My opinion of the French Exchange
Surely to many of us the prospect of going over to a foreign country for 10 days and staying with a family that you have never met before is a daunting prospect. Well to about 50 students this was the challenge ahead of them as we set out at 1 o’clock in the morning. Fortunately I had already been on the exchange so I knew the area and school that we were going to.
With me and Matt being the only 17 year old lads on the trip we knew it
was obvious from the outset that we would have to get used to seeing a lot of
each other. However, this wasn’t the case as many people of all different ages
mixed and forged friendships, not only with people from the same school but
others as well. The bus journey was long and boring, this was definitely the
case when Kate and Eleanor decided to translate a Britney Spears song into
French.
When we eventually arrived in Questembert at some time in the late
evening we were introduced to our partners. Each person slowly went off to
start the adventure and try and fit in with the French culture. Unfortunately I
had some trouble with the person I was meant to be staying with so at the last
minute I was changed and had to spend the 10 day trip with the deputy head
teacher. The worst thing was that at weekends they lived about an hour away
from the school so I had to spend the weekend away from any sort of humanity.
When Monday came people were retelling stories of how they all went ice
skating and other things together. The majority of the trips were to historical
towns and trying to introduce us into the French way of life. However, this
wasn’t the case as when we were given licence to roam around the towns the only
thing on our mind’s was to find the nearest bar. This was a perfectly good
opportunity for us to try and get our heads around using the Euro. This was the
general sequence of events on every trip although we did get to look around and
take in some culture.
The ferry trip on the way home provided some more excitement with many
people not able to stomach the waves for the whole 7 hour crossing and lots of
us were in the toilet throwing up what we had for lunch. Back on home soil and
things were looking up, only a few hours until home. Another long and dark
journey kept us from home but it didn’t take too long.
The general opinion was a highly successful trip on all parts with new
European friendships forged, now we await the return leg.
Have you been on an exchange like this with your school?
How was your experience?
Chris Bentley, Bishop Heber High School.