Volunteering in Rennes

“You better hurry up, or we are going to get a timer.” A word to the wise: if you are wanting to volunteer at a retirement home in France, make sure you are good at scrabble. The residents are vicious. One after the other they lay down all 7 tiles, racking up points while I'm still deciding if my word is spelled correctly.

Twice a week, Wednesday afternoons and Friday mornings, I take a short walk from the train station to a quaint retirement home nestled in Rennes and spend two hours with the residents there.

At the host institution, you are surrounded by other exchange students, and together you are all trying to figure out life in a new language and new culture. Now don't get me wrong, I love my friends dearly, but I came to France to experience more than the international student perspective on it. That is why my advice is to reach out to the NGOS on campus and look into the various community opportunities.

For me, I found a place at the retirement home. Working alongside the activities' director, I get to participate in a variety of wonderful activities with the residents. We arrange flower bouquets, we bake cakes, we listen to music from decades past, and of course we play scrabble. Throughout it all, the residents are endlessly kind, taking the time to teach me new French words and correcting my grammar when I make mistakes. But most of all, we talk. We talk about our lives, about France, about the weather, about what the best ingredients are for a galette. We have normal conversations, which when learning a second language, is an incredible victory. 

Over the weeks, we have started to form real bonds. Every day that I walk in, I see familiar faces with familiar smiles. One man asks me about my classes and how my exams went. One woman teaches me a French word of the day, usually something obscure that I never would have learned otherwise. We quickly fall into our routine, and they tell me stories about their rich lives, about the families and about the books they have been reading. In turn, I tell them about my life back in the US, about college, and then about my missteps in navigating French life and the French language.

The things I appreciate the most are the little moments here: the unexpected, the genuine, the slightly absurd. One day, for example, we were celebrating a resident's birthday, and a lady grabbed my arm, looked me in the eyes, and called me the most beautiful boy in the world. Now that may have been due to the fact that I was in the process of handing her a piece of cake, or because I may have been the only man under 50 she had seen in a while, but nevertheless I took the compliment with pride. It is these that have made my time unforgettable.

My time spent there has been some of my favorite in Rennes. If you are lucky enough to be studying in this city, I could not recommend volunteering here enough. While you will likely lose at scrabble and often have your French corrected, you'll also form real connections, get to practice and learn in one of the most charming ways possible with some of the kindest people you will meet.

Spencer Collins

St. Olaf College

CIEE-Rennes Liberal Arts Fall 2025