Students from Ebersteinska
make a visit to France in
May 2006

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The student diaries

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Most of us began our trip outside the bus station in Norrköping. We took the flight bus, 8.15, to the airport at Skavsta. After two hours of waiting, we finally got our seats in the airplane and 11.45 we left the ground.
At about 14.00 we landed and got out of the plane as the rain was falling down on us. After we took our bags, we got on the bus to Paris. When we got there it was time to take the metro to the Hotel. When we checked in at the Hotel Comfort the time was 17.30.
At 18.00 we went to see the Sacré Coeur. It was a very beautiful church and there was also a very beautiful view over Paris.
Before we went to the restaurant, we took a fast trip through a very famous marketplace. A long time ago it was a centre for all the famous artists in Paris.
Now it was time to eat, so we went to a restaurant L'Etoile Verte (The Green Star) and got a three course dinner.

Many of us ate snails and found it pretty good. After the dinner we went to the Arch of Triumph. It was really spectacular. When we had been there for a while we went back to the hotel. Most of us were tired so we went to bed.
(Elvira, Emma and Hanna S)

We rose up for breakfast at about 7-8 o'clock. The breakfast was quite small and primarily made of sugar. We gathered outside the hotel 9 o'clock and headed for the metro. The metro took us to the Eiffel tower. Everybody started to take a lot of photos. We had got one and a half hour to get to the top of the high building. It was a nice view - but very scary too! Our time was running out and we arrived to our meeting place 1 hour later. Because of that we didn't have enough time to visit all the things we had planned.

After the visit to the Eiffel tower we took the metro to la Fayette and the Opera. Our teachers told us that we could go shopping and have a free time and that we would meet each other again at 3 p.m. at the opera. Most of us went shopping in our free time, but a few of us just relaxed in the beautiful areas round the opera. Then we all gathered by the stairs to the opera, we sat there and it was very hot in the sun. Then we took the metro back to the hotel.

At the hotel we took our bags and started to walk to the train station. We waited for the train for one hour and then we went on board. We took the train to Reims and there we met our hosts. Everybody went home to their host to settle down.
(Klara, Christin, Johanna A and Jakob)

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We spent the night in our hosts' houses so now we were there when we woke up. Perhaps all got some breakfast. We all met outside Marc Chagall, their school, before we went different ways. The French students went to their lessons and we, the Swedish students, took the bus to the Cathedral of Rheims. A guide guided us around in the big and old Cathedral. Afterwards we took the bus back to school where we got information and met the headmaster of Marc Chagall. She spoke French with us and Elsa Maria translated into English and Synnöve into Swedish.
After the information we had a short break and then many of the Swedish students went to different classrooms to have an English lesson. The teachers and some of the French students spoke with a nice accent. The lesson took about an hour and then we had lunch. The school lunch in France isn't the same as in Sweden. Every student has got a card and they pay the food with it. The lunch contains three courses and they can only choose one thing from every dish, except that everything looks the same.
After lunch most people went to the city to look in some stores. The prices were like the ones in Sweden.

The weather was very nice, 26 degrees and very sunny. We ate ice cream and had a nice afternoon. In the evening we went to a bowling hall. After the bowling we ate some food in the bowling hall restaurant. After the dinner we were all very tired and we went home to our host families to sleep.
(Andreas, Fanny and Rickard)

This early morning about five past eight, we Swedish people took the bus to Verdun. Today we are going to look at a famous French battlefield from World War one. When we came closer to Verdun and we saw small monuments with a French army helm on the top. We could see these monuments after each kilometre.

We first arrived to the monument that is raised to honour the soldiers that died in World war one. We saw how they had collected the bones of men who fell on the battlefield. There were like 130 000 people in the graveyard. We also watched a movie so we understood how the soldiers had it in these days. In the front of the big monument, we saw a lot of crosses that were covering the area.

Inside the building they wrote inscriptions of how many soldiers had died. After this visit we were heading for the museum to eat lunch outside.
We ate our lunch in the green grass and then we took the bus to a fort. Then the guide told us about each room. Seven people slept in one bed and there were no toilets. He also told us about how to get away lice from the soldiers' clothes. After that we could go around outside the fort and take some pictures. After the visit at the fort we took the bus to a museum, where we watched a movie about the soldiers' lives in the battles. After the movie we were allowed to see the things at the museum by ourselves. 03.45 pm the bus took us back to Reims. We stopped on the way and bought some ice-cream.
(Johanna J, Jonas and Ann)

Today most of us got a sleep in. We didn't have to come to school until 9. Then we were supposed to take the bus to Pommery. But we walked instead.

Pommery is a famous champagne maker. At Pommery we had a good guide that took us down to the cellars and told us about the process of making champagne which some of us bought.

Then we took the bus back to the school where we had lunch. After lunch we had those national tests in English. After that, all of us went different ways. At 7 we had a party with everybody and the teachers.
There was a big table with different kinds of food. When everybody had eaten their food it was time for two French and three Swedish people to read some poems. After that, everybody danced and had fun. When the party in the school came to its end some of us went home and some of us went out.
(Anna L, Damir and Max)

We met at school at 9 o'clock and got some instructions what we were going to do during the day. We were going to the Surrender Museum. We came to the museum a couple of minutes to ten. The first thing we did was to see a film about the end of World War Two. Then we got some papers with questions and to fill it in we had to walk around in the museum to get answers. We had one hour to answer the questions and then the whole class gathered and went through all the questions with Elsa Maria. Then we went back to school to meet the French students. The canteen isn't open on Saturdays so a few of us went to Benoit's house for lunch. Then we took the last chance for some shopping in town.
On the Saturday afternoon I think every Swede did different things together with theirs French partners. So it's hard to explain what we all did, but at least I can tell you what I and some other of us did that afternoon!
Fanny and I (Anna A) soon left Benoit's house to go on our first adventure on our own. We ran in panic to the bus and after about a half hour on the bus we finally arrived to the city of Rheims. If you had been there you probably would have seen two confused girls wandering around in and out of the shops. We had a really good time together and the weather gods showed us their absolutely best side! When our hungry stomachs screamed so high that we couldn't ignore it anymore we went to a baguette shop and bought some bread croissants and a lot of ice cream. The day ended quite a weird way but I hope that maybe some other person can tell you about that.
(Mikael, Jesper and Anna A)

On Sunday we split up and did different activities with our hosts. Fadi went bowling with his host Segolene and her family. Afterwards they went home for lunch before they went to watch a concert with Segolene's little brother. The rest of the evening was spent with some of Segolene's friends in there home before it was time to go home and sleep.
Claes, on the other hand, spent most of the day in bed after a stressful Saturday. At twelve o'clock I went up and together with my host, Flavie, I went to watch an amateur football game together with Jenny, Andreas, Max and Jesper. After the game we went home for more rest.
After a while we drew away to a small town to go to bowling. We stayed there for a couple of hours playing and talking.

After that we went home to Flavie for dinner, we stayed there a couple of hours just eating and talking. After that we went home to Julia for some rest.
(Fadi, Claes and Gabriel)

Since I was allowed to sleep as long as I wanted, I woke up at 10 o'clock. I was told that we were going to some kind of ceremony since it was "Memorial Day". Said and done, we went down to the local church at lunch and we watched a parade. When the ceremony had come to its end we went to the town hall and drank champagne. Several people came up to me and tried to speak French with me. But when they were told that I only spoke English they left the conversation and ignored me. Fortunately, some people knew how to speak English so I had a few conversations.

I slept to about 10.30 and went up to eat breakfast. Later I and the family were going to watch a parade, since it was "Memorial Day". A couple of war veterans held up flags and a choir from the primary school sang the French national anthem. The rest of the day was a champagne colonel haze.

In the morning I woke up at 10 o'clock and my breakfast in silence since my host, Camille, was in the stable. I also arrived there but a while later after my breakfast. I got to see the sweet horses and also a very good horse rider in France! After that, together with lots of other Swedish people and their hosts, we played "Laser quest" which was very fun! I'm not proud about my points but that's nothing to cry about since Clara had about minus 124 points! But poor Clara, I don't think she had seen her host laugh that much before… I finished my last day in France with a farewell dinner with my "family". We ate crepes (which I had chosen by myself) and champagne.

I woke up at 12 o'clock after a long night. I went up to take a shower and meet the rest of the family at breakfast. It was a normal breakfast with baguettes and white bread. Later after breakfast we just sat down and relaxed a time before we joined the rest of the group at the bowling course. In the evening we shopped food to our trip back and packed our bags and took an early night because we were all pretty tired!
(David, Emil, Hanna K and Mans)

I got up a 06.45 and took a shower and ate a few sandwiches. At 08.40 Laura's mom drove me and Laura to Marc Chagall. There I met some of the other Swedes and I put my luggage in a little room. We answered a few questions about our stay and then we got ready to go home to Sweden.

After we had answered the questions we left with the bus that Marc Chagall paid for. Many of us were very tired and fell asleep. When we got to the airport we had to wait to check in. There were very many people who did the same thing. When we had checked in our luggage we went to the waiting room. Some of us went to the airport shop and bought some stuff. After a while the plane arrived. We went on and flied to Sweden. When we came to Skavsta some had their parents that picked them up. The rest of us took the flight bus to Norrköping, where all of our parents waited for us.

I woke up at 6.30, took a shower and got ready. I went into the kitchen and saw the table full of delicious food. I ate and then got back to the last packing.
There were a lot of mixed feelings when we had to say goodbye to the family. In a way I missed my family back home, but in another way I didn't want to leave this wonderful family I got to know. Anyway, Julia's mother took us to school and there we got to see the rest of the class. After saying goodbye, I went to the bus and slept nearly all the way to the airport. When we arrived to the airport I checked in my luggage and started to eat. Then I was waiting for the plane and it seemed as it took forever, but when I got in, the time went by very fast and there I was, in Sweden again.
All I have to say is that it was a wonderful trip, and I had a great time.
(Anton, Amanda and Jennifer)

Our whole class thought it was a just great trip to France, to see so many things and have so much fun with each other!

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Over and out.

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Transcribed by Amanda Morath and Fadi Awda, NV1A 2006. Photos taken by: Amanda Morath 05/06.