1995 School Magazine

@irld' 6rsmmar 5tlr00l IGrisbane 1995

FRENCH TRIP

(1 love the people!' yelled Fiona. over lnine other Grammar Girls eager ro have their shot at fame. The privilege of shaking hands with the mayor of Angoul€me was not enough, so they attacked the journal- ists. The minor problems associated with the language barrier had long since disappeared, on this the sixteenth day of the 94/95 French Trip.

hourly doses, and apart lrom significantly depleting the 'francs' in our wallets, lying in bed wide awake at3 a.m. was a fine way to learn the symptoms of a caffeine overdose. There was no escaping their caffeine- drinking, chain-smoking culture, so we re- luctantly resigned ourselves to the motto: f you can't beat'em, join em(NE\TRTOUCH- ING A CIGARETTE, OF COURSE). But you can't go past this country's love of their wine. This addiction encroached upon every aspect of their lives. At every meal, espe- cially family gatherings, the uin rougeflowed freely. The combination of this culture shock and severe jet-lag led most of us to enjoy a very memorable New Year's Eve! Everybody spent, and spent uP big, on

As enlightening as this brush with fame might have been, it was by no means the highlight of the trip. Surely this couldn't be the same group of two Year Elevens and eight Year Ten students who had set out only two weeks earlier in fear of being seated adloiningly. Shamefully it was so, but not for long. The concept of being abandoned in a foreign country with what could only be described as limitedFrench skills worked miracles on these ten girls. Firstly, it meant if you wanted to understand, and more importantly, be understood, you had to go to school. Some girls spent so much time at Lyc6e St Pau1, our extremely obliging (not to mention tolerant) sister school, in those three weeks you would never have guessed they were sacrificing their holidays for the trip. And sacrificing was definitely an accurate descrip- tion. It was unbelievably difficult to rush around the streets of Paris and Angoul€me eating croissants by the boxful and being a socialite, in between attending co-ed classes and spending limitlessly. The only hindrance was the weather, and snow at New Year can prove sucb a hassle. But it was easy to forget the weather; v/e were in France. Paris may be the city of love but Angoul€me would have to be running a close second, and most of the girls became living testimony to that! It took no time once the co-educational system was thrust upon us to see through six layers of clothes to find that Frenchmen are ever)4hing they are rumoured to be. Fortunately the classrooms were heated, enticing us to school regularly. 'we did, however, flnd ourselves generally gravitating towards the language classes, particularly English, where, apart from the initiai interrogations, we seemed more or less to fit right in. Though we weren't exactly fluent in Spanish, Latin and German, we were pleased to discover a mass of confused faces upon entering these classes. In English classes everyone received us with open hearts and minds, and once the novelty of having people who legitimately understood the class wore off, we were made honorary students. Our enthusiasm was justified, granted that the more classes we attended the more friends we made, and the more friends we made the more people we had to 'kiss'. Lunch is abig affair for the French. The Alrstralians tended to flock lo the Quick at any spare moment for their daily dose of coffee and hot chocolate. These daily doses soon became

eveqzthing from Doc Martens to berets, crepe pans to perfumes. You name it, we bought it, sparing little expense and sparing very little saniry for the shopkeepers who endured our broken French/English. Our theory was neuer attack a shop assistant alone, and when we shopped we always tried to go with someone who spoke better French. As much as the shopkeep- ers prided themselves on 'spikking Ingleesh' the shopping expeditions were the best experience of the entire trip for improving our French. Thanks must go to the Lyc6e St Paul and all the people who helped co-ordinate the trip from that end, and to the school for giving ten girls the opportunity of a lifetime, but ultimately, to Madame Thornquist - the challenge she took on was more than noble; it was brave! At times she must have been on the verge of a nervous breakdown. Being lost in the back streets of Paris can't be easy even without ten girls yelling at you! I wouldn't have been surprised in the least if we had driven her to insanity, but without her we would probably still be standing in a line at "Charles de Gaulie" air terminal or busking in Hong Kong. So if on 'Bastilie

Day'you see ten gids who have ordered a boxful of chocolate croissants each, or you know someone who smells like coffee, this is why. Despite the snails we had to eat and the few kilos we gained, we would go back ^t the first chance... KIRSTY

MACKENZIE GENEVIEVE . STEWART

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