Art-Field Field Trips Archives

What Happened in France Doesn’t Always Stay in France . . .

May 19, 2023 by szachik@pvs.org 2 Comments

. . . not if ace reporter Indiana was there. Indy gives us the inside scoop of what was eaten, who paid, and who missed the boat on the PVS France trip.

By Junior Indy Behr

On April 6, nine Palm Valley students arrived at Palm Springs International Airport at 4 a.m. to begin a week-long journey through France. Levi, a fellow writer for the Bird on Fire, as well as myself, were part of these nine. Levi had several… incidents… during our trip. Despite their inconvenience, I knew all of them would help make a more interesting blog article, even if Levi had to sacrifice a terrarium, jar of jam, a river cruise in front of the Eiffel Tower as the sun set, and most importantly, our time. Just wait until you hear about flam.

For our trip, we were chaperoned by MUS Assistant Head Mr. Killeen as well former Palm Valley Head of Middle School and French teacher Mrs. Mule. We got to the airport, and after not too long, before the sun had even risen, we were off to Salt Lake City, Utah. In Salt Lake, I got Starbucks for myself and three others, including Levi. Levi promptly judged me for ordering a small drink for myself despite me paying for his much larger beverage. I then reminded him his sizable drink and two sous-vide egg bites were more expensive than the rest of our order combined, which I covered, and yet he still had the audacity to judge my drink size. This sentiment would be repeated throughout the trip.

Then, we left Salt Lake City for Minneapolis, Minnesota. When we got to the Minneapolis airport, we were all hungry, and I took these same people to the Smack Shack and got several baskets of fried shrimp. Levi, of course, while enjoying the food I generously gave to him, mocked me for only drinking water. Then, we finished up and went to the gate and began by far our longest flight to Paris. Frankly, this was the best flight of my life. My section was in the middle where there were four seats, yet only one other person on the aisle joined me. So, I got to take my pillow out and lie down for almost the whole flight. I slept as we crossed the Atlantic. When we arrived, it was around 8 a.m., and we met our tour guide as soon as we exited the airport after going through customs (where Levi, of course, was stopped by French authorities and questioned).

Our tour guide introduced himself as Froggie, which feels offensive in France, but I was not going to argue with him. We got on a bus where we first went to our hotel and dropped off our luggage, and then went back into Paris and to a cafe where we had coffee, which we certainly needed since we were already so jetlagged. Then we walked… and walked… and kept walking. We were exhausted by the end of this. We went to the Louvre and saw the Mona Lisa, but we were jetlagged and miserable. None of us were happy by this point.

Eventually, we made our way to Versailles where four of us, including Levi again, dined on beef tartare, duck confit, and escargot. We were taking our time before we had to return to the palace. Mr. Killeen found us and told us to hurry up. So we never got dessert…. The Versailles palace, to be quite honest, was not particularly fun because of how tired we were. The gardens were a little better. We walked some more, had some more coffee, and then, as soon as we reached the hotel, we slept.

The next day we walked more and went to the one and only Flam’s. Try approaching anyone who went to France and just say “flam.” They will roll their eyes and probably tell you a horrifying story. Long story short, flam is a flatbread style pizza with cheese, a savory cream sauce, and ham. It is sickening. Seriously, it is the worst thing I have ever tasted. They promised a mushroom variation, that actually was the same thing but with a couple slices of canned mushrooms. Then dessert. I didn’t even taste it, and, based on others’ opinions, I made the right call. It was the same thing, but instead it had melted chocolate and caramel, but still the savory cream sauce. We were on the metro towards the Eiffel Tower station when Levi realized he left his bag at Flam’s. Mrs. Mule and he both missed our river cruise and the Eiffel Tower as a result.

The next day, we got up at around 5 a.m. and went to the train station to take the TGV high-speed train. I was excited, as I like high-speed rail so much I even wrote an article about it (See thebirdonfire.org). The TGV felt like a typical train until I looked out the window and saw how much faster we were going compared to a normal train. It was pretty cool to see, and unlike a lot of trains I have been on in the US, we did not stop once all the way from the top of France in Paris to the very south along the Mediterranean Sea. We were there in just over three hours.

We arrived in Avignon and took a bus into the city before we went to some big church. We then had some olives from a local market and strolled around the area. We were then given some free time. Levi, I, and some others went to a small cafe, and we ordered coffee and a plate of beef carpaccio (thinly pounded raw beef). It was very good, and then Jerry showed up after visiting the church, and ordered coffee and steak tartare (minced raw beef). Jerry ate a lot of tartare throughout the trip. After the cafe we went to our new hotel, and, because it was Easter Monday, everything around was closed, so the end of the day was not particularly exciting.

By the next day, we were once again on our bus continuing our tour. We continued exploring this new less urban part of France. We got to visit a lot of cool places that were way more laid back than the more populated areas we had seen previously. Visiting Monaco was pretty fun, though in hindsight I would’ve explored more rather than just visiting the aquarium. We spent our final day in Nice. We got to eat ice cream and have lunch, and then before dinner we went to the beach.

The next morning, we got up at around 3 a.m. to get to the airport in Nice. On the first flight, which was only about an hour, we went from Nice to Amsterdam. Once we boarded, we could not take off for a long time because of some mechanical issues. Unfortunately, many pictures of me sleeping were taken. Once we got to Amsterdam, we had no time between flights. We jolted to the Customs line. Because people who are neither American nor EU Citizens like Jerry have to wait on a much longer queue than us, we had to wait a while, and then Levi got stopped because of how suspicious he appeared with a jar of jam that had way more liquid than is allowed. We finished going through Customs, and we ran, and I mean ran, to our gate. We just made it. They were already almost done with boarding by the time we got there. We returned to Salt Lake City for a couple hours, and flew to Palm Springs. It was a really fun trip, and I am glad I chose to go.

Fuller-TON of Fun

April 19, 2018 by szachik@pvs.org Leave a Comment

By Brennan Nick, actor and blogger

The Palm Valley School cast of “Murder, Murder”

Just last month, the Palm Valley School Drama Department went to Fullerton College to compete with over 60 other schools in monologues, scenes, and a musical number–that you saw showcased at morning assembly. This is the Fullerton College Drama Festival. The key word here is “Festival” as it is emphasized that the most important aspect of Fullerton is the festivity of it per se. In other words, it’s all about having fun, and there’s ample opportunity for it. For example, there are songs played in the courtyard to “energy circles” formed by students from dozens of schools.

However, the real reason we’re all at the Festival is for the competition, and Palm Valley School was no slouch. Although we did not place, we had five finalists. To put this into perspective, two years ago we had only one finalist. This year was the first time we ever made it to the finals for a musical number. We did it with Murder, Murder from the play Jekyll and Hyde. Our other finalists included:

–A scene from Almost Maine performed by Lawrence, Shelby, and Josh;

–A scene from Twelfth Night performed by Joe, Aurora, Jordan K., Nathan, and Aidan;

–A monologue from Measure for Measure performed by me, Brennan;

–A monologue from I am not Batman performed by Graham.

None of this would have been possible without the help from Mr. Sarkis and Mr. Gahnz. They are the reason a school as small as ours can compete with schools of thousands of students. These two teachers worked alongside all of us for the month and a half leading up to Fullerton. Here’s to winning trophies next year!

Editor: Makena Behnke

“Ava” Film Review: Shelby Goes to the Palm Springs International Film Festival

January 24, 2018 by szachik@pvs.org Leave a Comment

By Shelby Armor

I recently volunteered at the Palm Springs International Film Festival. As a reward, I got a film voucher to go see one movie. A bunch of friends and I went to see a French film called Ava. It had previously won an award at the “Festival de Cannes.” The Palm Springs International Film Festival also gave it the “Best Director” award this year. Needless to say, I was pretty excited. We went into the movie knowing absolutely nothing about it. The only thing we knew about the movie was that it was of a girl who was slowly going blind and was desperate to explore life before she lost her vision.

The reality was slightly more complicated. This girl of 13 is indeed slowly going blind, but she’s dealing with nightmares and suicidal thoughts as a result. The movie starts by following a black dog belonging to a Spanish gypsy named Juan (Juan Cano). The girl, Ava (Noée Abita), sees how the boy is mistreating the dog and proceeds to steal the dog, whom she names Lupo. Along with all of this, she has a strained, love-hate relationship with her mother (Laure Calamy). The relationship grows even more strained when her mother gets a new boyfriend.

The movie is beautifully symbolic, making use of different objects and people throughout the film to represent the coming-of-age of Ava. At the beginning of the film, she is infatuated with the dog, Lupo, wanting to get him away from this bad man. But, as she begins maturing as a person, she becomes less and less interested in the dog, and more infatuated with Juan, his owner. Lupo also serves as a coping mechanism for her incoming blindness. She repeatedly uses him as a guide dog so she can rely on her other senses.

The movie itself is chock-full of symbols. And, if you’re not really paying attention, they can often fly by. There are times where I had to sit back and comprehend the literal and symbolic meaning of various scenes, as other scenes seemed somewhat random if you weren’t paying attention to what was going on inside Ava’s head. To get a better look of what was going on inside her head, there is a nightmare sequence, going through her deepest fears of the future. There are images of her baby sister without eyes, a giant eye moving around in her mouth, her mother and boyfriend (whom she dislikes), and the police shooting her baby sister. Each and every one of these flashing scenes makes her wake up in a cold sweat. However, only one thing has started to take the nightmares away.

As she becomes closer and closer with Juan, she forgets all about her fading vision. She starts focusing more on their relationship and less on what might happen when her vision fails her. The end of the movie is a freeze frame of her smiling at Juan, utterly content with life. This seems to indicate that the nightmares and suicidal thoughts are coming to an end now that she is with Juan.

But, there are problems with the movie as well. The first half of the movie is beautifully written and filled out. The cinematography is absolutely stunning, and the score is really captivating and quite elegant. By the second half, the tempo is starting to fade. The pace can seem somewhat rushed in comparison to the rest of the movie. To others who had watched the movie with me, this really bothered them. I didn’t really mind the sudden change of pace. It made sense to me that the change of pace was accompanied with the presence of Juan. But that might be part of the appeal of the movie to me; the entire film is subjective.

The film itself is made almost entirely of symbols and can be quite hard to follow if you aren’t really the type for these kinds of films. I would recommend this film to anyone who likes a provoking piece of cinema. If a film that really makes you think about the impact of each scene is thrilling to you, then this might be the film for you to see.

(Warning — there is mature content in the movie)

Editor: Claire Jenkins

Oh, the Places We Do Go!

March 16, 2016 by szachik@pvs.org Leave a Comment

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Mr. Griffin explains the construction and design of Disney Concert Hall’s architecture.

Zach Jenkins (l-r), Bryan Johnson, Henry Huang, Mac Spears, Mr. Griffin, and Asher Mai polished off their French Dipped Sandwiches, replete with hot mustard and pickled eggs.

On our half day, Friday, March 4, Mr. Griffin led a team of PVS cultural enthusiasts to Los Angeles. After a brief side excursion to a Chinese bakery (led by a hungry Bryan Johnson), we started with an early dinner at L.A.’s iconic Philippe’s, where the French Dipped Sandwich originated back in 1918. Then, Mr. Griffin scheduled us into The Broad, L.A.’s New Contemporary Art Museum–the big white building downtown sporting the innovative honeycomb “veil-and-vault” architecture. The night finished breathtakingly at Disney Concert Hall with Gustavo Dudamel conducting Mahler’s Third Symphony. Time could have stopped for us right there, right then. Los Angeles Times critic Mark Swed said Dudamel “excelled in revealing the power of Mahler,” leading the L.A. Phil to play “with gut-wrenching strength.” Word is, Mr. Griffin and Ms. Zachik are creating a Culture Club next year adding more expeditions for the culturally adventurous.

PVS students scrambled over the Disney Concert Hall winding architecture, taking in the L.A. skyline.

David Kocen beside the oversized Table and Chairs installment at The Broad.

Jeff Koons Balloon Dog at The Broad

Travels with Friends: In Search of the Aquarium of the Pacific

December 17, 2015 by szachik@pvs.org Leave a Comment

–by Zhenzhou Hu and Jim Wang

During this year’s Thanksgiving break, Palm Valley international students Hugh Hu, Allen Zhao, Ben Ju, and Jim Wang visited Long Beach’s Aquarium of Pacific. All of them strongly suggest their peers put this aquarium on their field trip lists. The following depicts the adventure from the perspective of Hugh.

–Edited by Amber Zheng

Ben amazingly looked at this scary Moray Eel and said, “This fish is beautiful!” The rest of us failed to see the beauty.

Ben really loves fish. He wants to major in Sea Creatures (or Ocean Biology) in college. So, on our time off, we took an Uber from Arcadia to the Aquarium of the Pacific, and we had a great time. Ben was excited over every tank. He must have said “Wow” more than 25 times when looking at the various jelly fish and sea horses and star fish. We visited the aquarium on Thursday, which is Thanksgiving Day, and it was not as crowded as we expected. The ticket price was also not as high as we expected—only $29.

There were awesome educational exhibitions and facilities. At the beginning, we went to see a short movie about the Pacific Ocean. The movie showed us how human beings affect the biosphere of ocean and told us how to protect the biosphere by reusing and recycling. The aquarium also had a little 3D theatre that sells tickets for $4 each, but we didn’t walk in because we were not interested in 3D theatre.

The Aquarium Officer gently teaches Jim and Ben NOT to touch the shellfish with five fingers and definitely NOT to flip them over.

The aquarium was kind of small, but there were plenty of things to see for everyone, and there were several touch tanks and good viewing angles for people to really appreciate the aquatic wildlife. The aquarium officer allowed us to touch the aquatic wildlife with two fingers, but Jim was so amazed and excited that he flipped the the shell. The officer told him not to do so because it’s okay to do it several times, but if everyone out of the couple thousand visitors does the same thing the shells will be affected. The officer forgave Jim, but the rest of us blamed him.

My favourite part of the aquarium was the penguin exhibit! I thought that there was no way I could see penguins in a place like California. We didn’t expect to see cold-loving penguins in a climate as warm as California’s. The penguins were sliding and waddling and posing for photos (with us).

The most shocking thing to me was seeing the exhibits cleaned. Divers use a vacuum to suck up leaves and dirt. We saw a diver step on a starfish while cleaning the tank. We worried about the starfish, and other people around us did as well: “What is this man doing? Does he realize what he is doing?” said the aquarium visitors.

–Photo credit: Jim Wang

Overall, the Aquarium of the Pacific is a fun place to be if you don’t have any idea about what plans to make and you’re in the area! We easily spent two hours there! I highly recommend students in biology class going to the Aquarium Of the Pacific for an annual trip.

We don’t know what fish this is, but IT IS a BIG fish.

“The crabs must taste delicious.”–Amber Zheng

If you look closely at the bottom right of the picture, you can see the diver in the tank nearly kneeling on a starfish!!!! –Photo in Action by Zhenzhou Hu

Students Meet Author Scott Anderson

April 20, 2015 by szachik@pvs.org 2 Comments

“No four-hour movie can do real justice to the bureaucratic rumblings, the myriad spies, heroes and villains, the dense fugue of humanity at its best and worst operating in the Mideast war theater of 1914-17. Thrillingly, Scott Anderson’s Lawrence in Arabia . . . . does exactly that, weaving enormous detail into its five-hundred-plus pages with a propulsive narrative thread.”

— USA Today

The Desert Literary Society invited Dr. Carr, Ms. Zachik, and eight students to meet Lawrence in Arabia author Scott Anderson at their March luncheon. Before the luncheon, the PVS students met with Anderson in a small conference room at the Renaissance Esmeralda. Students were free to ask questions of the author, questions about his writing process, his investigative process. Most often, however, the questions turned to the Middle East. Anderson spent years living in and researching the Middle East. The subject of his recent book was Englishman T.E. Lawrence (often known as “Lawrence of Arabia”) during WWI and the forming of the modern Middle East. PVS students wanted to know “How could things be different?” “Better?” and “What’s in the future for the Middle East?”

Before being escorted into the ballroom, Anderson signed the students’ personal copies of Lawrence in Arabia.