Put Your Hands up for Toulon!

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Salut!

Over the last school year, the 5th year and T.Y. French classes took part in a French Exchange.  Our fellow Marist College is located in Toulon in the heart of the French Riviera.  Luckily for us, the French were the first to venture off to foreign lands, so we had the advantage of getting to know them through English!  Everyone seemed to hit it off with their correspondents straight away, which meant easy sailing for our trip in March.
            They arrived at the Marist on Thursday, 12th October and stayed for a week.  Despite obviously being très fatigué on their first evening here, most went out to the cinema to see a film in English.  Impressively enough they understood the majority of language and even remarked on Adam Sandler’s terrible acting!
            Friday was spent in school, where the French could switch off their English and give the Irish some practice for their orals.  The weekend was spent with families, avec beaucoup de meetings up for parties, bowling and Irish music sessions.
            The rest of the week they spent visiting the Dáil, the Irish Transport Museum and various other exciting places…!
            By the end of the week we were all getting along great as a group and nous étions très tristes to see them go, although the thought of joining them in France in early April gave us something to look forward to over the following winter months.
March 28th finally arrived as 19 excited Marist students along with an ecstatic Fr. Jimmy and Mr. Deery met at 4 o’clock in the morning ready to set out on a days journey.  We arrived at La Cordeille after an exhausting trip and met up with nos amis francais.
I think it’s fair to say we received as warm a welcome as we gave them on arriving at our homes.  We got to know the families, along with the rules and customs of the French households.
After our first night of la nourriture francaise, we met the following morning at the school.  The early 6 o’clock start after a long day of travelling couldn’t take away from the excitement of getting the trip underway.  We all took the bus straight into Toulon city centre where we were taken aback by how organised, clean and architecturally appealing the naval city was.
After strolling the streets and delving into the vast array of different shops, we all headed for the mountains in a cable car, which proved to be a terrifying experience for one or two people on the trip.  Then we visited la base navale where we were surprised at the high security levels, the size and the number of ships with which we had a chance to board and walk around.
Vendredi, our excursion for the day involved a visit to the town of Aix en Provence, a picturesque university town.  We arrived at Paul Cezanne’s workshop and received an informative guided tour of his home and studio.  We then travelled to Aix en Provence town centre and the tour continued.  We split up after that for some free time and the girls quickly put on their shopping shoes!
Tired after our few days touring the region, we met our French families and settled into a weekend of much needed rest and relaxation.

Over the weekend we met up to go to a French cimema and to see the local rugby team in action in R.I.T.’s stadium.  One or two went for the more cultured option of visiting San Tropez and San Raphael, two beautiful towns on the coast, just east of Toulon.
Monday was spent in the school of our correspondants and we were amazed at some of the activities taking place (car repairs and robot building to name just a few examples) and at the high detail in which they study the English language.
On Tuesday we visited the small town of Ollioules and got a detailed tour including the churches and ridiculous number of fountains found in the town.  Ensuite, nous sommes allés à l’école and met up with the French students.  Tout le monde then went off to Accrobranches, the obstacle course in the trees.  While some preferred the safety of solid ground, we discovered we had a few monkeys among us!
Everyone headed off to the beach to relax before le dernier diner à la crêperie.  The night was unanimously declared a hit, along with the entire trip.
E-mail addresses, kisses, hugs and tears were exchanged the next morning as we said our last goodbyes.  Many have been invited back in the summer, so our French can only get better, we hope!
The trip was enjoyed thoroughly by all and will most definitely never be forgotten.  A huge “Merci Beacuoup!” to our fantastic escorts Mr. Deery and Fr. Jimmy.
Le voyage était plein de distractions et der nouvelles experiences.  Nous nous sommes très bíen amuses!

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