Anna McCartan’s Experience in France!

BORDEAUX

Bonjour à tous!

My name is Anna McCartan and I’m a transition year student. At the beginning of this year, I decided I wanted to go to France to improve my French, make new friends and explore a new culture. In the first week of January, I flew out with my friend Camille to begin our French experience. There were three other Irish girls on our flight going to the same area and we quickly became good friends!

We arrived at Paris airport and were met by a chaperone who took us to our TGV. The TGV took five hours to Bordeaux. At Bordeaux we were met by Geraldine, who looks after all of the students in France. I was very nervous in the beginning because I was afraid I would blank and forget all of my French but she immediately made me feel at ease and the conversation began to flow. The journey took less than an hour in the car from Bordeaux to a place called Mios which was to be my home for the following four months.

FRENCH CLASSES & EXCURSIONS

For the first week, all five of us stayed with Geraldine’s sister Stephanie and her mum Edith in their home which was connected to the language school run by Geraldine. That week, we had classes in the morning which really helped us prepare for going to a proper French school the next week. I learned lots of French in that first week which helped my confidence. On Monday afternoon after class, we went to the Dunes du Pilat. We walked (climbed in parts!) all the way to the very top. The view was absolutely magnificent!

On the Tuesday afternoon, we went surfing which was brilliant, fun but very cold🥶.

On Wednesday, we went on a trip to the town of Saint-Émilien. It’s a beautiful town full of historic monuments and buildings. Stephanie bought us delicious macaroons on the way back! We also stopped and visited an amazing vineyard.

On Thursday, we went on our first of many trips to Bordeaux. We did some shopping on Rue Sainte Catherine, before visiting the city. I love Bordeaux and can’t wait to go back some day:)

EXCITED BUT NERVOUS TO MEET MY NEW HOST FAMILY

On Saturday morning, I was very excited to meet my new family but nervous at the same time. My host mum, Carole Anne couldn’t have been any nicer when she came to collect me.

I got on so well with my family from the very first day, they made me feel so welcome and after a few days it was as if I’d been there a long time. I had three host siblings: Clea (16), Louka (10) and Tiana (8) so it was always a busy house! Mika (my host dad) was big into fitness and sport, and he brought me to play golf a few times which was excellent!

STARTING SCHOOL IN FRANCE

I found school in France very different in the beginning, but I quickly got used to it. The boys and girls in my class were super friendly and made a huge effort to make sure I settled in easily. On the first day after school, they added me to the class group chat!

Sometimes I found the school day tiring because we started at 8:00am and didn’t finish till 6:00pm, it was very different to Irish secondary school.

SKI RESORT, YUMMY RACLETTE & GAMES

At the February midterm, we had two weeks of holidays. For the first week, I went to the mountains with my family and some friends of theirs. Unfortunately, the slopes were closed for skiing because of Covid but we went tobogganing. It was great fun! In the evenings, we would play board games or cards. The first time I tried the famous raclette (a French cheese dish) was in this week in the mountains and I loved it so much that I kept asking my family to make it again and again! Getting to know my family’s friends and talking to them a lot during this week really improved my French.

TRIP TO PARIS 🥐🥖

We also went on a trip to Paris for three nights before school started again. We got up really early and started our journey because it was almost seven hours in the car! We stayed in a lovely apartment with family friends. We took scooters around Paris which was such good fun, I’d highly recommend! We saw the Eiffel Tower, Champs Élysées and The Louvre. We did some shopping too!

Towards the end of February and start of March, the weather started to get much better. After school on sunny days, I loved going to get ice cream with both my French and Irish friends. I loved taking the dogs for walks in the forest when it was sunny in the evenings.

Initially I was supposed to come back home to Ireland at the end of March however when my family offered for me to go on holidays with them in April, I couldn’t let an opportunity like that slide! And so the adventure continues…

TRIP TO SPAIN WITH MY HOST FAMILY

On the 5th of April, we drove to Spain and stayed in a town an hour north of Madrid called Guadalajara. We went on the trip with Geraldine’s family so in total there was eleven of us, it was definitely a case of the more the merrier! We had a ball! 😃

On the 10th of April, we got a flight from Madrid to Mexico. Mexico!! It was surreal. The flight took 11 hours. We spent the first three days on an island called Holbox. It was beautiful and the weather was amazing, around 30° every day. The sea was the clearest blue I’d ever seen in my life! We went to the pool and the beach every day, walked to the local town every evening, and ate amazing tacos, guacamole and fajitas! I loved this part of the holiday because we got to see the true Mexican culture and their way of life over there.

After three days, in Holbox we moved to a much busier place where more tourists came called Cancun. We stayed here for the next ten days. It really was the holiday of a lifetime and I’m still so grateful for all of it. I went back to France for five days before coming home to Ireland. I got to say goodbye to some of my French friends which was sad but we will definitely stay in contact. Saying goodbye to my family was definitely one of the hardest things to do. I love them so much and they’re like my real family now too, I miss them lots but we stay in contact, we’ve Face Timed many times which has been brilliant!

For anyone considering going to France with Tribe for their transition year, I would 100% recommend it. They found me the most amazing family and a great school and the French coordinator Geraldine is one in a million❤️. It’s a brilliant opportunity to meet new people, stay with a new family, explore a new culture and you will make friends for life!

Merci à tous et au revoir!