Group gives account on French school visit
We started our trip to France by airport transfer from school, and arrived at Manchester Airport around 11 o'clock.
We had about an hour to look around the airport, before we went out to our plane. We took off at 12.30pm.
There were amazing views of France through the cloud, and a great sight as we flew over the bay next to Marseille. We landed in France at Marseille airport about 2pm. From there we travelled to the hotel by shuttle bus, and unpacked.
Afterwards, we walked down to the old port to find somewhere to eat. We passed through the Christmas market and saw some of the port, although it was not as good as we think it will be in the day. Although lots of the restaurants were expensive, we were able to find one eventually, called Hippopotamus. It was a really nice place, apparently specialising in steak and burgers.
We planned our day for tomorrow, as we would be looking around Marseilles before heading to the school we would liaison with. We would catch the train to Aubagne, a town near Marseilles, in the afternoon tomorrow, and go to the hotel.
Sunday was a very relaxed day. We started off by eating breakfast which was a pain au chocolat or a croissant with a half baguette and yoghurt. Then we checked out of our rooms and we went to a very impressive church. The architecture was "majestic".
We mainly did window shopping. Then we split off into smaller sections to have lunch. After lunch we rode a bus to the Notre Dame de la Garde. It was beautiful.
The view was amazing and we could see all of Marseilles. Once having a look inside the church and the crypt we departed to go to Aubagne. We travelled by TGV and arrived shortly afterwards. We travelled to the hotel and freshened up. We ate dinner at a nearby restaurant and then headed back to the hotel to get some rest for Monday.
Monday: We started off our day with breakfast in the hotel and then when to the bus at 7:30. When we arrived at the school and were welcomed by the teachers. We followed the staff to a English language class for their morning lesson.
The students introduced themselves to us in good English and we reciprocated. They were friendly and enthusiastic which made us feel welcome. We then headed to the common room to begin discussing our work on the project.
There was a slight language barrier between us but overcame by the school's English teacher. The school used symbolic pictures to help avoid the barriers. We then went to the canteen where we had a choice between spaghetti bolognaise and fish and breadcrumbs. We had a traditional French cake for dessert. Then we went back to the common room to present our work on the Erasmus project.
We showed the documents on discrimination law and cases and spoke about our research into sexism within print media. After school hours we walked into town to see the scenes created with Santon figures. After seeing the town centre and the figurines we took the bus back to the hotel. We then dined at a nearby restaurant.
Being at the French school was interesting, as we were able to see the many differences between English and French education. We saw that the French school was more focused on vocational education, rather than the varied British curriculum.
Tuesday: After breakfast we returned to the French school and worked alongside their pupils trying to develop a common survey on discrimination and its effects.
We also had to translate a lot of work from French to English. Kate McCarthy, Ed Patrick and Mr Farnell were interviewed once the survey was complete for a video which is to be edited and uploaded to YouTube.
During lunchtime the local press came to school and interviewed us about the project. After school we took the bus to Aix en Provence which was about 50 minutes away.
This was a beautiful town with lots of ancient streets and a real French Provençal buzz about it. Teaming with restaurants and tourist shops it was probably the highlight of everyone’s visit to Provence. A late night back with time to pack before our flight back to Manchester.