I mentioned this in a previous post, but in Fall 2003 I studied in Nantes, France, which is on the northwestern side of France. This was one of the most life changing experiences for me because this is where my love of France really became cemented (so much so that after being back in the US for a semester, I came back to France in Fall 2004, but that’s another story). When I studied, I was in an immersion French program for Americans led by IES (which is an American company based out of Chicago). The IES Nantes Institute celebrated their 60th anniversary this year (housed in the same building for all 60 years!) and to celebrate they invited all of their alumni back. I was delighted that it overlapped with my time in France because I haven’t been back to Nantes since I left in December 2023.
So, on Thursday I took a 5 hour train ride from Lille to Nantes to participate in the reunion activities and explore Nantes evolution over the past 20+ years. First stop, was my hotel which was directly across from the IES Nantes center.
The first event was a welcome reception. We were given a tote bag with some Nantes IES SWAG and then told to check our mailboxes. They took the student mailboxes and labeled one for each of us just like when we were there! In mine, was a directory of the students I was with in Fall 2023 and a paper I had written!!!
At the opening reception we got to connect with alumni from many different years, so it was fun to compare notes on classes we took, how the center was setup, how the town had changed, etc. One of the best surprises was one of the women who worked there when I was a student still works there and was there, so it was nice to catchup with her and hear how things have changed from her perspective. She’s now been with IES Nantes for over 40 years! After the reception I went to dinner with 2 other alumni (different years than me) and then back to the hotel.
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