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GBHS junior spends month in France
Alicia is 16 years old and will be a junior at Gulf Breeze High School this year. Her curriculum includes calculus, English, US History, and chemistry. She will be the school band's flute section leader this year and the photographer for the Blue and Gold Newspaper. Her parents are Wade and Virginia Jeffery. Wade is a Professor at the Center for Environmental Diagnostics & Bioremediation at the University of West Florida and Virginia has been teaching photography at Pensacola Junior College but she will begin an art position at Tate High School this fall. This summer was not the first Alicia had spent in France but it was the first time that she had traveled alone. In 2004 and 2005 she went to Banyuls with her parents and brother, Ian. Alicia stayed with the Lebaron family; Philippe and Genevieve Lebaron and their two daughters, 15-yearold Lucie and 14-year-old Karine, who live in Banyuls sur Mer, France in the Midi-Pyrénées region. Philippe Lebaron is the director of the marine laboratory where Dr. Jeffrey worked in 2004 and 2005.
Her main assignment ended up being the correction of the English translations on the tourist material in the aquarium. The work ethnic there was different from the United States.
"It was a much appreciated change from the 25 minute rush I get in the high school cafeteria," Jeffrey said. She learned more of the language because her lab supervisor, Pascal Romans, had to give directions in French to other people in the lab who spoke limited English. "It became a test of how much French I could understand," she said. When Lucie and Karine Lebaron completed their school year Alicia really began to experience more of the French social culture. Their activities included: Going out with some of Lucie's and Karine's friends, going to the beach, hearing different types of music, attending a concert for a friend's Spanish guitar class, entertaining and being entertained by the Lebaron family and friends and day trips to nearby cities such as Port Vendres, Argeles sur Mer, Perpignan, and Montpellier. Alicia's night trips to the beach with the Lebaron family proved to be exciting adventures. One night they attended a music festival that turned out to be four types of music; the traditional music, Spanish guitar type music, a local teenage band playing all Red Hot Chili Peppers songs and the fourth was her favorite, a DJ playing European techno music. Another night she heard some African-sounding bongo beats coming from the stage where there had been music before. It turned out to be a big group of people from Spain just sitting around jamming. One of the guys spoke English and told her of "fire running tomorrow night." So a third night at the beach' she saw a Spanish parade procession that made its way down to the beach swinging fireworks over their heads and shooting them into the crowd. It was spectacular to watch and Alicia videotaped the event. One of Alicia's favorite excursions was her trip to "Argeles Adventure." It's a rope course with different swings and rope walks that is suspended very high off the ground. She and most of the Lebaron family worked their way through the easy and medium courses but of course Alicia wanted to try the hard course. "Each course ended in a zip line that landed you in a net; so since I knew this I decided I would try something I had seen one of the instructors do. I flipped upside down. I have to tell you it was pretty cool," she said. Alas, the four weeks ended and Alicia had to return home but about a week later the Lebaron family came to Gulf Breeze to visit with the Jeffrey family before continuing their vacation throughout the US. It was Alicia's turn to arrange for the Lebaron teenagers, Lucie and Karine, to experience her culture as she had experienced theirs. She took them to get pedicures, provided dress attire for them to attend the swing chronicles event at UWF, took them to one of her school band practices and introduced them to many of her friends. The two families also went to Pensacola Beach and to Blackwater River to kayak. Jeffrey's memorial trip to France this summer did improve both her understanding and communication of the French language and of the country's work and social culture. "I really do think that this experience has opened my eyes a bit further to the wonder of different cultures. I hope I will have many opportunities in the future to return to France and maybe visit other parts of Europe to begin learning their languages and culture," she said. |
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