Final School Exams and a Weekend in Paris

by Ella Russell, Greenheart Travel High School Student in France

On Thursday, we had a basketball exam in EPS (PE), which means that it is the last class of basketball. Every several weeks, EPS focuses on a different sport. During my first EPS class everyone was doing the gymnastics exam, but from then until this Thursday, we have been practicing basketball.

This exam was the first time I actually got a grade, and it was 11/20. I wasn’t the worst, but still I definitely could have done better. I am pretty sure that the next course is running, done later in the year for the better weather.

There was another protest on Thursday (over the same increased work issue), and there is talk of another one next Thursday. While the protests peter out at around noon, allowing us to go to our afternoon classes, a fair number of the students (mostly boys) use the protest as an excuse to skip the whole day.

The literature teacher called them out on it, saying that if there was a strike next week, she expected everyone to come to her class in the afternoon, unless they were actually planning on participating in the strike. I wonder if they will listen.

Also on Thursday, I performed a violin piece in music class, and gave short explanation of the history of the piece. In French. I was worried about how my piece would go, as I had not had much time to practice. I was the most nervous about my explanation, and if people would understand me, as I often rush during presentations. As it happened, I did not even attempt to glance at the audience. I focused entirely on my paper, reading as clearly as I could. The fact that it was in French actually made me slow down, as it wasn’t as easy to read.

I think I did pretty well. The teacher gave me good feedback, and later, a classmate told me that my presentation was good, and that he could understand it.

This was my last weekend in France so I made it count!

On Saturday evening, I went to a laser tag game with some friends from school and others who I did not know. It was exactly like how it is in the U.S., you run around trying to catch people with the laser guns. Although my team and I were terrible, it was fun!

On Sunday, I went into Paris with my uncle. For those of you reading this who don’t know, my uncle (and his family) lived in Paris until a few years ago, but they are going to be moving back, so my uncle still comes here occasionally to see how their (rented out) apartment is doing.

First we visited some friends of the family for lunch. We had lamb, and I learned that they practiced Lent, and had not eaten meat for the previous forty days and then we walked to Shakespeare and Company, a famous English bookstore, visiting souvenir shops on the way.

I was worried that a lot of the shops would be closed for Easter, but at least for the shops we visited, this wasn’t the case. I bet it had something to do with all the tourism.