5th Form French Exchange to Aix-en-Provence
Yet again the town of Aix-en-Provence in the south of France was invaded by a group of 5th form Paulines, desperate to improve their French in time for their GCSE orals. Just moments after getting off the coach from the airport, the 'bonjours' started flying as everyone met their French exchanges again after so many months apart. There were many apprehensive smiles and nervous handshakes to say the least. Thankfully though it was quite late and we would only have a short evening ahead before returning to the safety of the school group the next morning.
The next day, Friday, a group of groggy-eyed Paulines met in the courtyard of the Lycée Paul Cézanne at what can only be described as an ungodly hour, to go off to "la vieille ville." First however, we had a talk by the deputy head of the school, which lasted for longer than the concentration span of almost everyone in the room, and we were given maps to find our way around the centre of Aix-en-Provence.
After a short walk of about fifteen minutes, we found the ancient Cathedral of 'St. Sauveur', with its impressive façade and beautiful interior, and spent about ten minutes wandering inside it before heading towards the massive 'Fontaine de la Rotonde' in the centre of the city and splitting into groups to wander about for an hour. Those of us who decided to be more adventurous than ordering a couple of cokes and a baguette discovered that there was a lot to see in Aix, from the ancient 'Hôtel de Ville' and its Gothic clock tower, to the fabulous 'Cours Mirabeau', lined with shops and huge plane trees.
After our exploration of Aix we teamed up with our French exchanges to visit the 'Mont Ste. Victoire', the hill that was immortalised in more than sixty paintings by Paul Cézanne. I am sure that everyone enjoyed the walk, and especially the view from the top although many of us found that watching 'The Waterboy' on a portable DVD player helped to add a sense of occasion to the moment.
We then went home with our exchanges to spend the weekend. Of course, the way in which everyone passed their weekend varied greatly, although most people took part in a big match on Saturday afternoon of "Frogs vs. Rosbeefs." The result of this match was never quite decided for two reasons: a) No-one was keeping the score b) The departure of most of the players at different points in the game due to the irresistible attraction of the local girls.
On Monday morning, a visit to Nice was planned. Although the weather in the morning was less than promising, it eventually cleared up, leaving us with an incredibly sunny day. Our first port of call was the Chagall museum near the city centre of Nice. Although it was very small, and our museum guide's English accent sounded slightly Yugoslavian, the paintings were very nice, and the garden outside the museum was even nicer.
When we finally arrived in the city centre, we were yet again sent off in groups of roughly four. For most of us, a walk along the 'Promenade des Anglais' followed, with a visit to the magnificent 'Jardin Albert 1er', and the shops surrounding it. Luckily, due to the warnings of Mr. Collinson, very few of us succumbed to the temptation of a Big Mac by the sea and we returned to the coach to go up to the ancient 'Colline du Château' - an ancient hill on which a castle to protect Nice used to stand - unspoiled. The views from the top of the hill were magnificent, with the shimmering sea and Nice sprawling out before us.
On day five, we gathered yet again in the school's courtyard, getting ready for a visit to the magnificent city of Nîmes. First of all, though, there was a visit to the 'Pont Du Gard', just outside Nîmes- the famously well-preserved Roman aqueduct. After a short walk around the aqueduct, we moved on to Nîmes itself, and the ancient Roman amphitheatre-one of the highlights of our visit to France. The fact that it was closed was a bit of an anticlimax, but nevertheless, there was still a lot to see in Nimes, as there are many Roman ruins there that are very well preserved. As usual, we explored these in different groups and three hours later we returned to the meeting point a very cultured group. Later on that evening, we were invited for a welcome toast at our exchange school. The distractions of the plentiful party food that the French parents had prepared meant that the whole event was a bit of a free-for-all, but the general message was one of welcoming us, and what I felt was a very kind gesture on behalf of our exchanges and their parents and teachers.
The next day, we would be accompanied on our visit by our French exchanges. The visit was to Saint Tropez- a place that needs no description. Being the playground of the rich and famous meant that it was the perfect environment for a group of Paulines to spend their holiday-even if it was just for one day. However, there was only one practical way for us to get to Saint Tropez, and that was by boat. I hasten to add that on that very day, the Provence region of the south of France was experiencing what locals call, a 'Mistral.' The Mistral is a very strong wind which is channelled down the Rhône valley, and which falls upon the very part of the sea that we were travelling on. The boat itself attracted many a sarcastic comment from the ever-witty Paulines who quickly noted the irony in its name- 'Gipsy VI.' I will not go into details about our boat-trip, all that needs to be said is that we got wet. On arrival, after being treated to a hot chocolate, we found that 'Saint Tropez' was a bit of a summer town. Being a summer town, many of the shops were closed and others were being refurbished in preparation for the summer. However, we did manage a visit to the ancient citadel looking over 'St Tropez', and get a view of the town from above.
Thursday was our final outing, to Marseille. However, as usual our visit to the city was preceded by a few smaller visits. The first of these was to the beautiful seaside village of Cassis, famous because of its proximity to the 'calanques'. The 'calanques' are a set of creeks along the stretch of coast between Cassis and Marseille. They are formed by the water and wind erosion of the limestone cliffs in the area over the ages. Even though it was impossible to go very far into the five calanques that we visited due to the shallowness of the water, the trip was the perfect opportunity to take some magnificent photos and terrorize other boats with cries of "Enger-land, Enger-land, Enger-land"! After this small excursion, we continued towards the city of Marseille, this time stopping at the Basilica of 'Notre-Dame-de-la-Garde' which towers over the city with its huge gold statue of the 'Bonne-Mère' and the baby Jesus in her arms. Everyone who visited this church was dumbfounded by its grandeur and beauty and the incredible views over Marseille only helped to add to the feeling. Half an hour later, the coach took us down into the 'vieux port' of Marseille. Although Marseille is quite notorious for being a slightly 'dodgy' city, I can only say that the area of it surrounding the port was very beautiful, lined with many quaint little cafés and restaurants behind which, the streets were full of shops selling anything from caviar and 'foie gras' to Tommy Hilfiger underpants and traditional Marseille soap.
Friday was our last day in Aix-en-Provence and many a tear was shed (or maybe not) as we departed for merry old England. There was a general feeling of pride in the coach as it sped towards Marseille airport - we had survived a gruelling week of French with our exchanges and emerged unscathed and bubbling with new-found confidence in French.
Thanks go to Mr. Collinson for his organisation of the trip and to him, Mr. Thompson, Mr. Taylor and Mr. Ross for being such excellent company and for tolerating, in the first week of their Easter holidays, a group of thirty-five Paulines with such good humour.