Camille’s Adventure in France

GOING TO FRANCE

Salut! My name is Camille Ryan, I am a 16 year old transition year student from the Ursuline in county Tipperary. And here is my first blog coming straight to you from France(!), telling you about how I’m getting on and a little insight into my amazing trip here. On the 3rd of January I embarked on a journey that at the time I didn’t know would be such an amazing opportunity. Anna, my best friend, and I made the slightly nerve wrecking decision to jet off to France for 3 months at the age of 16! We realized that this would be a big experience for us as living in a different country can be very daunting but we were up for the challenge. So, we said our goodbyes to our families in Dublin airport, knowing we wouldn’t see them for 3 months, but excited to see what lay ahead of us. Flying alone was an exciting experience for us and we soon met three other Irish girls which we became great friends with throughout our stay so far in France.

We arrived in Paris excited and ready to experience French life and after a quick stop to McDonald’s! Headed for Bordeaux on the TGV. Once we arrived we met the coordinator of the program and were greeted warmly by everyone that we were introduced to. We then arrived at the house, where I spent my first week with the other Irish girls.

MEETING MY HOST FAMILY

Upon arriving at the house I was nervous as my French wasn’t of a very high standard and I found myself slightly tongue tied when I tried to converse, but I had no need to worry as everyone was very patient and helpful with me, and encouraged us to talk as much as we could.
We did French classes every morning that week which were hugely helpful as they got my French up to scratch for the move to my host family. It also allowed me to get to know the other girls better and to relax into the French way of life!

SIGHTSEEING BEAUTIFUL PLACES IN THE REGION

We were brought on trips in the afternoons as well that week to get a better understanding of the French way of life and a bit of history about the area where we were staying.

We visited the beautiful Saint Emilion! Bordeaux!! We got to really experience France’s beauty and also do a bit of shopping! And the Dune du Pilat! I really enjoyed these trips as not only were they great fun but they really helped bring on my French outside the class room and helped me relax into my surrounds by having fun and keeping busy.

After a super first week I then headed off to live with my host family which I stayed with for the rest of my time in France. I was very nervous to go as I would be alone and didn’t have any other English speaking people in the house with me. But I soon settled into a new routine with them. I found it a little hard at first living away from the other Irish girls but my host family were so welcoming and kind and made me feel very comfortable and at home in France.

I went to school in Arcachon which is a big tourist town about 20 minutes from the village I lived in. Transport was easily accessible to me , which was very helpful. I took the train to school which I enjoyed as it gave me more freedom to come and go as I liked. Arcachon was such a magnificent place to go to school as it’s right beside the sea and a lovely place to pass the afternoons after school. Unfortunately due to Covid we only had school every second day, but I didn’t mind because the school days are very long in France and quite tiring.

SCHOOL LIFE

At first I found school a bit tricky as with masks and the teachers speaking very quickly, it was hard to understand the classes, but within a few weeks I found I had improved a lot and understood a lot more. The French students were very welcoming and kind. They helped us find out classes and if we had any questions we could ask them. They made sure we were getting on okay and understood what we needed to do.

However at first I did struggle a bit to communicate with the French people, although slowly but surely it got easier and easier. And it was extremely rewarding seeing my improvement over the couple of months.

I think this experience is a once in a life time opportunity and I’m very grateful that I am getting to do it. There were no doubt bumps along the road so far, but I am only 2 months in and can’t get over how much I’ve improved in my French already, and settled into a new culture. I look forward to telling you more about my trip in my future blogs 😊🇫🇷✈️