Meet me in Foix, Ariège!

After you get settled into the lodging that will be your base for the rest of the experience, I will take you on a walking tour of the medieval town of Foix.

We’ll have lunch at a local restaurant and eat refined pastries at the best pâtisserie in town!

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​We’ll also have dinner at a gourmet restaurant.

Like almost every morning of the experience, we’ll have breakfast together to confer about the program of the day and turn on your French-minded brain. 

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After a walk to see more of town, I will boost your language acquisition through a cooking workshop for lunch.

In the afternoon, we’ll tour the castle at the heart of town: a one-thousand-year-old treasure!

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In order to diversify the language input that surrounds you, a French guest will bring us dinner and eat with us.

After breakfast, we’ll head to Prehistory Park, an indoor-outdoor musuem where interactive workshops and presentations will help you navigate French used on unfamiliar topics. Relax, I’ll be here to help you make the most of the experience no matter what your language level is!

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At lunch, practice ordering your own food from the francophone-only waiter. Then, we’ll spend some time discovering the beautiful nature of the area.​

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For dinner, we’ll cook together so that you can maximize times when to use French for an immediate purpose.

The morning of day 4, you’ll see that you’re already settling into your French language bath. Therefore, it is a good day to give you the opportunity to run the show, for a particularly efficient language use practice. In a safe, judgement-free environment, you can teach the rest of the group how to make some simple craft or how to draw something. You can teach us a self-defense move or how to sing in tune. You pick, based on your comfort level and your passions. It’s scary but incredibly effective, and we’ll all be there to make you feel safe and successful!

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After lunch at a restaurant to experience more authentic French food, we’ll head to Labouiche, one of the thousands of local caves. It has the longest underground navigable river in Europe!

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A French guest will bring us dinner so that you can hear and learn French from a variety of French speakers.

Let’s head to the Mas d’Azil farmers market, half an hour away. It has a very organic vibe and is complete with local crafts too. I will give you a mission at market so that you can challenge yourself to speak whatever amount of French you can gather.

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Lunch will be on your own from one of the market vendors, for an extra practice at ordering food, without my support this time (but if you really need, I’ll be close :-)

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In the afternoon, we’ll get to choose between several local sites: the prehistory museum for some reading practice of the signs, a walk to the dolmens, or we can pay a visit to the international seed bank of the area and chat with the people there.

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We’ll have dinner at a restaurant together and head back to the apartments.

This day, I will take you to Mirepoix, a village with a definite Beauty and the Beast allure. We’ll admire the central plaza and its half-timbered houses, its peculiar cathedral, and we’ll eat lunch at one of the several gourmet restaurants of the foodie town.

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After lunch, I will show you Camon, one of the "prettiest villages in France” (an official title), mainly known for its 400 rose bushes, which should be in full bloom.

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At night, you will get one more opportunity to shine to acquire French: if you like cooking, use whatever language you can (I will help you) to teach us how to make dinner.

Whew, you’ve already worked so hard and your brain is definitely tired. It’s a sign that you are, unconsciously or not, making sense of all the language around you. Breaks are always good to regenerate, so you’ll have the morning and lunch to yourself. I have chosen this day for a break from the guided activities also because it is market day in Foix! You’ll see, it’s a vibrant and colorful event, fun to stroll through and with several lunch options.

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We’ll reconvene in the afternoon to head to the Plateau de Beille, a nature site with breathtaking views.

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In the evening, one of you can teach the rest of the group how to make dinner, in order to push yourself further in your French acquisition.

On Saturday, we’ll go to the biggest farmers market of the area, multiple times awarded as best market of character. It is in St Girons and it will be a perfect opportunity for language challenges.

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After lunch (on your own at market), we will tour St Lizier, the medieval village next to St Girons, and we’ll tour the Bishops Palace, for more language practice and to understand the history of the area better.

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We will have dinner at a reputed local restaurant that is both rustic and gourmet. 

Day 9 is kept open on purpose. You will use your best French skills to express and discuss what to do that day during our breakfast meeting. Based on the group’s interests, we can spend more time in quaint villages, beautiful nature, at historical sites or visiting unique attractions that you can only find in Ariège.

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For our last dinner together, we will eat at a distinguished restaurant with many typical French food options that you will only find in authentic places or at a French grandmother’s table.

Time to say “Au revoir”. We’ll take our time savoring our last croissants and local breakfast goodies (you’ll see, the sheep milk yogurt is out of this world!) and chat casually –and naturally! That day, you’ll take in that your French may have become more fluid and less effortful! Congratulations!

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After breakfast, we’ll head to Toulouse, where I can drop you off at the airport, train station or city center, at your convenience.

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After we part, you might feel like you’re waking up from a dream. And oddly enough, that dream was in French and it was comfortable. Now, you can go back home and build on the amazing French acquisition boost you just received, or you can first prolong your stay in France, with a trip extension with me, with another tour, or on your own (I’ll be happy to give you advice as to where else to go).