CHOLET UPDATE - October 31, 2010 - "Letters, Dates & The Riviera"
225 DAYS TO DEPARTURE!!
Bonjour, les voyageurs et les parents!
In the last update, I mentioned there were a few other items I wanted to address. I will do that today. But first, some more good news....
We're now at 16!! . Since the last update, two new travelers have joined. Welcome Jessica and Erica Robertson. It's always a good sign when a past traveler (Erica) chooses to do it all again. It's also nice when younger siblings (the case with Jessica as well as Kelli) of past travelers enroll. Hopefully that means their parents felt the program was worthwhile when the older siblings were a part of it. Some statistics [and I may be the only one who finds them interesting]: (a) We now have three sets of siblings on our trip; and (b) This will be the third straight trip where I have a pair of Robertsons. The updated list of travelers is at the bottom of this page.
Letters: I can't say for sure whether our not more travelers will join us. But, regardless, we need to take the next step that relates to the Cholet portion ... matching Fairview students with Cholet hosts. I need each of you to write a letter introducing yourself to the students of the Lycée Renaudeau. I will send these letters to Madame Bouvier, her students will read them and they will try to choose the best possible matches. If you were involved in the October 2008 exchange, you'll recall that Fairview students read letters from Cholet in order to pick whom they would host.
What should you include in these letters? First and foremost, talk about yourself and your interests. The best matchings occur when you share interests with your correspondant/correspondante (even with a language barrier). If you are a French student, write in French and in English. Make sure that your French portion is written by you. That way, your correspondant will have a more accurate idea of your French ability. Don't be afraid to make mistakes. As you correspond with your hosts between now and June, you'll see that they make mistakes, too. (I STILL make mistakes - in French and in English...It's OK!). For our non-French studying travelers, mention that you don't take French. A host who knows English or Spanish will be easy to find.
Other things you may want to include in these letters. Feel free to include a picture (I will also send pictures to Mme Bouvier). You may want to mention any pet allergies you have [I can only recall one pet allergy problem over the years, and that was here. We needed to find a new host for a Cholet girl after the first night.], if you are vegetarian, about your family and pets. Talk about what you are looking forward to about France, in general, and specifically the homestay.
What is really great is when you meet your host for the first time in person and you feel like you already know each other!! Please see if you can get those to me by November 19.
Dates . (I'll try to make this as "unconfusing" as possible.) Something that is not unusual for travel companies is to ask us for some flexibilty regarding our departure date. In order to book blocks of space on airlines and in hotels, EF guarantees that we will depart "within four days of our requested date". (See the second paragraph under "Group Travel" in column 2 of the Booking Conditions. As it stands right now, our requested date is Monday, June 13, meaning we could leave anywhere between June 9 and June 16. Don't worry, I have made it VERY clear to Garrett (our EF Tour Consultant) that we CANNOT leave before our graduation on June 10. (And to make things even tighter, my daughter's graduation party is scheduled for June 11.) Nobody will miss graduation. And to further complicate things, we need to fit our exchange prior to the tour and I do NOT want to arrive in Cholet on a Saturday (since that reduces the number of weekend activities we can do).
To completely guarantee a departure no earlier than June 12, I could change our "requested departure date" to June 15. Of course, that could also result in a departure date as late as Sunday, June 19. That would cause a return date of July 3 (or July 5 if we take the extension to the Riviera).
Before I even consider such a change, I need to check with you. Parents, what is the absolute latest your child can return? Please know that I will do my best to keep to our June 13 request. We will not miss graduation!
Two-day extension. So far only four parents have let me know their thoughts on the extension. See the last update for that info. I do not want to make a decision without everbody's input. If you haven't already done so, please let me know. You can even do this in the same e-mail with your thoughts on the possible date change.
That's not all, but that's enough for this update. Until next time, Au revoir!
The Latest Roster
Sophomores : Allison Boncella, Megan Cooper, Brigid Louis, Sara Matczak, Jessica Robertson, Krysta Wagner
Juniors: Alex Borowski, Lauren Cooper, Christine Wilson
Seniors: Nick Ingram, Corey Kinsel, Kara Mihalic, Erica Robertson, Kelli Rossman, Kevin Steehler, Stephen Steehler
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