LaurenHicks

“I love that this is a trip about not just learning French,” Madame Janet Tuttle said. “But learning to be independent.”

Over spring break, 14 juniors and seniors from French III and French IV, as well as Tuttle and Dr. Sharon Genoways, traveled to Nice, France to immerse themselves in the city’s culture.

They were supposed to leave Omaha at 1:30 p.m. on March 7, but their flights got cancelled and they didn’t end up leaving until 7 p.m.

That wasn’t the end of their mishaps. Their next flight, out of Minneapolis, was rescheduled for 5 p.m. on Sunday, meaning they had a whole day to spend in Minnesota. Tuttle said that the girls were very good sports about their impromptu trip to the Mall of America and an unexpected night at a hotel.

Finally, half of the group arrived in Nice Monday morning, as the other half missed their flight. 

“Half of us were in one TSA line and half of us were in the other,” senior Quinn Tomlinson explained. “Ours was so slow that we missed our flight to Nice.”

On Monday afternoon, both groups reunited and their time in France began.

“Every day, we went to school for three hours and learned some new French phrases. Then, we went on a tour with our tour guide around Nice and explored the city,” Tomlinson said. “I really got a taste of day-to-day French life and experienced some amazing things.”

During the trip, girls got to take train rides by the Mediterranean, visit Monaco, one of the richest cities in the world, and take French classes at a local Nice school.

“I would like to go back to the French school,” junior Jo McAlpine said. “I feel like it helped me feel more confident in my French speaking skills.”

At the end of their day, pairs of students would return to their different host families around the city, enjoying a meal together.

“I would definitely stay with a host family again. They were super kind,” Tomlinson said. 

Students were split up into pairs and assigned different host families around the city, assigned by Tuttle. Every night, the girls would share a dinner with their host family as a sign of gratitude for letting them stay in their homes.

“It’s really exciting to see them get more brave in trying their French. A couple of girls were just terrified, but by the end of the week, they were popping into stores and were so comfortable, and that’s what I love about it,” Tuttle said.

McAlpine said she found herself mostly saying “je ne comprends pas,” which means “I do not comprehend,” but she said she still felt “confident enough to communicate with the French and ask questions.”

The next trip to Nice will be during Spring Break 2028 and will be open to current freshmen and sophomores if they continue to take upper-level French courses. The trip cost around $3700 to travel abroad for the week.

“This trip is a great way to practice what we have learned in the classroom and experience the culture firsthand,” McAlpine said.

If you want to broaden your horizons on different cultures and experience some independence, this trip is an amazing way to do so.

“It opens your view of the world and makes you more understanding of other people. Many of these girls have not gone anywhere without their parents, and it’s a great lesson in being self-reliant and making decisions,” Tuttle said.