4th of July reception at City Hall in Saint-Brieuc + World Cup + Visit to the seminary

On the 4th of July, we were invited to a reception at City Hall. Two students spoke about their experience in the program, and all the students later sang both the French and US national anthems. We later enjoyed refreshments provided by the city. Please don't forget to click on the YouTube links to watch the speech and our students sing the anthems!

As many of you may know, France has been doing well in the World Cup, and as of last night we beat Belgium in the semi-finals and we'll be progressing to the World Cup final Sunday evening. We are truly lucky to be in France during this exciting time! Students have picked up on how to celebrate France's progress from the locals and have been wearing face paint, hats, and flags, and they have been cheering the French soccer team. ALLEZ LES BLEUS !!

On Friday, we were invited to visit the Maison Saint-Yves, a former seminary and current seat of the Bishop of Bretagne. We heard about the history of the site and toured the renovated areas which include many references to Bretagne and Breton culture. We then were able to vist the chapel which is unique in the Catholic Church as it is adorned in the Art Deco style. We later went to the crypt where we ran into the Bishop who was very excited to welcome a group of American students to his diocese. Lastly we were able to visit the archives of the library which have one of the most extensive collection of records and religious texts dating from as early as the 14th century. This is unique as many documents were destroyed during the French Revolution at city halls, but the Church was able to protect many such texts.