Boothbay Region High School French teacher Nathalie Gorey is going home. But don't worry. She'll be back. Gorey is taking a crew of her French students to France for a class trip in April.

Madame Gorey, as her students call her, was born in the French-speaking Cote D'Ivoire, on the Gulf of Guinea in western Africa. She moved to Normandy, France, where her father was a French professor, at age 11.

Gorey attended high school and college in Angers, France, and came to the United States 22 years ago to teach French at the University of Maine at Machias. She has been dividing her time teaching French at Boothbay Region High School and Lincoln Academy for four years.

Gorey said she has taken class trips to France with Lincoln Academy students, but that this will be her first time with students from Boothbay. She goes back to France once a year to visit her parents and her sister.

This trip will include 13 students, Gorey, and fellow teacher Paulette Carter. Gorey said all of the kids going on the trip have taken French, some more than others. The cost for each student will be around $3,500, and they may need some extra cash for things like tipping (workers such as bus drivers and tour guides) and last minute surprises.

Some of the kids will be using money earned from jobs over the summer and some have been given the money by their parents and grandparents. Junior Lindsey Buckingham said her grandparents are footing her bill. “They love to travel, and think this will be educational,” she said.

Evie Greenleaf, a senior, who is looking forward to seeing the Eiffel Tower and the Loire Valley, said the trip will be especially memorable for her. Her twin sister, Dana, will also be going. And to make it even more special, so is their mom, Lisa Hallinan. Greenleaf said that the threesome has traveled abroad before. “We went to Italy three years ago during spring break.”

The twins worked last summer to foot some of the bill for this trip: Dana at the Thistle Inn and Evie at Brown Brothers and Rocktide, though not for as long as she'd hoped. “I broke my ankle so I couldn't work all summer.” She said her ankle is healed, so she'll have no problem touring France. Their mother will be supplying the extra funds to make the trip possible.

According to Gorey, there's still time for the group to raise more cash for the trip. “We're going to have two more fundraisers, a car wash and a bottle drive,” she said. There will also be a French dinner and movie fundraiser at the high school sometime soon. “An all-you-can-eat French food buffet,” Gorey said.

The trip, which will begin on April 19 and end on April 29, will be educational, but a lot of fun too.

After flying overnight, they’ll arrive in Paris, where they'll meet up with a tour guide who will lead them on a drive down the Champs-Elysees, an “elegant boulevard packed with high-fashion boutiques,” as described in their itinerary. They'll see the Arc de Triomphe and the Eiffel Tower and pass by the glass pyramid that marks the entrance to the Louvre. The group's first day in France will end with a walking tour of Paris and a visit to Notre Dame Cathedral.

After another day seeing the sights of Paris and Versailles the tour will take them to the “Playground of Kings” in the French countryside, the Loire Valley.

From there they'll travel to Brittany and Normandy, where they'll see the D-Day beaches. After that it's back to Paris and a visit to the Louvre.

This would have been the end of the tour, but the group elected to include a two-day extension that will take them to the French Riviera and Nice.

On April 29, this group of 13 kids and three adults will take the flight back to Boothbay Harbor with memories that will last a lifetime.

Bon voyage!