The Program ended on Thursday.
Most of the students have left Faverges, some returning to the
US, others heading for other destinations in France. The photo
at left shows students in the pre-dawn hours Thursday, as they
boarded the bus for the 90-minute ride to Geneva airport... Jessica
has gone on to Colmar (Alsace) for an internship with Timken.
Jon and Jen have headed south for a short stay on the Mediterranean
coast. Renée is staying in the Alps a few days more to
sort through her color slides and enjoy the scenery.
I have enjoyed
receiving e-mail comments from family, friends, and teachers
of the students who have followed the Program's progress through
the reports posted here on the web. I have taken the liberty
of posting a letter just received today from a UA graduate who
has been following the trip reports:
Dear Faverges page responsible
and Faverges students,
I just took a look at your
pages and I was surprised by the quality of your work.
As an international UA-graduate
(MBA-1998) from Belgium, I felt really close to the students
who took the chance to enjoy this wonderful trip. It is such
an interesting experience to study a language in another country,
I would suggest it to everybody.
I think all of you had a wonderful
stay in France, I hope you all got home safely !!!
Best Regards
Jurgen Vandervelde
Mezenoord 16
1820 PERK - BRUSSELS (BELGIUM)
|
Thus ends this
final page in our 1999 report on The University of Akron's Summer
Study Program in the French Alps.
On the strictly
academic side, our class contact-hours where composition, reading,
conversation and civilization were covered, exceed the requirements
of an entire fifteen-week semester's class on campus in Akron.
To this intensive
curriculum, the immersion in French host families afforded many
more hours of conversation and exchanges that could never be
met in a classroom situation on campus.
The acquisition
and constant practice of the language are however only part of
the benefits of the Program. Traveling and living in one of the
most picturesque regions of the world has been of course the
focus of the coverage of these reports on the internet. Yet,
beyond the enjoyment of discovering Paris, Roman arenas and the
fabled Alps, beyond the mere "travelogue" aspect of
the reports (who indeed would aim the camera only at school books
and classrooms!), students came in personal contact with ancient
history, art, architecture, customs, but most of all with a different
way of living in a modern democratic society. Close observation
of different sets of values, family life, schools, transportation
networks, health care system, news coverage, as well as social
concerns in France, have given our students a new perspective
on how people live and prosper on the "old continent"
of Europe at the dawn of the third millennium.
Students are
now returning home tired by the pace of the last six weeks, but
enriched for a lifetime in their view of the world. Their professor,
utterly exhausted by weeks of preparation, covering details such
as budget, travel planning, lodging, scheduling, guiding of excursions
. . . as well as teaching practically non-stop, finds great satisfaction
and pride in the priceless results of the Program.
To end the reports,
it seemed appropriate to put in a photo of tonight's sunset over
Lake Annecy.
Bon été
à tous et à toutes! (Good summer to all!)
