The study abroad sessions will include time spent visiting popular sites across Europe, and also time spent in our Chateau de la Grifferaie. Here’s how each day at the chateau usually looks like:

9:00 am-9:50 am Optional breakfast (fresh croissants, fruit, pain au chocolate, yogurt, cereal, coffee and juice. The pastries in France are baked each day and are amazing).

10 am-12noon we’ll convene for class. For this first half we’ll be reading through the New Testament.and discussing points of interest.

12 pm-1:15 pm Lunch time

1:15 pm-3 pm. In the second half we will do a reading survey of the Old Testament.

Around 3:30 pm we typically enjoy a “pause gourmande”, which translates as a ‘tasty pause or sweet pause’. It’s a fun time to hang out and enjoy tea and tasty treats. This was a favourite tradition for several of our students last year. After class, students are free for the rest of the day to relax, do homework, exercise, or be social.

6pm Dinner. Meals were a highlight all last year. One student said that it felt like Thanksgiving each night:) Each of us take turns helping out in the kitchen, doing dishes, and fulfilling duties as the “Butler”. It was fun.

Last year, we found the rhythms of the day to be very healthy for mind and soul. We also place a priority on getting enough sleep, because…. why not? Everything is better with enough sleep. “Lights out” are at midnight, and with optional breakfast from 9am-9:45am, there is no reason not to be well-rested:) This year we’re going to secure a couple bikes, or electric scooters so that students can also buzz into Baugé our local town. Our village of Echemiré also has a small restaurant that has an impressive coffee machine (though we also have our own semi-auto espresso maker in the chateau).

While we’re at the chateau we’ll also do several day trips to places like Tours, Angers, Saumur, the Puy de Fou, Chateau d’Ussé and others. And in the middle of our Chateau term, we’ll take a mid-term break for a few days so students will have a chance to add their own side trip to a location of their choosing (say London), or remain at the Chateau for some down time.