by Nathan Hunt | In June, students who have been enrolled in French classes have the chance of a lifetime to travel to France with their teachers.

“This will be our third trip to France; we go every other year,” French teacher Jessica Lumetta said. “Before I came here, they used to also do it every other year but there was a break in between.”

Lumetta has a passion for anything and everything French. “My first time to France was the summer after my senior year of high school; that would have been in 1998,” Lumetta said, “That is what helped inspire me to become a French teacher.” Students tend not to realize that the rest of the world is not the same as America and Europe is no exception.

In order for students to travel to France and have fun with it, they needed to go through a bit of training in order to prepare for the experience. “We have meetings every couple of weeks in Mme. Sneade’s and Mme. Lumetta’s rooms. They talk with us about what is different about Europe. Also about how we ought to conduct ourselves; some of the things we have to think about,” sophomore Haley Ferguson said.

“For example, the ‘American smile’; we tend to smile at everyone and wave at everyone even if you do not know them here in the Midwest,” Ferguson said. “But that would be totally bizarre in France, things like that.”

The teachers taking these students will help the young adults know the ropes of French culture.  “French people care a lot about being polite,” Lumetta said, “It is really important to them. Sometimes Americans have this misconception that they do not like Americans, which is not true. They do like Americans, but it is important that they approach them in a polite way, saying ‘ma’am’ and ‘sir’ and ‘please’ and ‘thank you’. The French are a little bit more reserved with strangers than Americans are.”

While this may sound like a little work, it is one thing the students look forward to. “The food is very different. It is so incredibly fantastic: my favorite thing is the ice cream,” Lumetta said. “It is so much better than American ice cream, there is no other way to explain it. It is delicious and wonderful and I love it,” Lumetta said.

If the students do not find the food to be a nice enough reason to go, maybe it is the fact that their teachers will be traveling with them.

“I love Mme. Lumetta, spending any time with her would be great, especially since she is so against hanging out with me outside of school. I’m not bitter or anything,” senior Leah Rutliff said.

There are many other reasons students want to go to France; some want to see the museums and the monuments.

“Je vais aller au Louvre. [I am going to the Louvre.] I like art museums,” Ferguson said. “Getting to see the Mona Lisa would be nice, I have heard it is actually pretty tiny. I think we might be going to the Louvre; at least I hope we are. Also, just getting to see the ancient Roman ruins in Provence, which is Southern France, is going to be pretty cool.”

Others want the opportunity to shop until they drop. “I would love to shop. I want to go everywhere and just shop and buy everything I can,” Rutliff said. With the possibility of going to the Louvre, shopping and seeing ruins, these Frenchies are anxious to say au revoir to America and bonjour to France!