13 Things I Learned After A Middle School Trip to Paris

 #1     You get really good at counting numbers. My special number was 6. (# of students that I was responsible for) out of the 24

Palace of Versailles

 #2     Make sure every student knows what stop they are getting off at on the Metro (one girl missed the train but thank goodness got on the next train as she knew when we were getting off, only 1 stop away)

Garden of Palace of Versailles

Inside one of the many churches

#3     Make sure you get a guide who knows where to go and can speak fluent French (Our guide was Canadian and had only lived in Paris for 4 years. He hadn’t done hardly any of the activities we were doing so basically he was tagging along experiencing everything for the first time as OUR guide!)


 






#4     You get really good at realizing that a student is lying to your face (Two kids got in a fight and one had scratches on his face. He said he fell in the shower) Oh yah?

Notre Dame

#5     Middle school students don’t really care about all the art and places that you see. They only want to shop and shop and wait… shop.

  

#6     Make sure that the chaperones get different meals from the kids. The kids meals consisted of chicken and French fries for 4 dinner meals. Every night was almost chicken due to the Muslim culture.

Chateau de Chenonceau of the Loire Valley

Chateau de Chambord which was a hunting lodge. 440 rooms and 280 fireplaces. See the chimneys?

#7     A student says ‘Are you sure this meal is Halal? I don’t think I can eat it….Can we go to McDonalds instead?’ Yah, cause McDonald’s meat is definitely Halal! Are you serious?

Sacre de Coeur- Sacred Heart. The cathedral in Montmartre

#8     Rich kids don’t care how much money they spend. Someone gave 20 Euros to a street performer! In addition, one student brought 3,000 Euros to Paris for 10 days! Again, they don’t care.

 
#9     These students have a hard time standing in a museum for 1 hour. My group left me in a museum to go sit down somewhere when I said it was important to stick together. I turn around and they are gone. It is packed with people. I told them before that if we ever got lost, go to the entrance. 20 minutes of searching I go to the entrance. They are all waiting for me with their heads down. I did not see Van Gogh’s ‘Starry Night’ because I was looking for my kids who were too lazy to stand up in a museum full of incredible art.

The Opera House

#10     Some students act very differently outside of school than inside of school. Wow! Breakfast, lunch, dinner and ‘homework club’ with Ms. Howell in the evenings really made me tired of hanging out with these Grade 7’s, despite their long lasting enthusiasm.
#11   Some chaperones on your trip will do the minimum…Wake up calls, lights out, homework club, voice monitoring in the hall way…can you guess who did those every day?

The seats at the Opera House

 






#12    Don’t go to Euro Disney in Paris on a school trip…The students will say that is the ultimate highlight of their trip when there are so many other amazing things in Paris that were far better. Just take Euro Disney off the trip list. Especially for me who was supervising one of the kids who got in a fight! He says, ‘It is really weird going on roller coasters with your PE teacher.’ I say, ‘Well, I like to have fun too and you are stuck with me. So there.’

Spiral staircase down the Arc de Triumphe

 

The Arc de Triumphe

Invalides- Where Napoleon is buried

#13    I have never seen so many kids interested in a high five reward for taking the stairs instead of the escalator!


All in all, I enjoyed the amazing architecture, history, and art of Paris and at most times, the kids. But the next time someone says ‘You are so lucky, you get to go on a vacation to Paris!’ Let me remind you that...


It is NOT a vacation