A Sojourn in France inspires Jersey teens
April 4, 2005 The Star-Ledger
PARIS—They had run-ins with grumpy French waiters in sub-par restaurants. They spent most waking moments of the last two weeks under the watchful eyes of their chaperones. They slept on buses and stayed with strangers.
And they loved it. Ahh, oui, they loved it.
For the last 13 days, 13 students and four staff members from Weequahic High School in Newark, N.J., ate, drank and breathed like the French as part of a class trip.
The voyage was the brainchild of the school’s sole French teacher, Lavinia Rogers, who motivated students, teachers, alumni, parents and the community in putting together the $39,000 project.
The students collected the money through fund-raisers and from donations. At the same time, they learned about French culture—how to order a meal at a restaurant and that they should not eat while walking along the street, something considered inappropriate in France.
Yesterday was the last full day of traveling before returning home. It included a boat ride on the Seine River on a bateau mouche, a visit to Napoleon’s tomb at Les Invalides and a trip to the top of the Eiffel Tower.
The best-known symbol of France certainly lived up to the hype for Rogers’ students. As soon as it came into view, several of the girls launched into an impressive impromptu fashion shoot, using the Champ de Mars garden as their catwalk and La Tour Eiffel as the backdrop.
Along with a stunning view of Paris on a sun-drenched morning, the Eiffel Tower gave students a place to reflect on the trip and the sights they had seen over the past two weeks.
Food always came first when the students talked about the differences between French and American cultures. While here, they tested their palates against delicacies such as croissants, rabbit, duck, oysters, snails and the notoriously stinky French cheeses.
“Last night I tried escargot! I loved it!” gushes one of France’s newest converts to gastropods, Quaneesha Mincy. “I’d eat snails any day!” Almost all of the students shared Mincy’s enthusiasm for the dish.
“I’d be the first person to try anything,” says junior class member Shaheed Person, 16, of Newark. “Last night we had duck and snails,” he says. Person wasn’t wild about everything he ate here, but, as he says, “At least I can say I tried.”
This willingness to try almost everything at least once was echoed among his classmates.
Asked about how he liked the cheeses—a much tougher sell with this crowd—he replies, “We all ate a lot of bread.”
And the rabbit? “The funny thing was, we had rabbit on Easter!”
Aside from the obvious differences of food, what seemed to impress Weequahic’s students the most was the chance to travel abroad and learn about another culture. They also appreciated the motivation the trip has given them in their studies.
“I’ve never been overseas in my life and my parents are really proud of me,” says junior Maurice Mayo, 17, of Newark. Mayo says he used to struggle as a student but made the school’s Super Honor Roll on his last report card.
“I wanted to go on this trip and started working harder and harder (in school),” agrees Person. “I started speaking more (French) in class, speaking it outside of class and doing a lot of studying.”
The students also had a lot of people pulling for them at home. Mayo said he received a gift from one of his old teachers with instructions not to open it until he left on the trip. Inside the envelope was $20. Mayo used part of his gift to buy a poster of the Mona Lisa as a thank-you present.
Spending several days with host families and French classmates in the Mediterranean city of Nice also made a big impression on all of the students, and for some, English wasn’t always an option.
“My host family couldn’t speak a lick of English,” says Mincy.
“Mine were old, but they could cook!” says senior Rodney Venable, 17, of Newark.
“At first when we got here, it was difficult to speak with them, but we got used to it,” says Venable. “We knew what everything was, but our pronunciation wasn’t that great.” Those problems the students learned to overcome during their journey.
The pronunciation problem went both ways—Mayo recounts how Rodney’s first name often came out sounding like “root-knee” when spoken by the French.
Venable also appreciated his host family’s effort to cook some food similar to what he’s used to eating in the United States.
Students also got a taste for the longer class days of the French school system. “In Newark, we stay from 8:20 till 2:40,” says Mayo, “At school in Nice, we were there from 8:30 till 6 at night!”
Like the girls’ fashion show at the foot of the Eiffel Tower, Venable and Mayo also enjoyed the chance to get to know the other students on the trip. As the morning progresses they leak out gossip and funny stories such as someone falling out of a bathtub and living to tell the tale, along with a romance with a German exchange student.
One thing that is very apparent is the students’ appreciation of Rogers. “She worked really hard and we all appreciate it,” says junior Alversia Starks, 16, of Newark.
“I thank her for giving me a chance,” echoes Person.
According to the occasionally snobby French waiter they encountered at lunch after their trip to the top of the Eiffel Tower, Rogers’ efforts have paid off handsomely. After Starks ordered her lunch in French, the waiter replied, “Dix sur dix”—French for 10 out of 10—or an A-plus.
