Trip to Nîmes
A group of Eastbourne College pupils visited Nîmes at the start of the Easter holiday. This was the return leg of this year's French exchange programme. They enjoyed glorious weather throughout the trip with just one rainy day when visiting the picturesque village of Les Baux de Provence.
The pupils continued to build on the positive first phase in Eastbourne but this time with the very definite aim of further developing their linguistic skills. They formed some very good friendships with their French counterparts and several have planned their next meeting. Whilst some intend to get together during the summer holidays, two of the group have met up with their counterparts again in the UK during the three week Easter break.
Here is a report about the trip written by Katie McIntyre, Year 12 Watt:
"For the first week of the Easter holidays nine of us from three different year groups, went to Nîmes on a French exchange trip. Fortunately our exchange partners had stayed with us for a week last year so we knew that they were all very nice! However this didn't stop us from being very nervous about putting our French into practice. As the week progressed, our nervousness disappeared as we became increasingly confident and began to pick up more and more French. This was helped by a tour around Montpellier by Mr Protin's nephew who pointed out various sites.
Our morale, unlike our clothing, was not dampened by the rain on the day we spent in the region of Les Baux de Provence. The trip inside the cave was certainly an experience like no other and we had a great time visiting a small village with beautiful views – even with the rain clouds!
We also enjoyed exploring Nîmes. The visits to the Roman sites of les Arènes et la Maison Carrée were great and very informative about the history and culture of Nîmes. A personal favourite moment of the trip was the last day when we relaxed in Les Jardins de la Fontaine. We spent the morning soaking up the French sun; much to the horror of the locals who were still wrapped up in winter coats! Many competitive games of cards were also enjoyed.
Of course, the French food played a significant role in the success of the trip! We enjoyed many visits to various patisseries throughout the Nîmes/Montpellier region and also experienced food away from the French stereotype of pain au chocolat and croissants.
I can vouch for everyone that the trip was a great success – educational and fun. We owe our sincere thanks to the teachers who organised it all – Mr Protin and Mrs Webb."
