Immersive Experiences
Strasbourg & Paris, 2022
Andover High School has a long-standing partnership with Lycée Kléber, located in Strasbourg, France. In March 2022, I participated in a ten-day immersion program to improve my French communication skills and experience daily life in Alsace. I lived with a Franco-Allemand family for the first week, then finished the trip in Paris with an EF guide.
Sister Cities
In 1960, Boston and Strasbourg entered a sister-city association to increase opportunities for educational, cultural, and innovative exchanges. AHS students had the opportunity to learn about the history of this international relationship through a parting ceremony at the government, along with new efforts to have carbon neutral conservation in Strasbourg as both cities strive for technological advancements.
Lycée Kléber
Kléber is one of many public schools in Strasbourg, serving around 2000 studnets at the high school level. A middle school (collège) is located on the same campus, and students often intermingle in the green quad between buildings. Notably, Kléber has an open-campus model for lunches and has a bicycle garage available to students.
While in Strasbourg, I quickly picked up on certain cultural differences in the way that students from Andover and Strasbourg go about their days. At Lycee Kelber, students remain at school until 6 pm and sports practices are relegated towards short weekend periods. In cotnrast, sport pratices in. In addition, studnets in strabourg have the opporutnity to take supplmenetary classes at other high schools in the city should it be the case that their home school does not offer a certain class. Andover High SChool offers virtual high school (VHS) classes in advance placement courses not currently offered; however, other classes are simply not avaiaiblle.
Excursions
From Monday to Thursday, I went on partial-day excursions with AHS classmates to surrounding villages and Strasbourg Landmarks.
Council of Europe
The Council of Europe is a multi-national, democratic advisory council consisting of 46 member states. During our visit, we learned that nations wishing to join the Council must first abolish the death penalty.
Obernai and Colmar
These villages are easily accessible to Strasbourg via train and feature medieval German architecture. Colmar is the birthplace of Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi, who designed the Statue of Liberty.
Musee D'orsay
Vincent The main hall in the Musée D'Orsay is situated in a converted train station with beautiful coffered ceilings. There, we saw Hellenistic sculpture work from ancient Greece and Rome. This museum is also home to an impressive collection of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist artwork, featuring collections from Vincent Van Gogh, Félix Vallotton, and Paul Gauguin.
Sacre Coeur
We ventured up into the Montmartre quarter to visit the Sacré-Coeur Basilica. Afterwards, we ate dinner at a restaurant themed around Alphonse Mucha and the Art Nouveau movement. Historically, this neighborhood has housed many artists including Claude Monet, Edgar Degas, and Pablo Picasso.