{"id":6239,"date":"2016-05-27T11:09:26","date_gmt":"2016-05-27T09:09:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lagiraudiere.com\/blog\/?p=6239"},"modified":"2016-06-03T11:33:24","modified_gmt":"2016-06-03T09:33:24","slug":"gap-year-south-west-france","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lagiraudiere.com\/blog\/gap-year-south-west-france\/","title":{"rendered":"South West France ?  Mais j&#8217;ai de la chance!"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Southwest France proves to be an invaluable addition to this American&#8217;s gap year.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Katherine, a nineteen-year-old taking the opportunity to learn about the world by exploring it, arrived on the scene in South West France Monday, May 2nd. \u00a0Afforded\u00a0a range of tasks to tackle, she has pruned some hedges, taken over the emails and blog , and has tried her hand at rendering\u00a0exterior walls. \u00a0One of her absolute favorite parts of the whole experience, however, was the first six-course lunch at Le Poirier in Bardenac, a filling and varied gastronomic experience all in one bowl and two plates. (See more about chez Poirer at their<a href=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pages\/Restaurant-Poirier-Bardenac\/368638863259422\"> FaceBook page<\/a>)<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_6323\" style=\"width: 410px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.lagiraudiere.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/american-volunteer-gap_year-katherine.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-6323\" class=\"wp-image-6323 size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/www.lagiraudiere.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/american-volunteer-gap_year-katherine-400x600.jpg\" alt=\"Katherine takes a coffee break after a full day rendering a balcony wall in South West France\" width=\"400\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.lagiraudiere.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/american-volunteer-gap_year-katherine-400x600.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.lagiraudiere.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/american-volunteer-gap_year-katherine-200x300.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.lagiraudiere.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/american-volunteer-gap_year-katherine.jpg 1851w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-6323\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Coffee respite after a day rendering in South West France<\/p><\/div>\n<p>The international, ever-changing community of La Giraudi\u00e8re has proved to be quite the learning experience for Katherine. \u00a0A\u00a0colorful cast of characters\u00a0come\u00a0and\u00a0go\u00a0like the tides, making for many shared stories and quick smiles. \u00a0The surrounding countryside hasn&#8217;t stopped filling her with awe, be it because of the light purple wisteria partout (everywhere) or the gorgeous golden sunset that starts around 9:00 in the evening, creating a paradise Midas could never have dreamed of, and\u00a0draws to a close\u00a0around 10:00, allowing a multitude of stars to take its place.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_6327\" style=\"width: 594px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.lagiraudiere.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/volunteers-lunch-bardenac-le_poirier.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-6327\" class=\"size-large wp-image-6327\" src=\"https:\/\/www.lagiraudiere.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/volunteers-lunch-bardenac-le_poirier-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"Volunteers get together for a group picture during their six-course lunch at Le Poirier in Bardenac\" width=\"584\" height=\"389\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.lagiraudiere.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/volunteers-lunch-bardenac-le_poirier-800x533.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.lagiraudiere.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/volunteers-lunch-bardenac-le_poirier-60x40.jpg 60w, https:\/\/www.lagiraudiere.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/volunteers-lunch-bardenac-le_poirier-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.lagiraudiere.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/volunteers-lunch-bardenac-le_poirier-450x300.jpg 450w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 584px) 100vw, 584px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-6327\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The group at Le Poirier, Bardenac, thoroughly enjoying themselves<\/p><\/div>\n<p>A student of French, Katherine is fully engaged in Friday morning lessons with the uncompromising and spectacular Lyn.\u00a0 She hopes one day to become fluent, as it would be fascinating to know the world through another language, a\u00a0different pattern of describing (and sometimes shaping) one\u2019s experiences.<\/p>\n<p>As her four weeks in southwest France draw to a close, Katherine would like to express her gratitude for this enlightening opportunity in an environment in which people of all sorts work together to make positive progress &#8212; in their lives and on the project.<\/p>\n<p><em>Like to volunteer or maybe an internship? See how you can explore <a href=\"http:\/\/lagiraudiere.com\/\">South West France<\/a> without breaking the bank.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Southwest France proves to be an invaluable addition to this American&#8217;s gap year. Katherine, a nineteen-year-old taking the opportunity to learn about the world by exploring it, arrived on the scene in South West France Monday, May 2nd. \u00a0Afforded\u00a0a range &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.lagiraudiere.com\/blog\/gap-year-south-west-france\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[259,101,115,311,103],"tags":[213,333,123,185,16,133,32,335,35],"class_list":["post-6239","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-gap-year","category-learning-french-2","category-students","category-volunteer","category-volunteering","tag-american-volunteer","tag-bardenac","tag-community","tag-cultural-exchange","tag-france","tag-gap-year","tag-la-giraudiere","tag-le-poirier","tag-volunteer-abroad"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lagiraudiere.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6239","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lagiraudiere.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lagiraudiere.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lagiraudiere.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lagiraudiere.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6239"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.lagiraudiere.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6239\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6343,"href":"https:\/\/www.lagiraudiere.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6239\/revisions\/6343"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lagiraudiere.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6239"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lagiraudiere.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6239"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lagiraudiere.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6239"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}