Fougères Favorites

Favorite thing: When you're travelling through France, learn about the towns you visit! Even if you're not a packrat, pick up the free brochures and pamphlets each town and historical site offers to tourists. It usually provides background history on where you're visiting - things that you might not discover if you were to just walk around and explore without any other sources of information. Here's a brochure on Fougeres that the family I stayed with gave to me when I arrived. 'Fougeres - A town of art & history, Fougeres - a varied heritage'.

Fondest memory: is getting in the local Fougeres newspaper! When I got back home, I received a postcard and a letter from the Renard family. Apparently our school visiting their school was newsworthy ;) and hey, quite frankly, I completely agree with them! (BTW - click on the picture - I'm in it!)

Fondest memory: was just being there! And on a completely other note, here's a picture of the teachers that brought us to France: M. Powell, Mme Tremblay, M. Gaulin, and Mme Leptich (all standing in the parking lot of Terese St.Pierre school)

Fondest memory: was visiting the school Terese St-Pierre the second full day we were in Fougeres. I was able to sit in during their English class. The teacher assigned us to read parts of a book to her class so her students could hear a 'proper English accent' - of course, once we started to read, the students looked confused and looked up at their teacher with questioning eyes, almost as if to say, 'are you SURE that's a proper accent?!' The teacher then chuckled and told us, 'They're used to hearing accents from England, they're not used to hearing Canadian accents'. It was rather funny all together. We were able to tour around the entire school, and we also had lunch at their cafeteria. Here's a picture of the Canadian students and the students of Terese St-Pierre infront of the school before we left.

Fondest memory: staying with the Renard family. Here was the bedroom that I shared with Charline and Morgane. In fact, there's a picture of Morgane on the wall to the left of my bed. I really appreciated how much they made me feel at home. When I arrived, there were even dolls on my pillow. How cute! :)

Favorite thing: remember that 'A Fougeres, on est comme ca!' This was part of a gift given to me by the Renard family. It's a sticker (though looking a bit more raggedy than I remember). This basically means that, 'In Fougeres, we're like this!' - and the Britanny region in France is shaped like a thumbs up sign, hence the thumbs up! And it really is true! In Fougeres, they ARE like that!

Fondest memory: is waking up to go to school with Charline, and realizing how beautiful the surroundings really were. (Keep in mind I arrived here first at night after dark, so I had no idea where exactly I was). It was gorgeous, that crisp October morning with the fog rolling ove the hills and the cows munching the grass across the street. It was such a relaxing, comforting environment.

Fondest memory: was staying with the Renard family in their country-side home nearby Fougeres. They were such a happy, caring family that made me feel like one of their own. Here's Nadine, 4-year-old Coralie, Charline and Yves. Their older daughter Morgane and their baby Lucille aren't in the picture. I stayed with them for 3 nights and it was wonderful! They really made me feel at home.