Celebrating Final Day of Winterim in Song

Students who participated in the songwriting course performed in concert at an end-of-Winterim concert on Friday.

On the Job Training During Winterim

From Nashville to Washington DC, from New York to London, from Paris to Abu Dhabi, Harpeth Hall juniors and seniors have stretched their comfort zones and expanded their knowledge in varied industries as part of the internship program of Winterim.

Last Day of Winterim On Campus

Friday, January 22 was the last day of the 37th year of Winterim. On campus, freshmen and sophomores marked the day with an assembly showcasing the singing/songwriting. Throughout the campus, students displayed their works -- beautifully crafted hand-made books, oil paintings, etchings, ceramics, masks and still lifes. Engaging conversations were held in numerous classrooms as students concluded the three weeks with more knowledge on topics ranging from "gender roles" to "media and race." In "China: Virtual Tour," Chinese teacher Mrs. Jurca prepared an authentic Chinese meal for her students to conclude the session.

Solar Car Video

View students' solar car in the Designing Women Winterim cours.

The Green Home

In the "Designing Women" Winterim course, students works on their scale models of the green home.

Bringing homelessness to Harpeth Hall

From Students Maddie and Jessica:
Last week, freshmen and sophomore Spirit of Service (SOS) officers held a walk around campus to raise awareness of poverty and homelessness, SOS's third quarter focus. Teachers dressed in ragged jackets and hats posed as homeless people and held posters displaying various facts and statistics. The various scenes displayed on the walk route included a tent city, homeless veterans, and a homeless couple playing a guitar for money. The walk also included a jelly bean guess to incorporate a visual to which students could relate. The walk incorporated aspects of last year’s walk, but as said by a sophomore, "It was a great improvement from last year. The teachers made it come alive." The walk was created to show students what poverty and homeless looks like and not to just tell facts. The Jelly Bean jar was a visual of the statistic that 585 million people live on less than a dollar a day. This stunning fact helped awaken students and make them think of what they can do by helping out with Habitat for Humanity. Not only was this a huge success but said by a freshman, "The walk gave greater insight on the real problems with homelessness going on in Nashville. It made me want to help out in any way possible!"

Last Week in London

From Upper School
English Teacher Armistead Wilson
Our trip through Oxford, Stratford, and Bath was seamless despite the snowy conditions. We arrived back in London on Saturday afternoon to warmer temperatures a brief glimpse of sunshine! We've spent the last few days packing in every available cultural opportunity. Everyone loved the National Portrait Gallery for its Tudor portraits as well as its contemporary photography exhibit. Several people visited the National Gallery yesterday, and we all seem to be wandering back regularly to the Victoria & Albert to catch one last glimpse of the sculpture and fashion exhibits. Highlights this week included high tea yesterday at the Strand Palace Hotel and a tour this morning of Westminster Palace, familiarly known as Parliament. Molly Saint, who has been interning there, managed to get our entire group in for a tour. The rooms were absolutely breathtaking. Apparently tours of Parliament are extremely difficult to come by, and we were fortunate enough to see the House of Lords, several anterooms, and the main hall where Henry VIII once held court. We stood on the palace steps where Guy Fawkes, Thomas More, and Charles I were all tried and convicted. All history buffs among us were super impressed and excited about this visit. On Monday night we saw a fantastic production of Twelfth Night, and tonight we see James Earle Jones and Felicia Rashad in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. Last night Elaine, Abby, and Parker went on their own to see Les Miserables and came back with rave reviews of it. We are all sad to see our trip coming to an end. It has been a wonderful adventure!

International Exchange in Spain

From Isabel:
I think the school is a neat place. It was founded as two schools in 1934 (boys and girls) by a mother superior and a bishop, united into one pre/k-Bachillerato in the 1980s. The faculty are quite dedicated, and immediately wanted to talk with me about what kinds of activities we could create for the girls (on each end of the exchange) because they want to make it more enriching for our students when they are here. The original building (recently restored) is a 19th century mansion. They have added new facilities and a pool, which the neighborhood is able to use as well. Some of the buildings (newer or newly renovated) are powered by the solar panels on the roof. I say they may be "greener" than we are :-) Harpeth Hall student Rachel will be going to Madrid this weekend with her host, Macarena. They are traveling on the AVE, the high velocity train.

Pictured: Harpeth Hall students with students from the Colegio la Presentacion in Malaga, Spain.

Public History in Nashville

From Upper School
History teacher Mary Ellen Pethel
Students from the Public History class visited the Ryman Auditorium and Hatch Show Print last week. Former College Counselor Ophelia Paine helped organize the field trips. Hatch Show Print owner Jim Sherraden talked to students about "preservation through production." Kendall Waddey, who is doing an internship Hatch, participated in presentation.

Students from the Public History class visited the Ryman Auditorium and received "hard hats" from the Ryman Auditorium staff to symbolize the restoration to the building done in the past 20 years. The Ryman has both the distinction of being an active theater AND a member of the National Historic Landmark registry.

Sun arrives in London

From Upper School
English teacher Scottie Girgus
Today there was sun in London. We loved it. We visited the Victoria and Albert Museum, the National Portrait Gallery, The British Library; some walked across the Tower Bridger and we all met at Piccadilly Circus for a group dinner at Bella Italia. Tomorrow we will see the changing of the guard. Having a great time but we miss everyone.

Pictured: Shakespeare's Birth place. Strattford

Checking in From Uganda

From Olivia:
Just getting to check email and send a quick shout out here in Kabale town. We've finished in Kinshanje and are headed to Mbarara before seeing the animals in Queen Elizabeth Park tomorrow morning. We've had an INCREDIBLE week of fun, games, making new friends, and really just loving the village. It was sad to leave this morning and I definitely want to come back before too long. It was rustic/basic/rural/simple but so wonderful all the same. It's weird being back on a computer and heading to reality once again. I can't say I'm looking forward to the winter weather or school work in Nashville. The warm sun and ease of pace here are pretty irresistible. Nonetheless, I do look forward to seeing all family and friends soon and sharing my stories and pictures with you all.

Songwriter Entertains at 'Music of the South' Course

Susie Coleman visited Jessica Dunn’s “Music of the South” course on Friday. A long-time friend of Ms. Dunn, Ms. Coleman has been singing and playing rhythm guitar for nearly 50 years and was a full-time musician from 1969 through 1984, playing in clubs in Akron, Ohio, Lexington, Kentucky, Daytona Beach, Florida and Nashville. Currently, she gives guitar lessons, is writing a beginner guitar book of traditional songs taught with her own method, and teaches other various classes at the Fiddle and Pick in Pegram. Here's her website> http://susiecoleman.com.

New York Internship Focuses on Haiti

From Cassie:
I’m interning at the New York City Mayor’s Commission for the UN Office. Working in this office is great and I love my internship. During the day, I research statistical data for different countries, help with the diplomatic parking decals, and many other things. With the recent natural disaster in Haiti, the office has been buzzing with phone calls from officials, reporters, etc. I was asked to listen in on some of these phone calls with the USAID and the NYC offices and take notes for the Deputy Commissioner. Outside of my internship, and as a group, we’ve gone to see Ragtime, took a Grey line bus tour, and attended a Knicks game.

Harpeth Hall Coffee House

Students turned the Patton Visual Arts Center into a coffee house on Friday. They did poetry reading, improvisation, and sang. The performances were a culmination of the work they have been doing in the creative writing, theater and songwriting Winterim courses.

Savvy Scientists

During the "Hidden World" course, students ran an ELISA (enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay). This test is used to identify the presence of primary antibodies to determine if an individual has been exposed to a disease agent. How cools is that!!

Brainiacs in Winterim

Dr. Chris Ciarleglio, a Developmental Neurologist from Vanderbilt, met with students in the "Brain Games" class to discuss everything from the teenage brain and how it processes information as compared to an adult brain to the circadian rhythms and the effects of light on your sleep pattern.

Preserving Archives

Students in the Public History class worked in the Harpeth Hall archives, organizing the school's photograph collection of our Harpeth Hall Archives.

Green Design

Harpeth Hall students in the "Designing Women - Green Design" class took two field trips this week. One to Shelby Bottoms Nature Center and the second to Street, Dixon, Rick Architecture (pictured with architect Chip Jones), to learn about green design.

Dance is alive during Winterim 2010!

From Harpeth Hall Dance Teacher
Joyce Smith
Off campus, there are four girls interning in the field of dance! Here in Nashville, girls are learning about dance administration, promotion and what it takes to run a dance studio, assisting in dance classes and much more through internships with the Vanderbilt Dance Program and the Bellevue Dance Center. One HH senior is also working locally, creating choreography for her independent study in dance at the Nashville Dance Center. Another senior is in New York City interning with the Cunningham Dance Foundation. Here on campus, freshmen and sophomores are working hard in the course Dancing Stronger: Integrating Technical Concepts and Imagery into Performance. We have worked on technique with special emphasis on pirouettes and jumps, as well as having major fun doing ab workouts and adding push-ups to our warm-up!! On the non-dancing side, we spent one class period pouring over dance magazines in order to create collages that reflect our personal passion and interests in dance. Now on to part three of the dance collage project, the girls thought about specific objectives they have in dance and have started to create their personal "plan of action" to complete these objectives. But dance doesn't stop at 3:05 pm! Freshmen and Sophomore Dance Company members have been taking technique classes after school too! For the three weeks of Winterim, the HH Dance Company teachers offer technique classes in Modern, Ballet, Jazz and Hip Hop from 3:15 - 5:00, Monday through Friday. Dance Company girls take a minimum of three of those classes per week and can take class all five days if they choose. It is clear HH loves dance!

Fox News Internship in New York City

From Tess
Interning at Fox News Channel in New York City has been a blast so far. I am working in the Northeast Bureau, which includes a group of producers and a director who pitch, write, and edit stories dealing with news happening in the Northeast and all over the world. I move around from producer to producer everyday depending on who is doing something exciting or who needs help. The boring part of the internship all gets done within the first hour—I log videos from 9-10 a.m., which means I watch a video from Fox News and I type it verbatim including the timestamps. After I finish logging, I normally go out on the field with a producer and a reporter to cover stories. So far, I have met Al Sharpton; I have gone to the United Nations to cover a briefing; I have traveled to a few restaurants to interview diners on their thoughts about Mayor Bloomberg’s proposed salt reduction bill; I have interviewed Katharine McPhee and Garth Brooks with the entertainment producer; and I have gone to the Brooklyn courthouse to witness a terror trial (a bail hearing for a man who allegedly conspired with the terrorist on the plane to Detroit).

After I go help report these stories, we return to the office and put them into a package. The most exciting thing that has happened to me, however, was on the first day: I was sent out to take some photos of a billboard in Times Square for a story one of the producers was breaking. They liked my photo so much (even though I don’t see why it was so great) that they aired it on national television and included it on their website (unfortunately they didn’t cite me but it’s still exciting to look at). I’m so thankful to have this privilege and I love the new opportunities and challenges that present themselves every day I am here—you never know what is going to happen in New York City!

New York Director Leads Improv Class

Guest teachers and speakers are part of Winterim. Here (center), Catherine Mueller, co-artistic director of The Glass Contraption in New York City, leads the Improv class with Harpeth Hall Theatre Director Janette Klocko.

Animation Domination: Take 2

For the second assignment in the Animation Domination, students had to create a circus act in which a character turns in circles while riding on something (horse, skateboard, etc.); then the character has to circle around an object, such as a ball or skateboard ramp. Finally, the character has to perform an acrobatic aerial move. Click on the links below to view their animated videos.
Click here for Skater Girl
Click here for Penguin Big Top
Click here for Skateboarding Frog
Click here for Man Masters Chicken

Working With Orphans In Uganda

The lack of running water and electricity has not affected Olivia, Jenny and Anna in Uganda. Jenny has been teaching grammar to the school children; Anna has been working with middle school, and Olivia is working with the high school children. The food is cooked on a pot on the fire. The students are learning Rukiga to break through the language barrier. They traveled to Kabale to purchase supplies for the orphans, including toothbrushes, toothpaste, pencils and school supplies. The girls are working with 136 orphans.

Child Cry program at Times Square Church

Follow Lexi as she works with Times Square Church’s Child Cry program, which feeds almost 5,000 children in 23 countries. Click here to read the daily blog.

Working in the New York Media Industry

Mabry at O’Reilly Factory
I am interning at Fox News with the O'Reilly Factor. I have met some well-known people, including Sarah Palin (pictured), which was an amazing experience. It has been fun to work alongside Ann Stewart Banker because she went to Harpeth Hall for high school. I get here in the morning around 9 a.m. and start working on the comp report. This is a brief summary from the transcripts of other shows from the night before. I email this to the producers and the day begins. I have been helping producers with segments, cutting clips for the show, transcribing material, and anything else that must be done before the 5 p.m. taping. The guests start to arrive around 4:30 for hair and makeup. I greet them in the lobby and take them to the green room. I have met some very interesting people in the news and politics including, Alan Colmes, John Stossel, and Lou Dobbs. During the taping of the show I enter the studio during commercial breaks and take Mr.O’Reilly his new script. I then wait in the green room with the guests and make sure that everything is in order. It was a little intimidating on the first day because I was the only one in the green room from our show. Yesterday was a big day at Fox News because Sarah Palin became a correspondent. She was on our show and I got to meet her and take a picture standing beside her. We talked about Nashville since she is coming in February for the Tea Party Convention at the Opryland hotel. She expressed her love of country music and we talked about our favorite singers. It was an honor to meet her and it was definitely a highlight of the trip!! I am looking forward to the rest of my time here because every day is different and it is always exciting.

Stephanie at Seventeen Magazine
My first day of work at Seventeen magazine, I was so, so nervous! I quickly met my boss, the features editor, Elisa Benson. Being an avid Seventeen reader, I immediately became intimidated as we passed by Ann Shoket's office. She is the editor-in-chief! I met two other interns. I’ve been working on assignments for the April and May editions. I have been finding quotes from boys and girls for the stories. I also transcribed the celebrity cover interview. Unfotunately, I cannot tell you who the celebrity – it’s confidential. I also read reader comments and chose quotes for date-mares in an upcoming issue. Additionally, I wrote a blog for the 17 buzz section of seventeen.com. It was so cool to see my actual writing up on the website. It is crazy to think how many girls will read something that I wrote. I am so excited to be working here and to have the ability to really see what it is like to work in a job concerning journalism. I love it so much that I am more strongly considering going into this fast paced and exciting field.

England: Arriving in Oxford

From: The Britain for Booklover Princesses
(To be read in a British Accent)
Once upon a time in a cold snowy land far, far away called England, 19 American princesses ventured “on a search for their perfect English soul mate” (anonymous).
Last night we saw the play, Dirty Dancing, and it was utterly fabulous! It was strange to hear the British take on the American accent. The play was extremely close to the movie; some of the scenes were exactly the same. The upbeat music and amazing dancing was awesome and so fun to watch.
We take the Tube, like the Subway, all over London. On our first day, Alex and Caroline got caught in the door to get on. We always “mind the gap” getting on and off the Tube.

Covent Garden is a covered outdoor shopping center in central London. It is very crowded with lots of shopping, street performers, and great restaurants. One of the places that some of us ate had the authentic England pies, which were to die for! There was also an open air market just outside the covered shopping center. H&M was among the many shops that we went to while we were there.

We went to the Globe Theater, which is actually the third Globe Theater. It was built just as it would have been built in the 1600s, without metal nails. On the way out, leaving the Globe Theater, guess who we saw… drum roll… Laurent and Caius (the actors from The Twilight Series Movies)! Mary Allen, Alene, Lauren, and Anna managed to snag a photo with Laurent (pictured).
One night, a group of us went on a Haunted London Ghost Tour, where we saw Diagon Alley (Harry Potter movies) and Scrooge’s accounting house from A Christmas Carol.

So far we have visited three churches: St. Paul’s Cathedral, Westminster Abbey, and Canterbury Cathedral. Westminster was the majority’s favorite, with beautiful architecture, graves, and memorials of many famous people, such as Charles Darwin, Queen Elizabeth, Geoffrey Chaucer, Auden, Shakespeare, Sir Isaac Newton, and Winston Churchill. There was also a memorial for Franklin D. Roosevelt. Today, we visited Canterbury and we really liked how there were three different types of architecture: Norman, Romanesque and Gothic. The crypt was not underground, which we all thought it would be. There was a chapel that was discovered only 50 years ago, and the walls and ceilings were completely covered with vibrant paintings of Christian frescos. The stained glass in the main nave of the cathedral is from 1170. Oh, and in the Cathedral, there is a gold sphere with lots wings sitting, where J.K. Rowling got the idea for the snitch in Harry Potter.

Oxford, is a cute, quaint and cobblestone town that we have only been in for a few hours now. Interestingly, there is an all-girls school not too far from where we are staying. There are a lot of people riding “push-bikes” (bicycles) in the freezing snow, and there are a lot of cute British boys here. Tomorrow we are looking forward to going on a walking tour of all of Oxford and we are going to Christ’s Church, which is where the Great Hall from the Harry Potter movies is filmed.
Until next time the princesses will be trying to find their prince!

New York, New York

From Harpeth Hall student Elizabeth:
The cold air bites at my face as I walk to work this morning. The subway is busy but at the same time no one speaks to one another. It shows a comparison between Nashville and New York because in Nashville everyone would be talking no matter if they were strangers. The Sony building is buzzing with conversation because most office meetings are held on Mondays and Tuesdays. I had to manage the phones because one line is used for the conference calls. I get nervous answering for important clients. However, I am getting use to answering the phones with confidence. I ran to the Apple store for my boss today. The building is glass and there is a glass spiral staircase that descends into the ground. The fact that the building is clear is the reason I walked by it twice before realizing I was walking past it. In the end I finally finished my errand. The radio stations request singles so I have been putting together CDs and shipping them to the radio stations. There are a few steps to this process, but I have started to get the hang of the computer systems and FedEx website. I have been doing some busy work including filing and documenting things, but it has not been too tiring. I have enjoyed my walk to work because I get to walk down Madison Avenue. The other day we went to Central Park, which was exciting to finally see after years of observing it on TV. There are many more adventures to come, and I am excited to continue to explore.

Helping Orphans in Uganda.

Three Harpeth Hall students -- Anna, Jenny, and Olivia -- are working with Juna Amagara Ministries in Kampala, Uganda. The students report:
They are in a remote area, about seven miles from Rwanda. There are 138 orphans at the orphanage. They spend from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. each day with the children. Today, they planned a vacation Bible school, school activities and game time with the children. They are trying to learn the language, which the people love to hear them try. Their meals, which they enjoy, consist of potatoes, rice, bananas and pineapple.

Internship Blogs

Harpeth Hall students are weathering the weather in London and Paris and fighting off scorpions in Bolivia. Click on the links below to read their blogs.

Bolivia: Click here
London at Parliament: Click here
London at The Ritz: Click here
Paris: Click here

Experiencing Life at Boarding School in Paris

From Harpeth Hall senior Lena,
who is attending La Maison
D'Education de la Legion D'Honneur
I'm doing well at the Legion d'Honneur. Last week, I attended classes Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. Every Wednesday is a half day and for the second half of the day the students are allowed to leave the boarding school. I went to the Musée de la Mode (the fashion museum) and strolled along the Champs Elysées with Anne-Charlotte, my host sister. The rest of the week, I went with the other exchange students to do the various touristy things that they had planned. This included going to the Musée d'Orsay, the museum with a famous collection of impressionist paintings, climbing the Eiffel Tower, which ended up being closed because of wind and ice, climbing Montmartre to see Sacré Coeur, and several other things. Over the weekend, I stayed at Anne-Charlotte's grandfather's apartment just outside of Paris. Saturday I roamed around the city with Anne-Charlotte and ended the day at a créperie (stereotypically French). This week I have been attending classes with Anne-Charlotte which, though sometimes is exhausting, is mostly interesting. The different teaching styles and relationships between the teachers and students is so different from Harpeth Hall. Today, in English class, I am going to give a short presentation on Harpeth Hall.

Vanderbit Trauma Center

Dr. Rick Miller with Harpeth Hall students who are interning at Vanderbilt University Medical Center's Trauma Unit.

Dinner and Georgetown in DC

Click here to read the blog created by students interning in Washington, DC. Pictured are students in front of the White House with Head of School Ann Teaff, who took them to dinner last weekend.

England: Westminster Abbey Tour

From Armistead Wilson,
Upper School English teacher
Today we had a personal tour of Westminster Abbey and the graves of many famous Brits, including Elizabeth I, Geoffrey Chaucer, Charles Darwin, and Handel. We spent a cold but thrilling afternoon at the Tower of London and learned all about the Beefeaters and their jobs as Yeoman Warders. We also toured the Bloody Tower where Sir Walter Raleigh and many others lived as prisoners for years. Off to the theater to see Dirty Dancing! Oxford tomorrow...we're having a wonderful time. Click here to see more pictures from England and other Winterim trips.

Homestays in Spain

From Elizabeth Allen,
Upper School Chair
of Modern/Classical Languages
The girls are truly enjoying the opportunity to be a part of a family and the community of Alicante. They were disappointed about the lack of time in Madrid, but understood that this is one of the vagaries of world travel and seem quite happy here. They loved the trip to Valencia. And they are very excited about the trip to the Alhambra this Saturday, which is such a rare and important site for them to see. Granada's cathedral will also be a great visit. While in Madrid, they did have a visit to the Prado, the Retiro, the Puerta de Alcalá and the Plaza Mayor (very briefly), so the only thing that we had to cancel was El Escorial. Amazing what we were able to do in six hours.

England: Visiting the British Museum

From English teacher
Armistead Wilson:
Today we spent most of our time at the British Museum. Interestingly, we learned firsthand that Roman marble and Egyptian stone carvings don't really need the heat, and so the museum was freezing! Still, we stayed for hours and enjoyed the Elgin marbles, Sutton Hoo treasures, and other worldly exhibits. We then headed to Covent Garden to explore the shops, eats, and outdoor entertainment. Snowy and beautiful again today. Also freezing! Somehow it seems a bit chillier in Celsius (today it was approximately -2 to 0:). Full day ahead tomorrow: Westminster Abbey, the Tower of London, and theatre tickets in the West End. The girls have already navigated by tube, bus, and cab; they are all pros by this point!

Alumna Shares Moving Documentary

Guest speakers and special assemblies are all apart of the on-campus opportunities for freshmen and sophomores. On Thursday, alumna Lauren Melkus, class of 1996, talked about her commitment to helping the orphans of Malawi, Africa. Ms. Melkus showed the documentary, "I Am Because We Are." This moving documentary attempts to explore what is going on in the hearts and heads of the orphans and what the future holds for them.

Click here to learn more about this project.
Click here to view the 86 minute documentary

Animation Domination

From Technology Integration
Specialist teacher Dr. Melissa Wert:
The Animation Domination students have been hard at work learning the basics of animation. Their first exercise (after only two days of class) was to choose a character (animal or person) with two arms and two legs that could be programmed to move. They then created a short warm up exercise routine for the character, including jumping jacks, and wrote a program using turn and roll methods to move the entire character or individual body parts as the exercises were performed.

Click on links below to view their work on YouTube:
Frog Workout: Click Here
Workout with Evan: Click Here
Ice skater stretches: Click Here
Ice skater exercises: Click Here

Public History: From Post Office to Art Museum

Students in the "Public History" on-campus course, being taught by Upper School history teacher Mary Ellen Pethel, explored history in public spaces on Friday. They met with Joe Alaimo, a retired architect and tour guide, at the Frist Center for Art. Mr. Alaimo talked about the history of the building and its conversion and preservation from Post Office to Art Gallery. In public history this is called "adaptable use" and shows "sustainability." These are some of the concepts the girls are learning about how this branch of Public History works. Click here to visit 21 Days of Winterim Flickr site for more photos.

England's Sites and Sounds

From English teacher
Armistead Wilson
On our way to the Tate Modern this morning the weather was cold but sunny, and the walk over Millennium Bridge was breathtaking. After perusing some of the best modern art in the world (highlights included Giacometti, Klee, Pollock, Rothko, Matisse, and Picasso) we headed to our personal tour of The Globe Theatre (pictured). We learned all about the different levels of seating, special effects and sword fighting, and how important audience participation was in Shakespeare's time. We wrapped our day in St. Paul's Cathedral, another breathtaking experience. Two highlights today: meeting up with Molly Saint, who is interning at Parliament, and enjoying the snow!

An England Winter(im) Wonderland

From English teacher
Armistead Wilson
Our group of 19 students made it safely to London on Friday morning. The view from the plane was breathtaking because the entire region was covered in snow! We arrived to a Winter wonderland and freezing temperatures (unusual for London, we're told), but this did not stop our group from exploring our adorable South Kensington and Gloucester Road neighborhood. At sunset we walked down the Cromwell Road past the Victoria and Albert Museum as we made our way to Harrod's. After a tour through the famous department store, we took our first Underground trip back the hotel to call it an early night. Tomorrow we have a full day - we are off to the Tate Modern, The Globe Theatre, and St. Paul's Cathedral. We're excited to meet up with Molly Saint tomorrow who is interning here. CLICK HERE to view more pictures from Winterim experiences.

Fabulous French Experienes

From French teacher Jenny Jervis
After we visited the musee d'Orsay, Hotel des Invalides and the musee Rodin, we finished up with a dinner and a stroll along the Champs-Elysees. It was so beautiful with the holiday decorations still adorning the trees and monuments. We managed our way from the Arc de Triomphe down the place de la Concorde on my insistence. We were all pretty cold but it was such a pretty walk.

Days three and four here in Paris have proved to be beautiful, yet quite cold. Yesterday we set out early to visit the Louvre and were met with brisk temperatures and a little snow. We hopped on the metro for a quick ride to the Palais-Royal stop where we entered the museum. We met our tour guide who showed us some of the chateau dating back to the 12th century. Later we saw the Mona Lisa, Victoire de Samthorace, Venus de Milo and many other masterpieces before we were turned loose to peruse the other rooms and works. We dined in the food court located near the inverted pyramid and then headed towards Ile de la Cite to see Sainte Chapelle and Notre Dame. Sainte Chapelle was closed, unfortunately, so we continued on towards the Gothic cathedral.

We were pleased to see Notre Dame in its splendor. The interior was crowded but we were still able to take great pictures of the rose window and later viewed the gargoyles and flying buttresses on the exterior. Hungry and cold we crossed to Ile St. Louis for un petit cafe et une patisserie, a little respite for our cold bodies and weary feet. Upon regaining a bit of force at Cafe du Flore, we headed out to Place de la Bastille and Place des Vosges before returning to the hotel to freshen up before a dinner at a close by pizzeria.

Friday morning we visited the perfumeries museum Fragonard. We learned how perfume was originally created and used and then visited the gift shop to find our perfect scent. Then we dashed to the Gare Montparnasse to catch our train to visit the beautiful town and cathedral of Chartres. We had a fantastic tour with the renowned Chartres scholar, Malcom Miller, who explained both the architecture of the structure and the stories of many of the gorgeous stained glass. The coldest day here thus far, we fought to stay warm during our hour and a half tour, as the church's heat was left off due to restoration of fourteen of the windows. Bitterly cold, we were still enthralled by Mr. Miller's knowledge and delivery of this cathedral's history. We had wanted to spend time in the town but were deterred by the five inches of snow on the ground and bone-chilling temperature. Tomorrow, our last full day in Paris, we will visit the Sacre Coeur and Montmartre, after which the girls will have time to eat, shop and tour around in small groups. We've so enjoyed our time here but are eagerly anticipating our Sunday morning departure to Aix.

Finding Our Way To France

From French teacher Jenny Jervis
Everyone survived the air travel, but Mr.Tuzeneu did undergo a thorough security check in the Nashville airport.  We're not sure if he was suspect because he was surrounded by a bevy of beautiful girls or if it was because of his outfit (the man seated across from him in the pat-down area happened to be wearing an identical red plaid shirt and khaki pants.)  We arrived Tuesday morning to very brisk temperatures in Paris.  After settling in the hotel, we went to a little bistro for sandwiches and hot drinks.  Then we hit the metro for our first sight of the Eiffel Tower. Ambre entertained us by joining a street dancer while we assessed the long line to climb to the top of the tower.  That evening we dined in a restaurant close to our hotel and everyone turned in early after a long day of travel. This morning we enjoyed a leisurely breakfast and then visited the musee d'Orsay, musee Rodin and Hotel des Invalides  Everyone loved the art and was stunned by the enormity of Napolean's tomb.

Winterim in the District

Click here to read about students interning in Washington, D.C.

Students blog from across the globe

Harpeth Hall students are maintaining their own Winterim blogs.
Bolivia
Click here to read about Hannah's experiences in Bolivia.
LONDON
Click here to read about Molly's experiences interning with Parliment.
Click here to read about Olivia's experiences working at the Ritz in London.
PARIS
Click here to read about Jesse's experiences in Paris.
SPAIN
Students and teachers are traveling to Spain as part of a cultural immersion program. Click here to follow their experiences on the Spain blog.

Check back frequently for more updates from students and teachers.