<p>My son left last night for his high school sophomore <em>year</em> abroad in France. He flew out of JFK to Paris – and is supposed to change planes for Marsellies. Apparently he has to change terminals. </p>
<p>He called at 5:10 (our time) this morning – collect of course! – to tell me that he’d gotten confused in the airport, got outside the terminal he arrived in, had to go back through security, and couldn’t figure out where to get his connecting flight. </p>
<p>His connecting flight is supposed to leave at 6:45 (our time) and I guess he must be on it or he would have called again. So now I’m UP and WORRIED. Posting on CC is better therapy than online shopping though right? (I already did that too!)</p>
<p>I’m sure he’ll be okay though Paris-CDG is a zoo (like O’Hare or JFK). If he misses his flight he can always take the TGV. It’s fun. My older S was mad about trains when he was little. We spent a whole morning at the Gare de Lyon watching TGVs depart.<br>
Where will he be spending the year? It sounds like fun!</p>
<p>He is going to be living with a family in Caderousse and attending high school in Orange. It looks like there are more flights to Marsellies if he missed that one – but I don’t think he did because he did not call back.</p>
<p>Caderousse is in Provence, north of Avignon, on the Rhone. It’s a little walled village, and when I first heard about it, I was thinking Roman ruins, but it turns out it was walled just 150 years ago for flood control!</p>
<p>My son said Paris-CDG is the worst. He has been using up frequent flyer miles and has had to use that airport as his european hub. He travels a lot and said he is always running there to catch his next flight. I haven’t been there since 1965! I am sure your son will figure it out and learn a good lesson as well. Sounds like a great year. I would have loved that sort of thing.</p>
<p>There is a program called flight stats online that I use to follow friends and family who are travelling to see if flights are on time etc. Then I watch the planes arrive, fly across the U.S. or whatever. I found it one time when my son texted me, contacted me like yours from CDG and said he was racing to make the flight and was it on time? I guess he was able to race and text. So I got the schedules and texted him back that it was.</p>
<p>cnp55 - Wow, a whole year abroad as a HS sophomore? That is a very brave and daring thing for him and you! Good for you! Freshmen year of college will be nothing in comparison. Give us updates throughout the year. Is he already fluent in French? Will his year abroad count for HS or will he have to make up the year? What an adventure for him.</p>
<p>And we hate the Paris airport, too. But we’ve not (yet) had any disasters there personally. Not even lost luggage, which seems to be the most frequent problem friends have.</p>
<p>I bet your son is on the flight. He likely had to rush to make it and could not then find a pay phone (I gather he does not yet have a French cell phone). You also can track the flight online. Do you have an arrangement with your son to call you when he arrives at his final destination? I would imagine you do (I always do with my kids) or if not, do you have the contact information for his host family? If so, call around the time your son should be arriving and check for your peace of mind. I’m sure if your son missed the flight, he would have called to tell you! </p>
<p>That is really something that he is spending his soph year in HS abroad. Very cool for him. Brave for you. </p>
<p>My D just returned from a summer in France but she is in college. I tracked her flight from Paris, though she also called when she was ready to board and also when she arrived in the US (not in our state). Your son is fine, don’t worry. Set up agreements for when he will call when traveling, etc. so you will not have to wonder. I do that and it helps (me!).</p>
<p>I’m an experienced international traveler, and even so I still often get confused in Paris-CDG airport. Unlike most airports, where to go next is not always well marked nor intuitive. But I always make it to my destination in the end though. I’m sure your son will too.</p>
<p>You were right to be thinking Roman ruins, cnp55, Orange has some of the best-preserved Roman architecture in Christendom. The Roman Theatre has perfect acoustics, and he may get the chance to see plays there. There is also an arena where I believe they still have bullfights.</p>
<p>Wow, what an incredibly lucky kid this is! And what a brave mom. I’m sure he has sorted with the connections now. </p>
<p>Keep posting about him. I think it’s absolutely great.</p>
<p>My son is a 16 year old sophomore. He has wanted to do this FOREVER. He goes to an independent day school in Connecticut that has been sending students on this “exchange” for 40 years.</p>
<p>You know how you have a sense of what your kid wants to do with his life when they are really little? S1 – engineer, manager, and serious athlete – and he is living that dream! S2 – different kid – international relations, politics, diplomacy. He demanded after school French lessons at age 8. Began French in 5th grade in public school. Completed third level French his freshman year and was elected to the national French honor society (the actual name escapes me – because I have no French-- just Spanish, Russian and Latin all from high school). </p>
<p>His school wanted to send him last year, as a freshman. They only require two years of French – and the kids come back totally fluent. He’ll sit the SATII in French while he’s there, and come back in AP French as a junior next fall. His school will give him credit for the normal sophomore program (except for Algebra 2 which he takes in two chunks, one completed this summer, one to be completed next summer).</p>
<p>He was to be met in Marseilles by the overseas program director and his host family – and since the flight landed hours ago and I have not heard of a problem, I am sure it’s all ok.</p>
<p>(BTW …this is not his first time in France. He was there with a tour group in March 2004 that travelled from Paris to Nice and many points in between.)</p>
<p>It was more emotional than I expected at the airport last night. I am so used to S1 shoving me out the door and waving goodbye – and he’s been that independent forever – that to have S2 all of a sudden be a little clingy was surprising. </p>
<p>I feel very fortunate – and yes this morning, quite brave – to be able to allow my son this opportunity.</p>
<p>What a fabulous opp for your S. I love Paris and France. I have spent summers there with my husband and S, who then was in h.s. I let my S (who doesn’t speak French) do a lot completely on his own, and he was fine.</p>
<p>Last time we were there, we connected with the h.s. age S of a friend. The guy, a rising senior, was in France living with a family as part of a summer program of his private school. He was doing absolutely fine, and was far more comfortable going around the big city than I was – and I had spent 2 other summers there.</p>
<p>It’s a wonderful place, and is very safe – far safer than the U.S. The only thing your S needs to be careful of is pickpockets particularly in the very busiest subway stations. He also should keep a copy of his passport page with his pix and number in it – just in case. My purse was stolen in Paris when I left it on my chair in a Holiday Inn while my H was sitting at the table. Unfortunately, my H got up to get a newspaper, and in those 2 minutes or so, my purse was stolen. I was able to get my passport replaced very quickly at the U.S. Embassey. And the Paris police officer who took my police report was very cool – as handsome as a movie star.</p>
<p>CDG is a zoo, the worst part of going to France. However, my sons – including the nonFrench speaker could figure it out easier than I could!</p>
<p>Another cyber ‘Atta girl’ for you cp. What a great gift to your son. What a grown up boy he is!!</p>
<p>If he’s a prospective Franco/IR nut, he should try to get to Geneva–the center of international affairs with French underpinnings. A former neighbor is a law prof, an Intl Law expert. She spent several years at the ICC <a href=“http://www.icc-cpi.int/[/url]”>http://www.icc-cpi.int/</a> --after gaining fluency in Paris.</p>
<p>He’s there! He just called from his host family’s home. He made his connection and was met by his family and the director. All is well! Thanks for the moral support.</p>
<p>Glad he has landed safely. I hope you’ll post about his adventures. Sounds like a fabulous experience, and you sound like a wonderful mom for allowing him to go to France.</p>