We began our journey to Montigny le Bretonneux dark and early on Sunday 9th November. We arrived in the airport well in advance and got everyone through security smoothly. Once we had boarded the flight we were then given the announcement that our flight wouldn’t take off for an hour and half. Nearly two hours later we finally took off on our way to France, filled with great excitement and a few nerves. We arrived in France and got a rather large bus for our 12 students to the school where we were greeted by our host families and brought back to our new house for the week. Everybody spent the evening getting to know their host families before an early night as we were all very sleep deprived.

On Monday morning most of the students didn’t have school as the teacher was absent and didn’t start school until 1pm. For the unfortunate few that began at 8am they quickly made new friends and found their way around the school. Later on in the day all of the Irish students met up and got a bus into the town. Well most of them anyway, James couldn't get his ticket out in time. We were given some free time to wander and roam around before going karting. The karting was great fun and a great way to start the trip, everyone got very competitive. We then returned back to our host families for dinner and the rest of the evening.

We were up bright and early again on Tuesday as the school was closed for Armistice day. Everybody met at the school before heading out to Paris for the day. All was well and going smoothly until an alarm went off on the train and we had to evacuate as a suspicious bag was found at the next station. We then spent the next hour or so hopping on and off different metro lines as we were determined to make it to the Sacré Coeur. We met lots of interesting people along the way as everyone was very intrigued by our blue hoodies. We climbed many sets of steps and finally reached the church. It was beautiful and had an incredible view looking over Paris. After a quick stroll around the surrounding streets we headed for some lunch. After lunch it was back on the metro for our last stop of the day in Versailles. We had a great opportunity to explore the Château de Versailles. The art work and sculptures inside the palace were absolutely breathtaking and everyone thoroughly enjoyed the whole experience. After the self guided tour we chilled in the gardens for a little while before heading to the train station and going home for the evening to spend more time with our host families.

On Wednesday everybody started school at 8am. Most people had English first where we got to know some of the French students and spoke to them in English and they responded in French, benefiting us both. Everyone had lunch in the canteen which was very different to what we are used to in Ireland. There were yoghurts, cheese, fruit and a dessert that was self-service and then you move along to get your proper meal which was served by the chefs. Once you go into the dining hall there was a salad bar and water station. In the afternoon there was a welcome reception in the Town Hall where we met the Mayor and learnt about twin cities. Once that had finished everyone went back to their host families for a while. That night the host students had organised for everyone to meet up and socialise outside of school which was really nice as we got to know each other a lot better.

Thursday began similarly to Wednesday, we had classes with our French students in the morning and then lunch in the canteen. Once everyone was finished we left the school to get a train to Musée d’Orsay. It was a great experience to see all of the famous paintings and sculptures in real life. The museum itself I found was so cool as it used to be a train station and the transformation into a museum was incredible. After wandering the museum and taking everything in we made the call to go back to the metro and head to Champs Elysées. This was so much bigger than I had imagined and was so cool to see in real life. We were then given free time to roam around and get something to eat. Afterwards we met back up and headed home for the night.

On Friday the French students joined us for a trip into Paris. We got a train to the city and then walked to the Seine for an hour-long boat tour of the famous monuments around Paris. We got to see the Eiffel Tower, Paris city hall, Notre-Dame Cathedral and many other historic buildings. The architecture on some of the bridges and buildings was so impressive. After the boat tour we went to a park to sit and have our lunch before the Europa Experience. During this we learnt about the European Union and parliament and got lots of insight into how everything works. That evening we played bowling with our host students and hung out with everyone for the last time before we headed home on Saturday 15th. It was a lovely way to end the trip. The whole experience was absolutely incredible. It was amazing to be immersed in French culture and language for a week and it definitely had a huge impact on my French.

By Sophia Scott 6G.