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French students travel to the Côte d'Opale

By Isabelle Oliver

On the 26th of September, a group of Year 9 and sixth form students travelled to the Opal Coast in France for a trip full of laughs, new experiences, a chance to practise our French and to try lots of food! We were there for 3 days and it the most memorable weekend I have ever had.

We all met at Eirias Park in the pitch dark; all jittering with joy and excitement. As we settled down for our overnight journey to Dover, our friendly bus driver, Ray put on a film for us to enjoy. We got to the ferry really early in the morning, and there were a few people that had never been on one before; so when the ferry began to move, it was hilarious to see them walking from side to side not being able to balance!

Our first outing in France was to a bakery where we actually made our own croissants for breakfast and then we learned how to make bread. Our guide was scary, but in a funny way, we had a few giggles especially when I accidentally gave him the knife back the wrong way round! We then spent the afternoon in the pretty town of Boulogne-sur-Mer, before moving on to our hotel in Le Touquet.

The hotel rooms were great and so were the people I was staying with. We had such a laugh and made numerous embarrassing yet incredibly funny memories. We all got to have dinner together and I met so many new friends at the dinner table alone!

The next day, we visited an amazing chocolate factory. Our tour guide, Simon, showed us how chocolate is made from scratch and the type of chocolates they make. The chocolate they made was exquisite and I ended up spending 20 Euros in the gift shop…

That afternoon, we visited the seaside town of Le Touquet where some of us bought a beret to get in touch with our inner French tourist. I also asked to use the toilet completely in French and that evening when we went back, me and my friends went to a restaurant and were surprised to find that we could order everything we wanted in French. This gave me a boost of confidence in speaking French.

Our excursion to a snail farm explained how the molluscs are bred before becoming the delicacy on our plate. Who knew that snail mucus is used in l’Oreal products to smooth the skin? … knowing that, I put it straight on my face and everyone got out their cameras.

On the last day, we went to a sweet factory and were shown the hard sweet making process – I even got a chance to help. My class mates were telling me to sing whilst making sweets, so of course I sang the alphabet in French- pourquoi pas?!

France was an amazing experience; I made so many new friends, learnt lots about the French culture, I discovered that snail mucus is in beauty products but most importantly… I had a lot of fun.