1998 School Magazine

Ginger aminar ^, chou1 !!3risbane 1998

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Tour to I;'rance

n New Year's Eve, 1997, the excited French trip group While we all at- left the warm SUITuner days of Brisbane and jetted off tended many classes, to France. After a long and exhausting night we were greeted our trip was not only by sub-zero temperatures and the deserted streets of Paris. In made up of school the early hours of the new year the streets were covered with We were also fortu- the remains of what looked to have been a huge celebration. nate to go on many Although we were all extremely tired we took the calm moment excursions including to see some of the famous sights of Paris, including the Champs a shoppinotrip to BOT- Elysees, Sacr6 Coeur, the Louvre and Notre Dame. 11 was here deaux. We also trav- in Paris that we discovered that there is absolutely nothing that GIIed to Brant6me and Mr Dale does not know every detail about. The cameras were the seaside town of La forever flashing as we tried to bottle up the memories and Rochelle where we

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pretended we were all at Noosa. An extremely interesting trip was when we visited lamac, the home town of the previous French President Frangois Mitterand. As well as being famous for Mitterand, the town was also the home of the Couvoissier Cognac factory. in the factory we saw a piece of Napolean's hair and also a bottle of Cognac as old as Australia! We also went to the storage room which was filled with thousands of barrels of Cognac. All in all, the excursions were a wonderful experience for us all. in addition to these outings, some girls went to Paris or Bordeaux for the weekend. After four weeks of excitement and new experi- ences, sadly our trip had to come to an end. We bid a sad goodbye To the families to whom we had become so famitiar and left the "land of love" teary-eyed and very unwillingly. We stopped over in Hong 1<0ng to see the sights and go on another shopping spree at SIanley Markets After a little fiasco with customs involving the 1015 gras we had brought back, we greeted Brisbane a little over- weight, a little pale but glad to be home. We are so fortunate to ITave such a wonderful and welcoming French school at our fingertips and we were glad to return their kindness when the group from Lycee Saint Paul came 10 Brisbane. The opportunity to travel the world and live in a ,,^..,

scenes of beautitul Paris; however, none was so beautiful as the EiffelTower. On a rare clear night in Paris we climbed the tower and were captivated by the lights and view of the city. For many of us who thought that the Ferris Wheel at the EKKA was high, it certainly was an experience and although we had seen numerous pictures of the famous landmark we were all spellbound by the teal thing' The end of our Paris ^199. ,@~ ^^... ^...

experience marked the be- ginning of a new adven- lure for us all as we jour- neyed to Allgou16me to meet OUT host families. A1- though the thought of 11\,- ing with complete siran- gels for three weeks was frightening it also pre- sented a challenge for us all to take up. One by one

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we disappeared from the train station to OUT new families and began the most difficult but also most fulfilling part of OUT trip living in an authentic French household As a group we encountered many differences in the French way of life but the one which left us staggering was school, as none of us was prepared for the different appearance of Lycee Saint Paul. A sinole crucifix was the only item on the classroom walls and the front of the school looks to be just a green door in a wall. But once inside you discover how beautifully French the school is. There are bare trees in the playground, old buildings everywhere and windows with spectacular views across the town, and if you are in the right spot at the right time you can sit in class and watch the sun rise, something you cannot quite do here at Grammar We certainly did not forget that it was our school holidays and while our host brother and sisters were havino two hour PITYsics and Chemistry lessons, the cafeteria became the AUS- Italian sanctuary. We basically tool< it over, not just because there were heaters, but also because there was a chocolate machine. The Grammar girls fed hundreds of francs into the machine and, intich to our dismay, managed to break it at least once a week

different country is openly avail- able to all Gram- mar girls and the 1997 French Trip Group would like to thank Madame Thorn- quist and every- one else who made it possible for us 10 have

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Lycee 51 PRu! s!ude;71s a! B G. G. S such a fantastic experience. We all can safely say that the trip was The best summer holidays we have ever ITad and we cannot wait to get back to France

SUSANNAH WHITEHOUSE AND LUCY CARNE

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