Our French trip was an amazing experience which we are sure all of the girls enjoyed and they will carry the memories with them forever.

The girls coped so well with the long plane journey to France and we had three wonderful, activity packed days in Paris, visiting the main sites.

The weather was mixed and we had some big downpours in Paris, which just added to the experience and the memories. It was especially rainy during a shopping moment on the Champs Élysées. When the sun did come out we were very appreciative. We were lucky that the rain cleared as we climbed up inside the Arc de Triomphe, affording us an amazing view from the terrace.

The girls enjoyed the ambiance at the hostel, FIAP, which was quite busy with groups from all over the world. It was funny to bump into a group from Christ’s College who were staying there during a tour of Europe, singing in cathedrals and other iconic venues. 

Each of days in Paris was very full with an early start. After an amazing French breakfast, each day began with a trip on the Metro heading into the city. 

We very quickly established a system for navigating the metro and became super efficient at hopping on and off the trains. Even during rush hour we were a sleek operation. On the first day, the automatic doors were a bit scary but then we had to learn how to operate the manual doors too. We are now experienced metro travellers! 

Our guide in Paris, Raphaëlle, was a native Parisienne, quirky and very friendly. She quickly established a rapport with the girls. She was incredibly knowledgeable and shared a wealth of information during each of our visits. 

Everywhere we visited in Paris there were gift shops where the girls bought small gifts to take home. They soon learnt that not all gift shops are equal and so began to compare which was the favourite. 

After all of the cultural experiences the group enjoyed a little retail therapy in a shopping mall, followed by a farewell Paris dinner together before we headed back to FIAP for our last night. The group seemed genuinely sad to leave our wonderful accommodation and change the rhythms we had fallen into in Paris, but were bright, chirpy and ready the next morning for the trip to Giverny and Rouen.

Giverny was such a beautiful village, it was easy to see why Monet chose to live there and develop his art and his garden. It was very crowded with a constant stream of people snaking through the paths and walking through his house. It was lovely to be in the countryside after the closeness of Paris. 

The coach ride was nice, calming and relaxing, and just the right amount of travelling before we reached Rouen, before meeting our host families. We spent the next seven nights in the beautiful city of Rouen in Normandy, once the centre of a Viking kingdom.

In Rouen the girls experienced French classes, in France! After their first French lesson we walked across the bridge to town and had a wander around the beautiful centre of Rouen stopping for lunch in one of the cobbled streets with half-timbered buildings. Normandy is well known for its rainy climate and it certainly lived up to its reputation. The following two days in Rouen were spent at the French school in the morning, followed by a macaron-making class for half of the group in the afternoon, while the other half of the group explored. We visited a cheese-making factory the next day and on our last day in Rouen we were very fortunate to visit Mont St Michel on the coast and the sun was shining for us.

Everyone was early for the bus on our last day in Rouen and there were some genuinely heartfelt goodbyes with host families. The next five nights we spent in Nice, down on the French Riviera. It was a long day getting to Nice on Saturday via coach and plane. The flight was smooth and high spirits resumed, especially when we could see the coast. When we landed the temperature was balmy - a nice change from the cooler weather of the north. We caught a bus into our hotel, and checked in, had dinner and then walked down to the beach, stopping on the way at Place Massena where there was a busker singing. We stopped for a while and our group joined in for a few songs which turned out to be one of those unexpected memorable moments. 

The next few days were spent on exploring this beautiful area. We went on a lovely walking tour of Nice, which included a visit to Florian, a confectionery shop, visiting local markets and a train ride to CAP3000, the biggest shopping mall in France. We also visited Eze village, high in the hills over Nice in the pouring rain followed by a lovely tour of Fragonard Perfumery. We took the bus down to Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferat and were impressed how many of the girls swam in the sea.

On one of the mornings we took the train to Monaco. We headed to the Palace and had a look around before watching the changing of the guard and then visiting the beautiful Museè Oceanographique.

After that we took a short boat ride across the harbour and walked up to Monte Casino for a look. The following day we took a train to Cannes where we saw the famous cinema and all of the handprints from famous actors and directors. We then walked up to Le Suquet, the old village, Château de la Castre and Musée des Explorations du Monde. We had a short break before heading back to the train and Nice. 

We left Nice via the TGV train bound for Paris and our last night in France. We visited Sacre Coeur and Montmartre before our farewell dinner and the next morning we took in the sights of Opera Garnier and Galeries Lafayette before heading to the airport and our journey home.

It was impressive to see how this dynamic group of students supported each other and worked together as a team. Their ability to be organised, cope with long days and absorb local culture and customs cannot be underestimated and they had multiple opportunities to practise their French and we certainly had outstanding step counts every day! 

Madame Pinkney, Mrs Jardine-King, Madame Chappuis