En passant

Why do I want to go back to England ?

Last year I had the opportunity to travel to England due to the fact that I was in a European class, this year when I heard that I could go back to England, I didn’t think twice.

  • I loved England, as well as London

  • and as well as Brigthon

I was not really able to visit Guilford town center as I was sharing a fantastic afternoon with my pen friend in her high-school at the same time. So, I went to visit her high school, which was a great experience! This year it will be the opportunity for me to visit this city.

I really liked England. I loved the atmosphere of this country straight away, As for the English, most of them seem so kind and nice. They are open minded and do not judge you, well, less than in France I suppose…

By returning to England, I will return to a new host family with my friends and so live a new experience. And of course it will help me to improve my English level. So, ready, steady, go ! I cannot wait and i am looking forward to being in the coach heading to the UK at the beginning of 2018 !

Salomé Bouvret 1ereES.

Why do I want to go back to England ?

Indeed, I have already been to England last year and it was an amazing trip ! It was at this moment that I really had a crush for this country. It is a gorgeous and warm country contrary to the clichés and English people were extremely nice with us!

During my last trip in February 2016, we were able to meet our penfriends in their huge and awesome Guilford High School ! It was a great experience which we will do again this year! I cannot wait to be there, honestly !

The program is nice and very interesting and a little bit different from what we did last year so we will visit new things! Of course, I want to go back to London to do shopping again because it was very cool to wander around Covent Garden and Camden Town.

Even if I have already visited England, I think that I still have a lot to learn about this country. Then, I’m sure that this trip will be as rewarding as the first one! And finally, I think that it will be a good way to improve my English even better.

My friends and I in front of London by night.

Tower Bridge.

By Lina Achkir, 1ES2

‘‘Why is the school trip in England important to me ?’’

First of all, the fact that the trip is made by the teachers is pretty interesting, because they allow us to enrich ourselves by choosing historic places to improve our culture. It is not really expensive either, but to my family and I, it has to be budgetted and planned ahead. Anyway, I do not care about the actual cost and I will do my best to gather the money because I have always wanted to go to the UK, ever since I am a little girl. It is definitely one of my dream which will be achieved by mid February ! 🙂 I think that when I am in London, I will be the happiest person in the world ! A dream coming true ! I will go there with my besfriend, so it will be an even better experience. That is for all those reasons that the 2017 school trip to England is important to me.’’

By Putigny Audrey  1L

Moving soon to the USA !

In 2011 and 2013 we made two trips to the USA : on the East coast and on the West coast during two months.

We loved this country, the people, their mentalities, and their culture. The people were very helpful, positive, open minded, respectful and they smiled all the time.
So in 2015-2016 we decided ( with my parents and my two older brothers) to participate in the American lottery, which offer immigration cards every year, on the internet. This lottery enables people to get the green card and to be permanent residents to live in the USA. Every continent has a maximal number of candidates (some quotas) to respect. Then, we must sent a lot of information about us, and a lot of papers: identity cards, passports, graduation degrees, medical certificates… We had to have compulsory vaccinations.
The US government sent us an e-mail to tell us that we had been selected, So we had to go to Paris for a medical examination, to have x-rays and to make some blood analysis. The next week we returned to Paris to go to the American Embassy to have an interview. After that, they told us « Welcome to the United States » and they took our passports to make our visa. How exciting ! Some months after we received our visas and we had until October to go to the United States to cross the immigration. So we spent 2 weeks in September in Virginia because we wanted to live there. We had visited a lot of different cities, a lot of houses with an estate agent, and we made beautiful meetings. Then 2 days after we came back home and we received our green card from New-York. So we must go to NY to get back our green card once we arrive in the US. We mustn’t stay longer that 4 months outside the USA so we must return there in February. We have until October 2018 to move to the US. So I will not take my degree in France. In the US, there is not a degree like in France. I am going to integrate an American high-school, then a university and later, I would like to become an architect, or a designer.

Moving to the USA is a really big challenge for us because we must leave our family, our house, our friends and it is very difficult to imagine but it is also a dream and we were very lucky to be selected. Let’s go for our American Dream in 2018 then !

By Ségolène, 1L

Why do I want to go to the USA with AFS ?

  AFS is an association which organizes educational programs for students in more than 50 countries.

  I’d like to go to the USA with AFS because the USA is one of my favourite country in the world. I want to discover how they live overthere, how different school is, because many things in the USA are different from France : for example, the way they study, their food, their traditions (like Thanksgiving etc…). It really interests me to live like an American teenager for a while.

  Everything is so different, everything attracts me ! The language, the food, big American cities ! Every single one has its own magic, they don’t look the same. New York doesn’t look like Los Angeles. Seattle doesn’t look like New Orleans. I’m crazy about the USA and I’d like to discover this magic place !

By Kaitline Sisino, 1L

My trip to Miami :

I went to Miami during the 2017 summer holidays from July 23rd to August 4th. I was a little bit nervous beause I had never taken the plane before, so it was my first time ! The flight was fine. When we landed, a man was waiting for us to drive us to our hotel. His car was really big ! Like in a movie actually ! We arrived at our hotel which was situated on Miami Beach, in Ocean Drive in front of the Atlantic Ocean. The hotel was very cool, beautiful, and original and the staff was very nice and welcoming. It was just 9 am and it was already warm ! In Miami there is a lot of humidity so my parents and I took some time to get used to the heat. On the first day, we visited the surroundings and we took a bus which showed us Miami Beach, Miami downtown and some neighbourhoods like Little Havana, Coconut Groove and Wynwood. Unfortunately, we did not have time to visit Little Haïti during the summer holidays. We spent a lot of time on the beach since we had only crossed the roadto go there ! The Atlantic Ocean was very warm. I had never experienced that before, because it was totally different from the Atlantic Ocean in France with a lot of waves and a cold ocean. We tried different food, many specialities from different areas. The food was delicious everywhere ! One day, we wanted to go to Fort Lauderdale because my Dad had read in The Routard Guide that there was a mall with 400 stores !!! So we rented a car for 5 days to have the time to visit Fort Lauderdale, Key West , the Everglades and Miami of course. Let me tell you an anecdote. We were on our way to the mall and we had taken the highway to Fort Lauderdale but once arrived at some point, we did not know where it was necessary to go. We were lost so we decided to go back to Miami. The next day, we took our time to do the ride again to go to Key West. It was impossible to leave without a ride because it was 3 hours away from Miami. We stayed the day to visit. Key West is a very typical small island with wooden houses. In the street, there are many pubs. One of the most original has walls covered with bills and bras !!. Key West is like a city of the old America. Key West is the last island of the archipelago of the Keys. After visiting the city, we wanted to spend the night there but all the hotels were full so we had to go back to Miami. On the following day, we went to see crocodiles in the Everglades. Once there, there was a park with different animals like turtles, parrots, emus , and of courses crocodiles. There was also a kind of animal like a vulture. So we visited the park but before we made a tour by airboat. It was really funny, we went really fast and we made a lot of U-turns, what splashed us ! It was a great moment ! After, we saw a terrarium with snakes. One afternoon we visited Miami Beach. We found the mall so we decided to go there. In Miami and Fort Lauderdale and maybe in other cities, malls are not like ‘La Toison d’Or’. it is a street with stores on both sides and it is totally pedestrian. Let’s talk about the neighborhoods we visited. First, we discovered Litlle Havana. It is the Cuban district. We went to a very nice bar with a band with an old man which was dancing very well. He had a sense of the rhythm. The area was very typical, we could imagine we were in Cuba. People were very nice and charming. Then we went to Wynwood. We saw beautiful stuff. At this level, this is not just graffiti but this is a masterpiece. The district was not the most welcoming… but you must go there to see the beautiful work. I may forget some things but here are the main parts.

No doubt, attending the EURO SECTION has helped me a lot for this trip. I was prepared to hear real English and I was in good condition to learn ! It helped me, I was not lost when American people spoke to me. I understood everything and I knew how to make myself understood. The language was not a problem and that encourages me to travel again !

By Camille Debard, 1ES2

E-Twinning project: How to boost a child’s self-esteem?

This year for the second time, we are taking part in an international project with two other European high schools with our English teacher, Mrs Mottey. But this time, we only work with Cyprus and Slovakia. This e-twinning project is just for our group of European section. So, the whole school year we are going to share our project with both classes on the platform of exchange for European schools, the twinspace. It is safe and we can only use this network for our current school project. We have got passwords and usernames to be connected to our completed profiles, with pictures of ourselves and our own description just like in another social network. Last year; we worked on ‘’Employability beyond diploma’’ whereas this year the topic is “ How to boost a child self-esteem ? ” So when we have got our chat session on Tuesday evenings every other weeks we can talk about it only in English as the only means of communication even if none of us are native speakers. Beside, in class we are writing a script about a story we have all imagined in a collaborative writing work in order to film a play by the end of June. The synopsis? Someone lacking self-esteem will let the spectators pondering over the causes and consequences of low self-esteem and offer solutions. At the end we will try to make our own movie. Everyone in Mrs Mottey’s English group will take part in it. Finally we will share it on e-twinning. It is an exciting collaborative work in which all the students can improve their levels in English as well as develop their skills in new technologies. Of course, we can also enrich our citizen minds through that experience.

By Aloïse Annet, 1ES2

Christmas

Even though Christmas is celebrated with a lot of good food, presents, family and friends in pretty much every country from what I know, there are still a lot of differences. In this short article, I will be writing about the differences between a traditional Norwegian and French Christmas celebration. However, take under consideration that this is just what I have learned from talking and googling. I do still have to wait for half a month to experience a real French Christmas!

To start off, the biggest difference that I have learned so far is that we celebrate on different days. In Norway, we have our Christmas-night the 23rd, and all of the 24th to celebrate with food and presents after dinner. For us, the 25th is basically just the day after, spent sleeping and eating what we did not have any space left for on the 24th. On the other hand, here in France, you start your celebration on the 24th and end it with presents the morning of the 25th. Of course, we do all that left-overs the day after the big dinner.

Furthermore, the food!!! The ingredients are similar, but how we prepare and serve the food is different, as shown in the pictures. My experience after 2 months is that French people like their food well done and processed. As well as lots of sauce, cake, pâtés, many small pieces of different dishes and wine. It makes up a different outlook compared to Norwegian Christmas. For dessert in France they have bûche, tarte and cakes with filling. In Norway, we eat Ribbe (pork), pictured to the left on the bottom picture, or Pinnekjøtt (mutton) prepared in a special way. In addition, we eat different types of sausages, red cabbage and brown sauce. Some do also eat cod (fish). For desert, we have a dish with sweat cream and cloudberries or lingonberry, and later on, small dry cakes (normally 7different sorts).

And finally, the decorations: In Norway, decorations make quite a bit of difference both inside and outside the house. There are also many who have traditions according to where, which day and how to put up the decorations. We use a lot of goblins (for Christmas with red hats), angels and also change our tablecloths, curtains and put up red, white or glittery decorations all over the house. And of course, a Christmas tree with some Norwegian flags and snow-crystals on them, as well as the other, more normal decorations. And now, on to the French Christmas. I was, to be honest, a bit disappointed after talking to my host family about this. They said that the only decorate with the tree and lights outside. I love the lights, but for me to feel like it is proper Christmas, I kind of need all the goblins and angels, and snow.

Anyways, I am excited to experience a French Christmas and I am sure it will be an experience I will never forget.

By Ane Raastad Basmo, Norwegian exchange student

Comparing the school system between France and Japan.

In France, most people go to primary school for three years, secondary school for five years, junior high-school for four years, and high-school for three years, before going to University for some of them. In Japan, most people go to primary school for six years, middle school for three years, high school for three years, and university. And, before enrolling middle school, high school, and university we have big exams. For these tests most students go to a preparing school for one or two years before the tests. It is super strict!

In France, most schools do not have uniforms but in Japan on the contrary in most school, you have to wear a uniform.

In France for lunch, most students eat at the canteen or at home but, in Japan most students bring a lunch box (bento) from home.

In my French high-school, many girls wear make up and accessories but, in Japan teachers would never allow them.

In middle school and high school, club activities are very important in Japan. There are many club activities. For example, tennis, volleyball, basketball, fencing, orchestra, tea ceremony, and many other clubs too. And most clubs are very strict since you have to practice everyday after school, on Saturdays, Sundays, and even during the holidays.

（bento）

By Yume, 1ES2

Host an exchange student from AFS

AFS ( American Field Service ) is an organization which offers international and intercultural exchange and study programms in more than 50 countries. It offers the opportunity to young people to travel and open themselves to new cultures all over the world. Those programs could last between two and ten months.

Personally, I have never attended an exchange with AFS but my family and I had the opportunity to host two exchange students.

Our first AFS experience was with a Canadian student named Hannah. She stayed three months in my family after my sister went to hers. Our experience with Hannah was great. She adapted quickly to our habits. She became a member of our family. It’s what hosting is all about, accepting someone new into your family as if he or she was part of it.

It was interesting to notice the differences between our two cultures. Living this experience made me realize how by staying in your own country you could also discover new cultures by hosting.

We are currently hosting Elena, an Italian student who will stay in our family for five months. So far the experience has been enjoyable for everybody. Elena has also became a part of the family.

At the beginning of each experience the English language is important. As a matter of fact most of the time every foreign student does not speak the language of their host country. So English can be really used the first few months but then by being immerged into the country’s language we can notice a fast progress. And then, the use of the English language is reduced in time.

By Lea Mussard, 1L