76
Out of School
Year 12 French Exchange to
Montpelier March 2013
At first the idea of speaking nothing but French for a
week seemed to be a rather daunting prospect, especially
considering the difficulties of the language-barrier we
encounteredwhen our French exchanges visited us here in
England. However, we soon came round to the idea when
we realised it was a good few degrees warmer in the south
of France than Marlow at the time, where it continued to
snow mid-March.
We landed mid-afternoon on a Saturday and spent the
rest of the weekend with our exchange families, quickly
growing accustomed to the huge 21:00 dinners and cheese
after every meal. The early-morning starts combined with
constantly thinking and speaking in another language
were exhausting and so by 10 o’clock, we all would have
much rather been in bed than eating! However, we were
reunited with the rest of the English students on Sunday
when we visited Lake Salagou. Unfortunately, the water
sports centre was not open for the season yet and so we
resorted to playing numerous card games and a rather
muddy game of football in order to entertain ourselves.
By Monday the speed at which French people spoke
became less challenging and we enjoyed a tour of
Montpellier from a guide who spoke only French, at
great length and in much detail. After having tasted the
very best cuisine which Montpellier had to offer (a trip to
McDonald’s soon satisfied our taste buds) we were left
to explore the beautiful town?. Our cultural education
was then expanded throughout the week, particularly
in Pézenas, the town in which the famous writer Moliere
lived. However, we didn’t spend the whole week simply
absorbing facts; we marked the end of the exchange with
a party on Friday night which allowed everyone to really
cement their friendships with the exchanges!
Despite the social side of the exchange, perhaps the most
interesting aspect for us was the visit to the lycée on
Wednesday where we all attended our correspondents’
lessons with varying degrees of success comprehension-
wise. During this longer school day, entirely new subjects
were introduced, such as histoire-geo, in which Annie sat
through an hour of the history of the French motorway
system, something which she delighted in telling us about
afterwards. The maths lessons were somewhat similar to
what we learn at AS, a comforting aspect in such an alien
environment. What was particularly useful during the day
was the discussions we had with other students on the
French further education system, which is very different
to our own. Despite this academic enlightenment, with
regards to food, Annie was gutted to find there were no
sausage rolls in the school canteen!
Despite one individual’s pastry-invoked disappointment,
we were sad to leave on Saturday morning, departing the
sunny shores of
Montpellier,
our
tans only slightly
improved and our
French vocabulary
most
definitely
expanded!
Celine Nonde and
Annie Lennon Y12
