This year for the first time in the history of the Abbey Program we organized an event at the Abbey for the people of Pontlevoy along with students' host families. The "Ghost Walk" started out as this small little event that, by the end of it, evolved to this mass artistic and contemporary event. It was first thought up by two students from New Orleans who, after hearing about the 11th century bones that were found under the road right outside the gates of the Abbey, thought it would be fun to make an event where people could tell ghost stories like they do in New Orleans. This idea then evolved by the professor in charge, Dr. Ariel Beaujot, into a ghost walk that would have six or seven stops where people would be told a different story about something ghostly and/or mysterious. Then, the local artist Pamela (http://www.pamelamoulton.com/) joined in and created props and costumes for the walk completely out of recycled materials. It was really neat because each student would go to Pamela's studio and help create their costume. By this point the Ghost Walk was something none of us, especially Dr. 
Beaujot, thought it would amount to. This fun little project that seemed so harmless in the beginning turned out to be huge piece of work that took a lot more time than originally expected. However, even with all of that we were all still VERY excited about the Ghost Walk. Not only to finally do it but to see how many people would actually show up. We had invited the whole town but were not sure how many would actually come out to see some event put on by a bunch of American college students. Despite any worries we may have had we continued to try our best to make the Ghost Walk an awesome event. Because no other Abbey class had ever done this before, the reputation of The Abbey Program rested its success. Well the eve of the Ghost Walk came, the costumes and props were made (thanks completely to Pamela and Ellen), all types of plastic was hanging from all of the trees in the back lawn, and all of the Abbey students were down in the Salon,it was time for the dress rehearsal. I'll be honest and say the first run through was a COMPLETE disaster. I even had a momentary thought that the Ghost Walk was going to be a disaster and we would forever be remembered as the Abbey class that bombed. However, just when we all thought it was going to be the end of it we got some inspiring words from Dr. Beaujot, Pamela, and Jessica and it made us realize that the sole purpose of the Ghost Walk was to have fun! We did another run-through and although it didn't go perfect we had so much fun doing it. So the day came for the Ghost Walk. The host families arrived early for a potluck and we decided that since they were our family in France, they should get involved. So we started making them head pieces out of the left over materials we had. The time came and of course we were running late, but no worries...the French are always late so it worked out. We had over 170 people attend the walk. They ranged from babi
es to senior citizens. All of the people we know from around town attended such as the lady at the Utile and her family, the lady at the bakery and her family, and even the major of Pontlevoy. It was clear that the event had clearly sparked some interest around town. After the walk was over I went up and asked my host mom what she thought about it and all she said was, "Super Bien!!!!" We had done what we set out to do. We created an event that was not only fun for us to do, but fun for the people of Pontlevoy to attend. However, now that we have created this event and made it a success, now it depends on the future Abbey students to keep it going and continue to make it a exciting event for everyone. Now I am not saying you should take the exact idea we had and do the same Ghost Walk because if that was the case the people who attended this year would have no reason to come back because they would have already seen it. What this means is that from now on it is the responsibility of each Abbey class to come up with some type of event that all students can participate in, and that the people of Pontlevoy and host families can attend. So to ALL future Abbey students, don't let all the work we did this year go to waist and don't let the be the first and last community event the the Abbey students put on. Although is it a lot of work it is completely worth it. So good luck and I can't wait to hear what interesting ideas the future Abbey classes think up and hearing/seeing how the events play out. Good Luck! 
Beaujot, thought it would amount to. This fun little project that seemed so harmless in the beginning turned out to be huge piece of work that took a lot more time than originally expected. However, even with all of that we were all still VERY excited about the Ghost Walk. Not only to finally do it but to see how many people would actually show up. We had invited the whole town but were not sure how many would actually come out to see some event put on by a bunch of American college students. Despite any worries we may have had we continued to try our best to make the Ghost Walk an awesome event. Because no other Abbey class had ever done this before, the reputation of The Abbey Program rested its success. Well the eve of the Ghost Walk came, the costumes and props were made (thanks completely to Pamela and Ellen), all types of plastic was hanging from all of the trees in the back lawn, and all of the Abbey students were down in the Salon,it was time for the dress rehearsal. I'll be honest and say the first run through was a COMPLETE disaster. I even had a momentary thought that the Ghost Walk was going to be a disaster and we would forever be remembered as the Abbey class that bombed. However, just when we all thought it was going to be the end of it we got some inspiring words from Dr. Beaujot, Pamela, and Jessica and it made us realize that the sole purpose of the Ghost Walk was to have fun! We did another run-through and although it didn't go perfect we had so much fun doing it. So the day came for the Ghost Walk. The host families arrived early for a potluck and we decided that since they were our family in France, they should get involved. So we started making them head pieces out of the left over materials we had. The time came and of course we were running late, but no worries...the French are always late so it worked out. We had over 170 people attend the walk. They ranged from babi
es to senior citizens. All of the people we know from around town attended such as the lady at the Utile and her family, the lady at the bakery and her family, and even the major of Pontlevoy. It was clear that the event had clearly sparked some interest around town. After the walk was over I went up and asked my host mom what she thought about it and all she said was, "Super Bien!!!!" We had done what we set out to do. We created an event that was not only fun for us to do, but fun for the people of Pontlevoy to attend. However, now that we have created this event and made it a success, now it depends on the future Abbey students to keep it going and continue to make it a exciting event for everyone. Now I am not saying you should take the exact idea we had and do the same Ghost Walk because if that was the case the people who attended this year would have no reason to come back because they would have already seen it. What this means is that from now on it is the responsibility of each Abbey class to come up with some type of event that all students can participate in, and that the people of Pontlevoy and host families can attend. So to ALL future Abbey students, don't let all the work we did this year go to waist and don't let the be the first and last community event the the Abbey students put on. Although is it a lot of work it is completely worth it. So good luck and I can't wait to hear what interesting ideas the future Abbey classes think up and hearing/seeing how the events play out. Good Luck! 
To all the 2010 students who took part in the Ghost Walk:
ReplyDeleteI wasn't able to attend to actual Ghost Walk, but I was in Pontlevoy for a visit at the end of March and saw the beginnings of your preparations. What a process you went through in order to put on this amazing event. How fortunate you were to have support from your faculty, musicians and super talented townspeople like Pamela. I certainly hope that this continues to be an Abbey tradition. You researched and brought to the fore information about the town that many people had forgotten or, perhaps, had never known about Pontlevoy. Bravo!
Liz Beaujot (Yes, mother of Prof. Ariel)