Random pictures 2

Celebrating Easter American style!

 It took us a while to understand why we suddenly found ourselves in the middle of a Japanese cartoon or "anime" as they call them...it turns out there was a big festival and these people were all contestants of a "Cosplay" competition, where you dress like your favorite character.

 Boston looks very much like England, since it was founded by English settlers

There are many brick buildings.

A American truck delivering paper  

Boston's Red Sox famed baseball team is everywhere in the city. They won the World series in 2013.

Freedom Trail: how Boston became the cradle of Liberty - by Alix

Yesterday, friday the 3rd of april, we discovered the Freedom Trail. 

The Freedom Trail is a 2.5 mile (=4km) walking trail,marked with a bricked red line. 

In the 1950´s, Bostonians were determined to preserve the story of the American revolution : first they preserved 16 historically sites. There are : 
1. Boston Common, Boston's central park
2. Massachusetts State House
3. Park Street Church
4. Granary Burying Ground
5. King's Chapel
6. King's Chapel Burying Ground
7. Benjamin Franklin statue and former site of Boston Latin School
8. Old Corner Bookstore
9. Old South Meeting House
10. Old State House
11. Site of the Boston Massacre
12. Faneuil Hall et Quincy Market
13. Maison de Paul Revere
14. Old North Church
15. USS Constitution
16. Bunker Hill Monument

From all these sites, we only saw some of them. 
At the beginning, our guide,

 a really nice but crazy woman brought us to the Massachusetts State House, a beautiful building with a gold dome. There, she told us the history from this monument and from its architect 
Charles Bulfinch. 

She said she was a slave in 18th century Boston so she told us stories as they were told and heard among the more common folks. She screamed and grinned and she never broke character!

Then, we followed the red line on the floor up to the Brimstone Corner, where was the Park Street Church. It´s a Congregational church, which was founded in 1809 by members from the Old South Meeting Church. After some anecdotes, we went to the Granary Burying Ground, the 3rd oldest cemetery in Boston. The first settlers, famous people from the American Revolution War (Paul Revere, Samuel Adams) and signatories from the United States Declaration of Independence were burried here. 

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The cemetery has 2 345 graves, which are very well decorated : with demons and angels. 

After our visit, I interviewed our crazy guide:

1) Me- What´s the nationality of most of the tourists who come in Boston?
Guide- Boston is an international city, so people come from all over the world to discover it. 

2) Me- In your opinion, who has the worst English accent?
Guide- I cannot answer at this question, because nowadays every body can speak English; and it depends from one person to another. 

3) Me- Were you born in Boston? If yes, what are the main advantages to live here?
Guide- Yes I was born in Boston; and I think that the main advantage is that people here are really curious : they quetions a lot and want to know everyting. Then, another big advantage here is the History. Boston is, contrary to the other Amerincan cities, an old town. 

4) Me- And the main disadvanteges?
Guide- In my opinion, the main disadvantage to live in Boston is to be colored, to be black. Before people know you, you're judged and that´s a shame...

5) Me- Which monuments from the Freedom Trail do you prefer? And why?
Guide- My favourite place is the cemetery : it´s quiet and the atmosphere is so pleasant... I know that not everyone has the same opinion, but this place is incredible!
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Exchanges build bridges across the ocean

 American barbecue

Blurred picture, happy students

As you may see, yesterday was very windy...those terribly cold gusts of wind that made walking difficult reminded us that New England weather can be very aggressive...

BOSTON LATIN SCHOOL by Florent

After the harshest recorded winter in Boston history, spring has finally arrived but there are reminders that last winter was a snowpocalypse!

Boston latin school is the oldest school USA. Founded the April 23 1635, it now counts more than 23000 students from 7th to 12th grade. Their motto is: sumus primi, which means we are the first. Bls has been classed 62th best high school USA. Bls has alot of classrooms just for specific things like music theatre or painting. The cafeteria is enormous, but the food they give is pretty bad. They have the casual biology classes and a gymnasium. But they have something most of the high-school don't, a blackbox: beautiful place which is a theater. 

But for bigger events, they have a huge assembly hall, with the names of the most famous people who graduated at bls are written on the wall, ike John Fitzgerald Kennedy's father and Samuel Adams, who signed the Declaration of Independence.

During the class the history teacher showed us the ad for a game called assassins creed. He told us they were called hashassins because they consumed too much hashish, marijuana. The latin teacher made fun of me while I was reading but gently.
Bls counts alot of groups. Like Youth Can and the Wolfpack, their sport teams.
They finish school at 4:30 pm. But only have 20 minutes to eat.
The American system to school is different, there are 4 types of schools which differ by their teaching methods and their independence.

A classroom in BLS...American flags are everywhere.

 The school's color is purple and so are the lockers. On their birthday, students get their locker decorated and are paraded around the school with helium balloons attached to their bag and a silly hat.

 Sports are very important in the BLS and they have many teams. The best athletes join the "varsity" teams.

 The orchestra is rehearsing...a part from Leonard Bernstein's West Side Story. Did you know that he was a Boston Latin School alumni ( former student)? His name is engraved in Assembly Hall, next to John Fitzgerald Kennedy's father.

 A world map which shows where students have gone on school trips...many post-its in Europe!

In BLS, there are many projects going on, as there are 130+ clubs that students go to, when they have finished school at 2.15 pm. This student shows us the tee shirt she wore to raise awareness about the lack of safe drinking water in some parts of the world.

BLS has generous donors...

Celtics v/s Milwaukee: the Boston celtics experience! by Sara and Rayan

A typical American Basketball Game

The crowd was huge...many fans wore green t shirts and caps

the TD Garden arena...18000 fans screaming and cheering...

Today, Friday the 3rd, after a few hours of shopping, all of us went to watch the basketball game at the TD garden Boston Celtics VS Bucks Milwaukee. When we arrived the place was already crowded, most of the people were dressed in green or were wearing the Celtics' basketball outfit and they were from all ages, from little kids to elder people.

 We had to walk many stairs before getting to our seats and past through many fan shops and food stands, some of us bought food and some even got their Boston Celtics shirt or hat. The moment we sat down the game had already begun. From time to time we would scream "Go Celtics" or "De-fence" when our team had to defend. During the first two rounds the Celtics were leading the game (every round lasts 12 minutes) but sadly at the third round the Bucks took over and were always 10 points ahead the Celtics until the end (there are 4 rounds), so sadly they won. 

Even though we lost it was really entertaining and fun. Each time there was a break, cheerleaders would cheer us up and some lucky people catched sweaters which were thrown to the public. 

The last round was the best because everyone was really into the game and the screaming got louder and louder, they even elected the "best fan" and some of us went live on the big screen.  We left a few seconds before it was over because we knew we were going to lose and to avoid the queues, the score was 106 for the bucks and 95 for the Celtics. It was a very good show and a very pleasant evening for everyone.

We interviewed two Boston Celtics Fan during the half-time and here is the interview: 

•How long have you been a fan of the Celtics?

Fan 1: I've been a fan for all my life

Fan 2: Same

•Who's your favorite player?

Fan 1:I have many but mainly Kevin Garnett

Fan 2: Mine is Paul Pierce

•How many games did you watch here?

Fan 1: I've been to seven I guess

Fan 2: I've been to seven too

•Do you watch on TV too? 

Fan 1: Yes always 

Fan 2: Yes I do

•Do you think they'll win tonight?

an 1:Yes 

Fan 2:Absolutely

•What is basketball for you?

Fan 1:Basketball is life 

Fan 2:Basketball is everything!

Alix was in the Celtics mood!

Random pictures

 at the cafeteria

 Boston Public Library...

 makes you want to study!

 The first amendment gives US citizens the right to say whatever they want

 and protest against anything they want.

 The size of these pizzas? Like a bicycle wheel!

It's fun to stay at the YYYYYY M CA!

American food - part 2 by Victor

Today, we ate for the first time at the cafeteria of the school. The first thing that I noticed, is that they only have twenty three minutes to eat. That was very unusual for me, and we had to hurry up. 

Every 20 minutes, 800 students must be fed, so there are big lines

They have three rounds for lunch each one of twenty minutes, from eleven twenty am to twelve thirty-six. The cafeteria (where they eat) is very noisy during lunch. Some of the students bring their own food, but most of them eat the food that the school has. The students I have asked, all told me that the food isn't really good.  I have not tried it so I can't add my own judgment.

A slice of pizza at the cafeteria

because everything must be so quick, they use disposable plates and cutlery so that produces a lot of trash.