Whittier in Nice Summer Program 1998

At the Los Angeles International Airport, minutes before embarking.

Los Angeles International Airport. May 27.     Ten students, including a Sociology professor, gather around Marie-Magdeleine Chirol and Lori Crawford-Dixon near the Air France counters. There’s just enough people for group fares, yet not too many to require several tables at cafés and restaurants! Destination? Nice, France.

Everyone is anxious and ready. Anxious to test one’s French language skills and ready to experience a different culture, except perhaps for that part which includes walking to school, taking the city bus, and managing without a car for four weeks!

From the Trocadéro, across from the Eiffel Tower. The light sign on the tower reads “J-581” or 581 days before the year 2000!

First stop: Paris.     Three nights and two days. That’s 48 hours worth of sight-seeing! Our group marveled at such places as the Eiffel Tower, Notre-Dame de Paris, the Arc de Triomphe, and the Louvre, including Pei’s pyramids and the museum’s recently completed renovations. We meandered off the beaten path onto the Place Vendôme and the Place de la Concorde. We also visited the Invalides and we stopped at the Auguste Rodin Museum to say “Bonjour!” to his famous Thinker. After all of this, you’d think we were tired at the end of each day… Well, not all of us! Some still had enough energy to go dancing in the “boîtes de nuit” of La Bastille! The Paris visit finally concluded with a cruise on the Seine river at night on a “bateau mouche,” followed by a tasty French crêpe on the way back to the hotel-pension.

At the Château du Luxembourg and its exotic gardens, in Paris.

Sunday May 31. Arrival in Nice.

All the French host families greeted the students at the airport. The next morning, classes began. Lori taught the Beginning Language and Cultural Experience and Marie-Magdeleine taught the Advanced Language and Cultural Experience.

The rooftops in Nice and the Bay of Angels.

Cheese-tasting in the professors’ apartment.

Afternoons were opened, so students spent some time with their host families or enjoyed themselves at the Promenade des Anglais, at the terraces of cafés, or sight-seeing. In addition, during four group excursions, we went to the Matisse Museum, the Chagall Museum, paused in the garden of ruins surrounding the Archaeology Museum, toured the remains of a castle dominating the city, strolled through the Old Nice, and visited the 17th-century Cathedral Sainte-Réparate. During a field trip to the beautiful port of Villefranche-sur-mer, we explored the Citadelle and the Volti Museum, walked down the old town, and ended the warm afternoon with a cold drink close to the Saint-Pierre Chapel, a site famous for its decorations painted by Jean Cocteau. We ended our excursions on a sweet note as we visited a “confiserie” (candy factory) and tasted what intrigued most of us: some jam made of rose petals! It was delicious!!!     Yet, one did not need to go far to have exciting experiences. Visiting the local bakery or post-office for the Beginning Language students created an interesting challenge. Before long, they did understand the French people… and were understood by them! As to the Advanced Language students, meeting some French students of various cultural origin, and debating and discussing issues with them provided a great deal of insight into their lives and experience in French colleges.

Three French students visit our class and discuss their lives and experiences in college.

Those students also regaled us to a meal at a truly local restaurant in the Old Nice where we tasted some French Mediterranean specialties.June 20. Back to California.

There ends the first “Whittier in Nice Program”!

“This has been an unforgettable moment! I have assimilated into my host family, and my personal progress has exceeded my expectations.”