JRJ á Annecy

 

Jean Carlo with his headphone problem

 The Boat in Strasbourg

 

Traditional dancing

 In Switzerland

 

Annecy

 All the Canadians in France

 Annecy

 

Flag Ceremony

Rotary organized a five day bus trip for the exchange students of my district and the district next to ours. I would like to say that our district is the best in France because the destination of the trip was Annecy, a lovely town in south western France where there was a reunion with all 420 exchange students in France. The meeting was only one night, but our district took us to Luxembourg, Strasbourg and through Germany and made it a little voyage. We’re so lucky and all the other districts were jealous of us.

We met in Lille at 6:30 am on Thursday morning, on route through Belgium and into Luxembourg. I had actually already been to Luxembourg with the Euro section of my school, but it was fine to visit again. There is not a lot to do in the city, but we wandered around and got drinks. We visited a beautiful castle that I had not seen the last time I was there and a nice cathedral. The gardens in Luxembourg are not to be missed, certainly something that caught my attention this time since I was there in December the last time. We got back on the bus and headed back into France and stopped in Strasbourg which is just on the German border. There is a lovely river through the town and we went on a boat cruise where one of my favorite moments of exchange happened. It might not be that funny for you, as a reader. And since you don’t know the people involved, it may be hard to understand. Bref,

The boat cruise had headsets to listen to a tour guide who explained history of buildings and other information. Beside each seat was a little box with buttons to choose from 13 different languages. We have a friend from Brazil named Jean Carlo who is very dramatic and flamboyant, he is very loud and he’s the type of person who either someone loves or hates. His favorite brands are Louis Vuitton and Prada and he wore rain boots and a shirt/sweater set to our sports day. Now that you know a little about Jean… on with the story. Franco and I were sitting behind Jean and Franco kept changing his language and he had no idea what was going on. The man came around to see if all the headsets were working and Jean Carlo said his kept changing and he was not touching the buttons. So the man listened to the tour guide speak in French for about 3 minutes with no changes, gave Jean the ‘you’re crazy’ look and handed it back. As soon as Jean put the headphones back on, we changed it. This went on for an entire hour of us laughing and him keeping his problem to himself and simply changing it back each time.  It was priceless. When we told him, he was swearing in Spanish and Portuguese, hitting us and freaking out. It was such a memorable moment and so funny.

We had some free time in the town and then went to a dinner with Rotarians from Strasbourg. We had Flammekueche which is a plate from France and Germany that is similar to a pizza but with a tart like bottom, crème,  a lot of cheese, ham and onions. It is very traditional. After the meal, we were entertained by traditional dancers from Strasbourg which was a lot of fun. They did their performance and then we got to dance. Of course I volunteered to go on stage and I was terrible. I have no coordination and everyone thought it was hilarious. I also learned how to balance a spoon on my nose so it was a successful night.

 The next day we headed off for Annecy! In the morning, we visited a town called Colmar in France which was a really old city with beautiful buildings, specifically the houses. We went around the town on a little train and it was a lot of fun. We laughed so much for no reason. 

We got back on the bus… we spent a lot of time on the bus, but it was not horrible. We had Australians, New Zealanders, an Argentinian, and a South African arrive in January so this trip gave us the chance to get to know some of them better.  On the bus, Jay and some others played the guitar and we sang, Jarryd and I shared stories about our first host families and consoled each other (haha), I met a girl named Kirana who’s from the other district and we became really close and everyone just goofed around. The Rotarians took the time on the bus to talk to each exchange student and evaluate our French. I didn’t realize, but they did the same thing at Mont Sainte Michel and I was at a level two out of ten. They told me I made a lot of progress and I am at a level eight. I am happy with that.

We went through Switzerland and stopped in a town called Neufchatel for a little break which was a really stunning town. Imagine this: sitting on warm rocks, sun shining down on your face. About five meters from you are big, white swans bobbing on sparkling, blue water. Off in the distance you can see the Alps and to your left and right are green trees and flowers. Perfect.

We got stuck in traffic on the way to Annecy and the events had started before we arrived.  We were the last district to get there and they had already had the opening ceremony, dinner and the disco had begun. It was too bad that we missed all that, but we had a great day anyways.  It was so exciting to see Annie from Simcoe and other people I had met throughout the year. We spent that night catching up with people and dancing!  

The next day we got up early and had a classic French breakfast at the resort which consisted of baguettes, croissants, pain au chocolate and hot chocolate, coffee or tea. We headed to a big conference room and listened to someone talk about something about the Olympics being in Annecy in a few years and about a skier who fell and was paralyzed. To be honest, I didn’t listen to any of it because some friends and I sat at the back and caught up. We were talking and laughing/ sleeping the whole time and had no idea what it was about when it was over. How terrible!

After the meeting was over, all  of us made our way onto boats and headed into the main part of Annecy. It was such a painful process, getting everyone across the lake; it took such a long time, which is expected with 420 students and over 100 Rotarians. The lake was breathtaking. With the Alps in the distance and perfectly clean, fresh water it was hard to not stop for a moment and admire.  There were plenty of photos taken as we were waiting! 

            Once we all got to the other side, a group photo was taken by man who was in a construction lift. He took a picture from bird’s eye view and it turned out really nice. Every country grouped together and were cheering and singing their national anthems. You could imagine how moving it was to see teenagers from over 20 counties together in one place, with no war, laughter and love. It was really special. After the photo, we had some time in a park and then got back on the boats to go back.

            The evening was so nice and a lot of fun. It started with a flag ceremony where each country was represented which was really cool. Then we had a talent show and each district had to prepare something. Personally, I feel my district was the best, but I may be bias. We wrote a song in 11 different languages to the tune of twist and shout. The English verse went like this. “We’re all a big family, BIG FAMILY. District 1520, 1520. From the Nord Pas de Calais, PAS DE CALIS. We’re all a big family. BIG FAMILY.” It was so much fun. Other districts did dances, songs, little sketches, etc. One of my favorites was the Paris district who acted out all of the ‘firsts’ as French Exchange Student. For example, the first day of school, meeting your host family, seeing the Tour Eiffel and getting lost in your own town. It was so realistic and everyone loved it. 

            No district respected the 4 minute limit so the talent show was super long. They had to pause in between and we had dinner. The entrée was shrimps that had really long whiskers and I was freaking out because everyone kept trying to touch me with them. We had a meat and vegetables, cheese and then a pastry of some sort.  The talent show went on for a while then we had another discothèque. It was another great night. We went back to the resort and didn’t go to bed until 5:00. We sat in the halls for a while taking, then some friends and I talked in our room and played guitar. At around 4:30, we heard a commotion in the hall and some stupid kids were throwing toilet paper around and they thought it was funny because it was April Fool’s Day. They got yelled at by a Rotarian, not funny.

           

The next morning we had to go on a hunt for paper fish.  (I got excited because I thought we were actually going fishing) April Fool’s Day is very fish orientated in France. I think it has to do with some old story. There are many games parents trick their kids with, or at school people stick paper fish to each other’s backs… French people… Anyways, our game was to find the 8 different types of fish that were hidden in trees, behind buildings, etc. The trick was that there were really only 7 types hidden.

We had lunch and people started leaving. I said bye to my friends and we all go back on the bus. We got free time in the city of Annecy which was really enjoyable. Everyone was wasting time debating where to go and what to do so Namrata and I decided to go off and explore alone. I bought a chap stick, classic, and then we wandered around and enjoyed the town. Apparently Annecy had the best ice cream in France so, of course, we got some and it was delicious. I was sitting on a bridge enjoying my Snickers ice cream when someone said,  “there is a team over there with Canada jackets.”  So I started singing ‘O Canada’ and one girl turned around and she was a friend from CLAY (a leadership conference I went to). It was so weird! She was in Swiss for a baton twirling competition. What a small world.

We spent the afternoon on the bus and then arrived in Chalons Sur Saône where we went to the hotel and then to a Chinese restaurant and Miso was freaking out. I ate my entire meal with chop sticks because Miso whispered to me that it was embarrassing that some others asked for a knife and fork. I felt obliged. Haha.

The next morning we went to a museum of photography that was called The Nicéphore Niépce Museum and it was super interesting. We saw the first camera that was ever made and it was a massive black, wooden box. We also learned that the first photos took nine minutes, I think, to take and if the person so much as blinked, the photo was ruined. They would tie the children down…

We got back on the bus for the last time and headed back to Lille. When my dad picked Miso and I up I had no voice from yelling and singing all week and my host family made fun of me.

It is hard to explain to you how amazing this trip was, but it was really awesome. I met some of the coolest, nicest, funniest people ever, and I will never forget how much fun I had. I didn't sleep much at all and lost my voice, but it worth it. We had perfect weather and everyone just got along so nicely. I am so lucky to be a Rotary Exchange Student and I love our district.