An IMAX Trip Through the Solar System and Rugby Initiation

We are now in week three of the program and the final week of wrap-ups and good-byes is approaching quickly. However, we still have a lot in store for these students and there's still a lot of fun to be had. This week, we started with a visit to the Cite de L'Espace (Space Museum) complete with an IMAX Planetarium viewing. Next, we flipped the script and did a morning activity with the Toulouse 13s Rugby Team, Toulouse Olympique XIII, who gave us an initiation to the most popular sport in Toulouse and gave us a chance to show off our athleticism! Let's see what students got up to!

Cité de l'Espace (Space Museum)

After we traveled throughout the solar system (where photography wasn't allowed), we split up into three groups and explored the museum which taught us about the history of space travel, the development of rocket technology, and the various projects French astronauts have been involved in.

One of the highlights of the tour was the ability to witness a real moon rock, the only one on display in all of France! We compared the qualities of this rock with those of a meteorite which was also on display elsewhere. While the meteorite was made nearly entirely of iron and, therefore, was extremely dense and heavy, this moonrock was light and porous.

Some of us even got to live our dreams of becoming an astronaut or, at least visit the gift shop to share our experiences with others.

Rugby with Toulouse Olympique XIII

In the South of France, rugby takes a place as important as soccer in the sporting world and 13-player rugby, in addition to the typical 15-player variety, is quite common here. The local team, (insert name of team here), invited us to a closed practice Wednesday morning to give us an initiation to the sport and see if they could uncover any hidden talent amongst our ranks.

We were separated into different groups to test our skills in different drills that introduced us to different elements of rugby.

There's of course footwork and agility when moving with the ball and moving on defense.

Also running through contact when having the ball.

And of course tackling the ball carrier. (Don't worry, nobody was actually tackled. Only practice!)

After that, it was back to class in the afternoon where we learned, depending on the level, things like how to compare the different neighborhoods of Toulouse or different idiomatic expressions that they could find useful.. We have lots of French to learn, after all! Later this week, students can look forward to a French pastry baking workshop and, this weekend, either Carcassonne or Domaine de Thore, whichever they didn't do during weekend 1! We're looking forward to it.