Au revoir!

Friday was an AMAZING day.   We climbed to the top of the Eiffel Tower, enjoyed a lunch in a lovely little restaurant in Montmartre, and spent some time in the Place du Tertre watching the many artists and shopping for those precious souvenirs.  We took the train from Paris Nord to Enghien-les-Bains for the last time.  The students are pros now on the train!  We met early Saturday morning to take our bus to the airport.  This was a very emotional moment for all, as we were so sad to say good-bye to our French families but also very ready to return home to our American families and friends.  The bus was very quiet as we drove to the airport...   At the airport we learned that the group flying through Chicago was delayed and hour and a half... meaning we might not make our connecting flight and we would have to stay the night in Chicago!  We were worried about this during the flight, but we were soooo lucky that they held the plane for us and expressed us through customs so that we could make it to Des Moines by 6 Saturday evening.   The group flying through Dallas made it home a few hours later.  This  has been an incredible experience for me as a teacher.  I feel so lucky to have had the opportunity to take these students to France to actually experience the language and culture.  Every time I travel abroad it changes me, and as I look at the pictures of the students before and after the trip I can see that it changed them as well.  I am so grateful to Marilyn Baszczynski for traveling with us and leading this adventure with me.  Merci beaucoup Madame!  Au revoir la France!  À la prochaine fois!   Mme Rezek