School trip to England!

Hey everybody, I went to England last week. On the first day, we spent 19 hours on the bus. On the second day, I liked the town trail because we discovered Stratford-upon-Avon and we learnt things about Shakespeare. On the third day, we went to Blenheim Palace and to Oxford, we discovered Christchurch college, it's really magnificent. On the fourth day, we saw Cambridge and the university but what I liked very much was the boat ride on the Cam (the river which flows through Cambridge).

 Thomas 

 

 My favorite moment was when we had free time in Stratford, we could go to Poundland.

It's a shop where everything costs 1 pound. I liked the visit in Oxford too because it was very interesting. The family was very  nice, we ate very well, we ate some pizza some nuggets and some chips. We visited  Shakespeare’s house in Stratford and it was very impressive. I really liked the boating ride on the Cambridge  river which is called CAM!

  Cyriaque

 

 

In England, I liked the houses a lot:  the  semi-detached houses or detached houses with bow windows, they were very cute and different from French houses. I found my host family very friendly, but I didn’t understand everything that they said. The weather wasn't very good, except on the first day but we stayed on the bus. We saw the castle of Blenheim which was huge and amazing with its big rooms. Its library was impressive too because it contains 10 000 books. I loved the architecture of Stratford, like half-timbered houses and Tudor houses.

 The English food was good, except for vinegar crisps and English tea, which tastes like coffee.I loved the boating ride on the river Cam, it was very quiet and we had a new view on the different colleges in Cambridge.

Esther

 

 

 

 

Despite the journey (which lasted twenty hours : we arrived in Headington 5 hours late !!!), we discovered amazing colleges which are part of  Oxbridge university. When we arrived, because of the night on the bus, we were really tired ! The town where we slept was really symmetric and geometric. The weather wasn't really nice, but the trip was  ! We visited important English cities from a cultural point of view:  Cambridge, oxford, or Stratford-Upon-Avon, the birthplace of the famous writer Shakespeare ! Our family was very welcoming. On the first day, we did a town trail  in Stafford-Upon-Avon, it was funny, and next were allowed to have 1.30 hour off.

The next day, we visited Oxford. There are 23 000 students in Oxford university which includes 38 colleges ! It's huge !On the  last day, before leaving, we went to Cambridge, where studied, taught and died a famous scientist which did a lot of research about the Big Bang and black holes, Stephen Hawking. In the afternoon, we had a boat ride on the river Cam, it was amazing to see buildings from the water. We left at 9pm, we rode 20 hours and arrived,  5 hours late, just as we had done on our way to Headington!

 Nina

 

Despite the horrible weather the trip to England was really nice. We learned lot of things and I think that everybody improved in English. Most of the families were nice and gave us an overview of what everyday life is like in England. In my family the questionnaire that we had to fill in resulted in a big talk about  Brexit and the politics. It was really interesting to hear English opinion about the Brexit and all what it is about. I discovered lot of things about the story of England, especially about the life of Shakespeare and Winston Churchill. I have a very good opinion of this school trip, even if I think that it was too short to really make progress in English. The campuses that we  visited were really nice and famous because of the quality of the teaching. To get into this kind of colleges you have to work really hard and have really good grades. 

 Mei

                                                                                                                                                                                        

   I think all of my favorite moments were in the English family. My English family was very nice. There were six members, so four children. We practiced English with our family and we knew how to make ourselves understood. Also I really liked the day in Cambridge in particular when we went  boating on the Cam, the Cam is the name of the river in Cambridge. Cambridge is famous for its university which was founded in 1209. My trip was good, I learned a lot of things about  England.

 Agathe

 I found our trip in England really interesting because of the monuments we visited !

But in my opinion we didn't talk English enough : our guides spoke to us in French and that was really disappointing. The weather wasn't as bad as the ones who went to Spain thought it would be. I just want to go back there now, especially to hear the Oxford accent. People who live in Oxford  look at you as if you were nothing but it's kind of fun, anyway it was really nice. I'm still wondering why  we didn't do things  like visiting the Harry Potter Castle, I think that it would have been really nice if we had done it.

 ETHANN

We did a school trip to England last week and I really enjoyed it. Firstly, because during the journey, I learnt a lot of things about English history, English architecture, English universities (Cambridge and Oxford) and English well-known figures such as Shakespeare or Winston Churchill. Then because we had a lot of free time (one hour per day at least), we had the opportunity to discover by ourselves English cities such as Stratford-upon-Avon or Oxford and of course to buy a lot of things. Next, I really liked the trail we did in Stratford. I must explain what I mean when: it’s a race between several teams and all the teams have a questionnaire to fill in. The answers were in the town so we had to look for them or ask people on the street. And me and my team were very proud to win.  Finally, our stay in the host family was very nice because they were kind and because my best friend was with me.To be honest, I have to say there were some problems too, like the English weather, the traffic jams and the bus breakdown (we stayed for three hours on a roundabout) !!!                        Jules

 

 I loved all the beautiful buildings, such  as the Bridge of Sighs,

the Blenheim Castle ( the paintings on walls were wonderful). Henley street (Shakespeare's house was built here) was cosy, I felt as in the Middles Ages. Having some free time was nice to see shops and be with friends. It was strange to see the same shops as in  France and not very interesting. I loved  Gothic architectural style, there is light, gracefulness, and it's high and slender.The weather wasn't very good, with a few sunny hours , and then clouds and rain. Maybe a typical English weather...My family was welcoming, the house was cosy and the cat was fluffy and cute. I miss him a lot. We ate Italian food, it wasn't very English... but it  was delicious ! When we were in Oxford, Cambridge and Stratford, the little houses looked different from French houses... it was Tudor, Gothic... I liked the Stratford town trail because it was with friends for  two hours and it wasn't raining. Morever, it was interesting!

 Louise

 

 During the first day in Stratford-upon-Avon I liked the afternoon a lot, we did a trail to discover the center and the history of the city. We were with our group, there  was a little competition between the teachers so it was funny.

The weather was very nice. However I didn’t like visiting Shakespeare’s birthplace in the morning very much  because the people who worked there rushed us so it was a little unpleasant.  The second day in Oxford was very nice, all the activities were cool. In addition the weather was really great during our free time. I liked this day a lot because we did sightseeing and we had free time. The last day in Cambridge was very nice too because we visited a lot of beautiful colleges. Despite the weather,which  rainy and windy, but fortunately we spent the afternoon in a shopping center. We came back to France that night so we ate  dinner in a shopping centre before taking the bus back home. The journey back  was very long because the bus and the boat had mechanical problems, it was funny at the beginning but at the end it was too long.

In conclusion we had an eventful trip but it was a very very good trip!!!

 Alice

 

This trip didn't start very well : we left Nantes at 11.30pm. We went to Calais, took the boat, every thing was normal until we arrived on the English land.  We were stuck in a huge traffic jam, so we had to put off  the visit of Oxford that we were supposed to do during the afternoon! . So we had to cancel the hike in the English villages. We went directly to the families.The next day, we  visited the house where Shakespeare was born and raised. It was really hard to believe we were standing in the same place as one of the most famous writers in the world !!! On  the third day, we went to Blenheim Castle, where Winston Churchill lived. I didn't understand anything because of the noise, I didn't like it at all. In the evening, the mother of the family asked me if I wanted to hold the snake. (They had a corn snake!) Of course, I accepted. I really don't understand ophidiophobia (the fear of snakes). My only fear when it was crawling in my neck was to let it fall; The next day, we went to Oxford to visit the University and the colleges that are inside. I didn't get all the information, but that was nice. On Thursday, we went to Cambridge University. We discovered that Cambridge and Oxford don’t get on well with each other...  We had a lot of free time, and the journey back was the worst moment of the trip: jams, delays, breakdown... We arrived with a 5 hour delay.

But that was a nice experience, I hope I will do it another time in the future.

 Laszlo

It was a very good trip, I liked everything in England, maybe not the weather though… We travelled by coach a lot. We saw beautiful old monuments. We didn't talk English a lot because our English guides spoke to us in French and our host didn't talk to us enough. But we improved our English when we asked someone for something (in the shops, on the streets...). The food in England is so delicious, for example,  the English  fish and chips is the best meal I ever ate during the trip.  

 

I really liked the boat ride on the Cam, the Harry Potter dining hall made me dream.. Every thing in England is very nice expect  the car drivers, They drive very fast and never care about the  pedestrians !

 Pierre

 On the first day we spent the day in Stratford.  I liked it  when we did a town trail   because in my group there was a very good atmosphere, and we won. After that we had some free time and it was very good because we  discovered the city !On the second day  we spent the morning in Blenheim Castle, it was rainy and it was cold so  it wasn't cool. In the afternon, we went to Oxford and we visited a lot of colleges;  it was very cool because the colleges were very beautiful and the guide was very cool, I  discovered a lot of things about the students and about the colleges. We went to the Christchurch staircase, where a Harry Potter scene was shot. And the last day was the best for me because we went on a punt, on the river Camand  it was very good,  because I drove the punt for 5 minutes.

Juliette

 Even if there was a bad weather , I really enjoyed this trip. Every night we stayed in our English family, it was great because we were able to practice our English .On the first day we went to Shakespeare’s house, it was very interesting but a little bit boring . In the afternoon we did a town train  in the city and it was really fun.On the second day we visited Blenheim palace , it was beautiful . In the afternoon we went to Oxford with a guide , I learnt a lot of things .On the third day we went to Cambridge, and  for me it was really exhausting because I was really tired .But I loved the afternoon because we did some punting and it was really funny .I found that the family was great, the food wasn't excellent but it was good .

 Clara

I liked the trip because I learnt a lot of things,  and it  helped me understand English better. I found the bus ride pleasant despite the delay. The family was welcoming and very nice. The cities we visited and the activities we did were good  fun. The English people we met were  nice and the scenery was beautiful. I would have liked to stay longer but I am fully satisfied with this trip. The bus driver was nice and I liked having free time in the different cities we visited.

 Mattéo

 I  enjoyed the trip from March 25 th to March 30 th in England because we took the bus and the boat to get there.We arrived in our host families around 7pm.We visited a lot of monuments and universities.We met very nice young English people during our free time.We broke down with the bus on the way back, but it was fun and we could sleep more. So I loved this trip which waq  quite funny. We learned a lot of things.During a visit,  I saw the stories of my friends and they were at the beach, playing volleyball in shorts sleeves and barefoot then they were very hot and catching sunburns while we were under the rain and it was very cold. ;-(We got closer to some people and we got to know others.

Emilie

 I liked the trail around  Stratford, it was an interesting way to discover the city. I also enjoyed visiting Christchurch college and especially the part about Harry Potter: the stairs and the dining hall that inspired some scenes of the movie Harry Potter.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Finally the thing that I particularly liked was living in an English family for three days, which was really interesting especially for the language. I think the only thing I didn't like was the long bus hours due to various problems (gasoline outage, traffic jams...). But overall, this trip was really good and I enjoyed it. 

Chloé J

 

 

The trip was gorgeous. The university's architecture was  wonderful to look at. We never saw such beautiful buildings. It was a big experience for us because it was the first trip to England .  Our language has improved a lot. We could see  Churchill's castle and it was the most beautiful castle we ever saw in our life. The paintings were huge and heavenly. Shakespeare's house was not wonderful but it was interesting for our general knowledge. But there was a little  damper. The weather was not really nice because it rained half of the trip and we don't like  rain. We were also seasick on the ferry…The bus trip was really too long. In conclusion we liked the  trip despite some difficulties.

 Enzo, Tristan, Andrea

 

On March 23rd at 11.50pm we left for England, we took the bus to Calais, then the ferry and then the bus to Oxford. In total we had a  15 hour drive and despite the length we had fun on the bus, we played games that allowed us to know new people who are in our school but that we usually never talk to. When we arrived, the host families came to pick us up, I really liked  being with families, who made us discover a new style of house, decoration, food, the way of thinking... During the visits we discovered new stories, monuments, ways of life, which was cool; we also discovered new stores duringour  free time. In the family where I was with Sharon, we loved to be together, eat, sleep in the same room, getready together, we laughed ... When we came to France we really missed it . My overall opinion is very positive because I really enjoyed visiting Oxford and Cambridge!        

Amina

 On Sunday, 25th march 2018, we left at 11:30 pm  from the Parc de Procé, in Nantes.. We went to Calais where we boarded the ferry. The next day we were very tired  because of the previous  night on the bus. We arrived 5 hours  late in Headington. So we missed the Monday afternoon visit and the families came to pick us up directly at 7:30 pm. The following days we visited Cambridge and Oxford,the  two cities are very big, it's amazing... The castles and university colleges are much bigger than in France.This trip taught me a lot and I came back to Nantes with good memories :)

 Chloé