On March 31 we visited IFREMER a French national integrated maritime institute focused on ocean science and technology. April 1, we visited the Paul Bousquet Lycee De La Mer, a school dedicated to all things maritime, followed with a lunch of oysters and mussels. During the afternoon our students presented at the Lycée Joliot Curie and listened in turn to the work of the students of the school.
Paul Borrel, the CEO of the group Sete Expo drove us in his police vehicle to Nimes on the following day, an ancient city which was inhabited by Romans who had ended up being protectors from invading Gauls from “up north”. The ancient colosseum, which was in remarkably good structural state was hosting a tennis game and had previously been used to host an Eric Clapton concert. The afternoon of that Wednesday the 2nd will live in memory as we pored over the various exhibits at Montpelier University’s Faculty of Medicine, the oldest such operation in the world. Thursday was spent at the port of Sète which focuses on fishing, business and tourism.
Friday, our team spent the morning engaged with the judges and the Mayor of Sete who as usual was enthusiastic and supportive of the event at the Expo reviewing our team’s work. In the early evening Paul convened an interesting presentation with a friend of ours Jim Spohrer from California (ex IBM) who took us into the fascinating world of digital twins. On Saturday, April 5 was spent with our host families in the morning and we convened with the expo from lunch participating in the presentation. The evening was spent eating dinner from a large (4’ diameter) paella pan and celebrating the success of the event. It is important to understand that in the spirit of the French republic, work is performed by volunteers and in this case of a certain age 😉
We returned to the US the following day, replete with memories, successes and owners of relationships which will last a lifetime and continue to improve the Entente Cordiale.
Left to right: Tung-Lam Nguyen, Camilla Browand and Alexis Busch