France #14: Festival de la Musique

Rowan ’25, describes a “day of immersion in French culture and fun.”

After a long day of food, the Joconde (The Mona Lisa), shopping, and visiting numerous museums including Napoleon’s tomb, the group returned to the hotel in order to get ready for the Fête de la musique. Before this, we had dinner, indulging in burgers, salads, and pasta accompanied by good laughs and conversation. Finally, we took the metro to a new place in which no one had any idea of what might be waiting for us. Mr. Romick led us to booming music and cheering people, yelling of course, in French. It felt very much like a Deerfield dance, except instead of high school students, there were people speaking all different languages ranging from five years old to fifty years old. Almost immediately, we were pulled into the crowd to experience a mix of American, English, and French remixes. DJ’s came on and off the stage, and our Deerfield group was completely immersed in the mass of Europeans who had come to see the festival. After around two hours of jumping around to the music, we met back up with the group, and proceeded to take the metro to a nearby area filled with small shops and cafes, although many of them were closed by the time we arrived. Finally, we made our way back to the hotel using the metro after a long day of immersion in French culture and fun.