Ahoy! Me Hearties!! St. Malo 2024

This year our Honors group spent the week-end in St Malo for an extra-ordinARRRGHy visit of this famous pirate-town. The purpose of the trip was to wrap-up the theme of the week (Cultural discovery) and also bridge to next week's theme (awareness campaign see blog post here)

Saint- Malo is only a short 45-minute drive from Rennes so on the way the students had the opportunity to visit an incredible interactive museum called "La Malouinière de la Ville Bague"- a private mansion that is still owned and lived in by a private family who kindly welcomes tourists from all over the world.

With CIEE learning and discovery is always on the forefront of each activity. During an HSSA program, one of the goals is to discover the history and the culture of each country. 

The students boarded the bus and departed from Rennes on Saturday morning. Once arrived in Cancale (small town near St. Malo) we entered the property through the gardens which gave the impression that we were "almost" in Versailles. The students were in awe and you could already hear the "wow's" and "gasps" of astonishment. That was only the beginning. 

After meeting the owners of the property, the students divided in two groups to facilitate the tour. We, then entered the house and started with the kitchen. It was an incredible experience for the students to see a living environment surrounded by so much ancient architecture and objects still in use on a daily basis. For example, the kitchen has a beautiful chimney as the sole source of heat for the entire home. The visit continued to the dining room -with a table set with an unbelievable number of utensils all made for a specific type of dish. Did you know that there is a different spoon to eat strawberries OR raspberries? Oh and if you don't like the bubbles in your champagne, well, there is a tool for it also.

The last part of the visit was probably the most favorite of all because it was the room with weapons Corsairs used to fight their adversaries and capture the goods to bring back to the King of France. The students learned that these "pirates" (called corsairs) were law-abiding citizens mandated by the King of France to support French commerce. 

Once the cultural and historical experience was over, the students returned to the bus en route for the beach for a picnic and more importantly to learn the importance of protecting our environment.