A day of “Chateauing” in France
Written by Nashua Springberry, Foster Undergraduate
A great part about going to Audencia is the International Connection Team (commonly referred to as the IC Team). Audencia has a large amount of exchange students. This is largely due to a requirement that each Audencia student has to spend a semester aboard before they can graduate which means that have a lot of partnerships with universities all over the world, and consequently a lot of students doing an exchange at Audencia. For example, in one of my classes there were students from France, Germany, Spain, Austria, The Unites States, China, the Philippines, Korea, India, Colombia, Uruguay, Mexico, Nigeria, and Brazil – all in one class!!! The IC Team’s job is to help integrate all of these internationals students into the Audencia community and help make their time at Audencia incredible – quite the daunting task. As part of this mission they would frequently organize events and excursions, once such excursion was a day trip to two Chateaus in France – complete with a wine tasting, a classic French picnic and 6 hours of driving all over France’s Western Loire region.
The day started early with the charter bus leaving Audencia around 8am. We proceeded to go the first Chateau. Where we were given a grand tour of the subterranean residence where some of the Chateaus first occupants would flee to in times of siege. We also toured their ancient kitchens and some residential rooms. At the conclusion of the tour we tasted some wine from the Chateau’s very own vineyards. We then proceeded to have an enormous French picnic which consists of several key elements, they are: wine, banquets, salami, cheese, and more wine. Afterwards we continued on to the next Chateau. Most of the group passed out at this point but not before the IC team president got done interviewing trip attendees from different countries. Being an American I was not exempt from this and got grilled in front of the entire bus on such exciting topics as: French government officals (could I name the PM of France?), the French Language, French culture, and French women. Finally we arrive at the second and final Chateau. This huge chateau was chalk full of tourists and was built onto a river. I toured the Chateau’s extensive gardens while making deepening connections with other international students. The whole trip was very satisfying and we concluded the day with a group photo. A group of students from all different backgrounds brought together to enjoy beautiful ancient architecture, French history, good wine, and most importantly – good company.
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