With two days left before the end of term, a group of thirty-year nines lead by Miss Russell set off for Lyon. Our journey started off with a short drive to Ebbsfleet from where we took the Eurostar to Lille international, then the TGV to Lyon.
We arrived on the Boulevard at 4pm where our exchange partners and their family and friends warmly greeted us. After all the introductions, we finally went back to our partner’s house where we had tea (‘le goûter’) awaiting. We settled in quickly and soon it was time for bed as we had a busy week planned ahead.
Every morning we would go to school with our partners and then back home at the end of the day. There were many activities planned for us each day and they were: long walks all over the town; going to ‘Bernachon’ chocolate factory (they had the nicest chocolate ever and we were given a second breakfast!); seeing the Place des Terreaux; going to Parc de la Tête d’Or for lunch; a bus tour of Lyon which finished at Basilica of Notre Dame de Fourvière; visiting the old town of Lyon; going to the film museum as cinema and film originated in France; experiencing the morning markets, a day in Annecy; visiting a silk factory; cooking a traditional French soufflé and last but not least seeing many old painted walls with figures of famous French people who play an important role in French culture.
The weekend came and all of us set off to do many exciting activities with our families such as bowling, going to the cinema, shopping, rock climbing, visiting the Star Wars museum, and a few of us also got taken up to the mountains for dog sledging and skiing.
Without realising how quickly the week went, it was time to say goodbye and return to England where we would welcome our exchanges in a month.
All in all, the trip was a fantastic success and I would definitely go back if I ever had the chance!
Barkat Mehra
We arrived in a rainy Lyon after a long day of travelling but, despite the unexpectedly bad weather, we were all in good spirits due to the fact that we were about to meet our French families who we were staying with during the trip.
After having been introduced to the family, we drove back to their apartment and spent the remainder of the evening playing games and getting to know each other. We had a fairly late dinner of a traditional French meal which was delicious!
The week, in general, absolutely flew past and was packed full of amazing activities and experiences by both our French families and the school. During the days when our French exchanges were in school, we went to some amazing places in and around Lyon such as a chocolate factory, a silk workshop, the old parts of Lyon and an ancient village called Annecy. All of the trips were really fun and interesting.
However, on the weekend, our French exchanges were looking after us for the whole weekend. They arranged several things for us to do with friends or just together and I had such a fun weekend. We went horse riding, shopping and we went to a party on Saturday, and on Sunday we had a more relaxed day with the family as we were both exhausted!!
Overall, it was such a good trip and I had so much fun, met so many nice people and made lots of amazing memories and I would definitely do it again, given the chance!
Vita De Munck
