Have you ever wanted to go travel to the famed City of Light?

At the beginning of the year, the World Language Department announced that there would be a trip to France during winter break in 2019.

BFA has always had a tradition of traveling abroad during the winter breaks. This year it was French teacher, Kristi Leet’s turn to choose the destination and naturally she chose France.

An article in The Atlantic titled Traveling Teaches Students in a Way School Can’t said; “When I turned 15, my parents sent me alone on a one-month trip to Ecuador, the country where my father was born…My family’s plan worked. That month in Ecuador did more for my character, education, and sense of identity than any other experience in my early life.”

So how does the planning of the trip work?

Lydia Batten is the head of the World Language Department at BFA.

“In our department, we have had an understood rotation of teachers who could do trips or choose to take a trip abroad,” Batten said.

Each teacher has their own reason for going on a trip. For the French teacher Kristi Leet, the reason was not a difficult one.

“There are actually a lot of countries that speak French, I could have gone to Belgium, Switzerland, a country in Africa. But why France? I feel like I could find more travelers. I feel like I could find a decent sized group of people who are interested to go to France, mostly Paris because we see Paris in the news, we see Paris online, we see Paris on posters. On TV every teenage drama show has at least one character who has the Eiffel Tower on her wall. We’re just so familiar with it as the American people and sometimes dream about it as this romantic city,” Leet said.

The trip will not just be in Paris, according to the itinerary. On the fifth day of the trip the group will be traveling via train down to the Provence region of France. The trip will start on Feb. 23, 2019.

How do students sign up?

“There is an online registration site through Prométour. Students should see me if they are looking for more information or if they are at the point where they would like to sign up. And I will give them a sheet with all the directions as to how to sign up online,” Leet said.

The trip is expensive: the total cost for students is $3251 for the cheapest option.

“It’s through the registration site, the Prométour site, most people do a monthly payment plan, an automated monthly payment plan, where there are monthly payments on your credit card or debit card for, it depends on when you sign up. It’s in the $300 range if you start paying now, and it’s due in November. It depends on when you sign up and which type of rooming you sign up for. Some people don’t choose that option and they want their own payment plan so they choose the manual payment plan on the website. And there is also a pay in full option,” Leet said.

America may be a good country, but staying in it doesn’t always change a person’s views.

“It’s always good to touch base with a different culture,” Batten said.

With eight students already committed to taking the trip, a few more culture thirsty intrepid souls will help make the trip become a reality.