Did I mention that this was only the first bus ride as the we then boarded a SIX hour ferry to cross the English Channel and traveled for another FOUR hours by bus to Bath. Needless to say, we spared every expense.
Despite the lengthy journey, we all had a lot of fun. It was a chance for me to become more intimately acquainted with the other teachers and an opportunity to get to know the students, as I had only had classes with half of them.
They proved to be a continued source of entertainment. For some reason they loved to pronounce my name with their heavy French accents and then follow it with one of the few phrases they know in English, “How are you ?”. Of course every time I would turn around to see who had made such an inquiry, I would continually find forty-eight blank faces all looking in another direction and each straining to contain an eruption of laughter. I must have heard this phrase at least a thousand times before reaching our destination. I received it like a celebrity who, accustomed to hearing his name chanted from the crowds, is unable to make time for his adoring public.
Stonehenge
Our first stop in England was to see Stonehenge. This ancient monument was a welcome site to us, a group of weary travelers. Having heard so much about Stonehenge in school, I imagined it to be huge. However, much like the Mona Lisa, it was quite a bit smaller than I had anticipated. All the same, the acknowledgement that these stones were put into place over five-thousand years ago, the largest of which weighing twenty-five tons, was awe inspiring. It makes you wonder what humanity must have been like during this period. Intuitive enough to perfectly align these stones with the coming of the summer solstice and yet they lived even before the Bronze Age had come to pass. This was a multi-generational work, taking over five-hundred years to built. I kept thinking of the Tower of Babel. After the history teacher had delivered an elegant and somewhat boring report about the four main theories concerning the purpose of the construction of Stonehenge, I assured the students that Stonehenge was definitely built by extra-terrestrials which got a good laugh.
Translation
After this we met up with our English families, with whom we would be staying for the duration of the week. I was lodged with the two French bus drivers who didn’t speak a word of English. Throughout dinner it was my job to translate. It is amazing how many things require not only the translation of language, but also of culture. Equally, there is so much that can be communicated without words, common to all people. Despite the barrier of language we all got along surprisingly well.
Millennium Stadium
The following day we went to the Millenium Stadium in Cardiff. The Stadium was built in the center of the city and has a roof that opens up like the sun roof of a car. This allows for the pitch to get sunlight in good whether and for the players to be protected should it rain, as it often does in Cardiff. The stadium was an impressive sight. It was particularly poignant for these students who are not only rugby fans, but all hoping that the Toulousain Rugby team, one of the best in France, will play at this stadium in this year’s semi-finals.
Filton Airbus
Located in the town of Filton is Airbus’ largest English site. The students were divided into groups of twelve, each teacher taking a group to tour the facility. The site was pretty cool. The tour started off with the teaching of some business concepts acquired through the mass construction of paper airplanes which was great for the students. We were then able to walk inside a couple Boeing cargo planes that were currently being serviced, and to see the construction of the A380, the new double-decker plane that will be able to fly half way around the world and then some without refueling. Due to hit the market almost immanently, it will be able to hold 550 passengers. After this, we looked at a wooden mock-up of the trailing edge of the wing of this plane that is constructed there in England before being shipped to Toulouse for final assemblage. The tour guide, who only spoke English, was completely insensitive to the difficulties of translation. So there I was trying to translate words like: fuel exhaust, wing flaps, rig, gauge, drag, actuator, and various other concepts of airplane construction that I do not really understand even in English. The students had a good laugh as I struggled along in my attempt to make them understand. Afterwards, the guide, assuming that I was French, complimented me on my English. Rather than bothering to explain that I was American, I just said thanks and stole the compliment.
The Count
There were and there are forty-eight students. I know this because it was my job to count them every time that we got off and on the bus. I was selected because I could count in English. This proved to be an important skill because the students amused themselves by yelling out numbers in French and therefore creating chaos for whoever was counting. Thus, counting in English was an advantage!
The Roman Baths
These Baths, to which the city owes its name are stunning. Bath is the center of a natural hot springs which the Romans used to create outdoor pools and saunas. The architecture itself is overwhelming and the baths are still fully functional today, although clearly not used.
Trusting Your Peers
After the Roman Baths we visited the Costume Museum which was about as exciting as it sounds. However, they had a corset exhibit where the students could try on the corsets from different time periods. Only having two girls in the group and forty-six boys they got a kick out of taking pictures of themselves in these antiquated corsets.
This all would have been incidental if one of the students had not lost his wallet during this time. Convinced that it was one of his peers a brawl broke out among them. I, fortunately, missed all of this as I was keeping to the stragglers at the back of the group. However, upon leaving the museum I discovered one of the other teachers engaged in a full search of each student including their bags and garments. I then learned a new French word “fouiller” which means to search a person. It took me I moment to realize what was going on the then to figure out that I was expected to participate in going through their bags. This all seemed ultimately ridiculous to me as A- It probably was not taken by a student, and B- even if it was, they had plenty of time to find a good hiding spot as they waited in line. But this is the French way, and although in England, I was expected to follow suit. We never did find the wallet.
Proud to be an American
Living in Europe, I have become accustomed to all the negative comments that Europeans delicately point in my direction. In our English family, the father had a few things that he felt needed to be said regarding our position in the war, our destruction of the environment, and our economy. As usual, I listened to his concerns, most of which were completely illogical and some fairly accurate.
I then realized that the spotlight is never flattering. What most Europeans understand of the US mostly comes through our media, music, and films; and if that won’t leave you in ignorance I do not know what will. There I was, trilingual and probably more culturally sensitive than he had ever been in his life, and yet I represented but another peg on the wheel of globalization. Since living in Europe, I have become increasingly cognizant of how many great things we have in American culture. Warm and hospital, full of invention and technological advancements, dreamers and visionaries, pioneers in music and film, and possessors of some of the world’s greatest natural beauty; we are Americans. I may have fallen in love with France, but I will never forget from where I came.
Coming Home
We left early on a Friday morning. I starred out the window of the bus watching the sunrise pierce the rolling fog of the English countryside. Little farms boundaried by hedges made a patchwork of the landscape. The intensity of green is difficult to describe, but it creates an intoxicating beauty in surveying the land. Pheasants could be seen every now and then and I even saw a flock of deer moving cautiously across the meadow. It was good preparation for the LONG journey that awaited me.
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