“We want to leave our stamp on this club…” senior Daniela Samusi, president of the French Club, said about the club’s multitude of activities this year. The club is offering myriad trips, ranging from places less than an hour from Rocklin to different countries.

     “In [French] class it is all about the grammar and language, so we want to learn more about the culture…[Learning about France] is very dry in the classroom, so we try to explore it more…” Samusi said.

     The club plans to visit an authentic French restaurant called La Provence, located in Roseville.

     A trip to San Francisco is also coming up later in the year, which will allow members to visit museums to view French art and sample fine French cuisine.

     However, the most important trip of the year, which Samusi has been waiting to go on for the past few years that she has been in the club, is the nine-day sojourn to France in June 2010.

     They plan on visiting Paris, and seeing the most famous sites of the city, including the Eiffel Tower, the Notre Dame cathedral, the Mona Lisa and the Louvre, where is housed, as well as the opera theater in which the play “The Phantom of the Opera” was set.

     From there, the group plans on traveling to the French Riviera, a stretch of the southeastern French coastline, home to cities like Nice, which the club is going to visit. East of Nice lies the tiny, French speaking country of Monaco, another one of the stops along this tour of France.

     Though this excursion comes with the weighty price tag of $3,000, many still want to go.

     Freshman Ilaf Esuf, a prospective club member, feels that “going to France will help me become more culturally aware” and that it will let her experience French art and culture firsthand.

     For returning member Daniela Samusi, this trip is a culmination of all of the work she has put into this club, and she is excited to see it finally happening.

     In order to pay the $3,000 cost of the trip to France, as well as other local trips, the French club is planning on conducting multiple fundraisers.

     They will sell French Valentine Grams in February, and will wrap gifts during the holidays. Other methods of fundraising include a French banquet, as well as an auction, in which food baskets from various businesses and possibly a chocolate fountain will be sold. The club is also planning on putting together a collection of student recipes to create a Whitney High cookbook, which would be sold for profit.

     This club meets on even Mondays in room F-8. Its officials include Daniela Samusi, the president, and William Kellogg, the vice president. Meetings are during lunch, and sometimes are potluck.