Diary 1

Wednesday 4th June

Today we were to start our journey to France. We left school at 14:00 hrs and started our bus journey to Portsmouth. From Portsmouth we travelled on the Bretagne and spent the evening exploring the ship. There were a range of activities such as an arcade and magic show. It was a pleasant voyage with a quite calm sea.

Thursday 5th June

We arrived at St Malo early in the morning and had to be up and ready to walk off the ferry. We were going to have breakfast in St Malo. Every one headed straight for cafes selling croissants. After breakfast we got back on the bus and headed for Mont Saint- Michel - a huge abbey on top of a hill on an island. A few of us went inside to look around while the others explored the shops that make up the medieval town at the base of the abbey.

After visiting Mont Saint-Michel we headed for college St Paul where our French correspondents would be meeting us. We pulled up outside the school to see our French friends and parents waiting, this was probably the most nerve racking part of the trip and we all tried to memorise French phrases from our booklets. We stepped off the bus and said our good byes to each other then we were whisked off to our homes for the week.

Friday 6th June

After a night with the host families we woke up and had breakfast. We went to school by many different types of transport. I ended up on a bike. We had a welcome ceremony in their school canteen where we said a poem in French and sang a song. After the welcome meeting we went in to Nantes and were given a tour by one of the teachers. We visited the Castle of the Dukes of Brittany and the statue of Anne of Brittany. We also visited the cathedral.

Saturday 7th June

We spent the weekend with our French correspondents. Most of the boys met up on Saturday morning to play football on one of the many football pitches down at the local football club. This was great fun and in the end after we had beaten the French a few times decided to make it fair and change the teams. While we did this the girls all went shopping in Nantes. After football we all went home to eat and then met up at a theme park which had lots of bouncy castles and other sorts of funfair rides. This was good fun but we all got really tired and hot in the baking sun. We went home for the evening. I was lucky enough to have a family with one of those free standing swimming pools so could cool off.

Sunday 8th June

On Sunday first we had to go to church!! It was an interesting experience. After church my family took me out for crêpes in a restaurant. I had mushroom and bacon!

Then I went to a climbing place with my family where there are loads of climbing courses that take you through the trees. In the evening we watched football on TV.

Monday 9th June

Just the Welsh students spent the day at an activity centre called Pont Caffino. We canoed, climbed and did archery. It was good fun and very hot.

Tuesday 10th June

We spent this day with our French partners at Le Grand Parc Puy du Fou. It is an amazing historical theme park. We watched the Romans fighting in the amphitheatre, the Vikings attack a village, the 3 musketeers fighting, and a brilliant bird display. It was very confusing as everything was in French. The teachers tried to help us follow what was going on!!!

Wednesday 11th June

We had to get up really early to leave for home. My French partner’s mother insisted on cooking bacon and eggs for me – at 5.30am! We all said our goodbyes – there was a lot of crying from the girls. We caught the ferry in St Malo and spent the day watching The Little Mermaid over and over again as it was the only English programme on the TV. We arrived home at 10.30 in torrential rain all very tired and glad to be back.

David 9.1