Cette année les élèves de 1ère préparant le First Certificate of Cambridge ont eu la possibilité de participer à un échange avec le Collège britannique, Northgate High School qui se situe à Dereham dans le Norfolk (70 km de Cambridge). Les élèves français y ont séjourné du 30 janvier au 6 février, ils ont accueilli leurs correspondants du 5 au 12 mars.
Voici ce que les lycéens ont retenu de leur séjour dans la langue de Shakespeare, of course!

Wednesday we flew from the little airport of Dinard to the huge airport of London Stansted where a coach was waiting to take us to Dereham. We got there at half past eight, we were all stressed to meet our pen friends but our first evening with them was pleasant. How welcoming the English are! Everybody talked to his family and then went to bed and fell asleep quickly because of the important “time difference“.
During our trip, we experienced all kinds of weather, i.e. sunny, windy, rainy, and a fortiori snowy (and shitty for Marie D**e).
Now, let’s talk about English habits. While the French are having their snack, the English are having dinner, and what a dinner! We ate the typical “fish and chips” which was tasty, although it’s really greasy. Furthermore, they were always drinking sodas and when we asked them for some water to drink, they just couldn’t believe it! We were surprised by the fact that they were always nibbling. At lunch, they just eat a sandwich or a soup.
In their house, there aren’t shutters but they have loads of curtains and carpet has been put everywhere even in the bathroom.
Each day, they attend a brain wash session which consists of a lecture about their future, we found that really weird. The school is like a maze, there are a lot of corridors and classrooms which are decorated with posters, signs and pupils’ drawings. During lessons, it’s a real mess, everybody chats with his neighbour and the teacher doesn’t mind. A huge amount of facilities is available (computers, musical instruments …). Concerning the timetable, we are very busy compared to them. Indeed, they start at 8.30 a.m. and finish at 3.30 p.m. What do you call this? A lazy day!
Moreover we can easily get lost, because all the roads are the same with similar bricked houses. Last but not least, they can’t drive, they can’t go to a pub, they can’t buy any alcohol before 18 years old.

Clément, Simon, Adrien et Guillaume.

Our week in Dereham

WEDNESDAY: When we arrived in the school, we were welcomed by our families. After we went to their home to spend the first evening in the family. They showed us around the house; some of us watched DVD, and others played the Play station.

THURSDAY: We attended lessons with our pen friend. We went to physics lesson, English lesson, French lesson… The pupils seem to be at ease during the lessons, and the teachers aren’t really strict but they are respected. We ate with our pen friends in a classroom. It was raining. After lunch, we went to Dereham, and had free time to visit the town and to answer a quiz (not very seriously, indeed we preferred to do shopping!!). After we came back to the school at 3:30 pm to meet our pen friends and spend the rest of the afternoon with them.

FRIDAY: We went to Norwich, without our pen friends. We visited the town with a (funny) guide; we saw the castle and a cathedral. We ate our pack lunch in the castle (ham, cucumber, cheese, tomatoes, salad…). After we went shopping in the town, but our free time was too short: what a pity! We came back to school and spent some time with our pen friend. In the evening, we went to the bowling together (except Marion and Emilie, who were in their host families). And when we came out of the bowling, it was snowing! ?

WEEKEND: We spent the weekend with our families. Some of us went to London, others went to the beach, and others went ice skating (a few injuries…).

MONDAY: We went to Cambridge and visited the college. We visited an old library in Trinity College, with old manuscripts. The weather was very nice, but a little windy! We just had half an hour to go shopping. We were allowed to eat either in the town or in the bus to come back to school, and spend the rest of the day with our family. Some of them were on the computer or watched DVD, or played Play station.

TUESDAY: We went to Yarmouth and we visited a museum about history of the town. It smelt the herring (smoked!)! It wasn’t very interesting, because we come from Granville which is next to the sea! But it was very funny. The museum is original. After, we went to Dereham 6th Form, to attend lesson with teenagers. Some of us attend to history lessons, law lessons, physical education lessons… Some of us went to the restaurant or visited Simon’s pen friend…

Exchange with Northgate High School, Dereham Norfolk – January 30th to February 6th

TEN GOOD REASONS TO GO TO ENGLAND

1. It’s a great pleasure to have your suitcases emptied and packed again by the customs officers!

2. English people are very welcoming and very friendly. Indeed, in the bus, many students are happy to tell you “bonnedjour”, with a horrible English accent … They kindly lend you their bedrooms, organise many activities such as shopping, visits (London, Norwich, the coast) , horse-riding, swimming, ice-skating, guides and scouts, music concerts … During the evening, they are able to say five times “Do you want something to drink ???”.

3. It’s interesting to discover the English school, which is very different from the French one. They begin at 9 o’clock and finish at half past three, they only have 5 lessons a day, and teachers are closer to the student, that’s why lessons are more “relaxed”.
For example, they practise sport with a very loud music, they have drama lessons in socks, they attend cooking lessons, they ask you to sing French songs during the lessons, they have a crazy English teacher with a fountain pen who draws stars on the students’ hands.

4. You can have the occasion to visit the lovely town of Norwich. For the visit, you can ask the guide called “Audrey”, who will show you the main places around : the pudding lane, the Cathedral with its comfortable pillows under the seats, the cloyster, the French market, the castle and ………… GAP!

5. You can appreciate the kindness of the pigeons which make pooh on your head, ask Marie she will tell you!

6. The pen friends kindly invite you to have fun at the bowling in the evening, whereas others take you to a funny musical quiz with party animals!

7. You can’t go to England without seeing Cambridge’s University, especially Trinity College with its famous old library where you can find books from the 8th century to today, and some of Newton’s manuscripts. If you are lucky you can hear a student who plays the piano in the chapel during his free time. Then, you can become the boss of the quickly shopping : you have to find presents for all your family in twenty minutes, and you manage!

8. Don’t leave Norfolk without visiting the wonderful museum of Great Yarmouth about a famous herring factory. You can be delighted by the peculiar smoke smell and surprised by the fake characters.

9. The weather is not as bad as you can think. You can benefit from different types of weather: raining, snowing, windy, freezing cold and… SUNNY!