Page 76 - The Gonzaga Record 1994
P. 76
very important, even in the area of pop I remember starting on Thursdays at 8.00,
music. A great deal of effort was put into before the sun rose, and finishing at 5.00
the preparation of food, and it was when it was dark. For those two months I
delicious. One of my best memories is of never knew what it felt like to be outside
eating a lovely barbecue dinner in an in the light on Thursdays.
orchard owned by my exchange’s I did, however, know what it was like to
grandmother, and afterwards sitting in the be outside on Tuesday, for Tuesdays was
top of a cherry tree, taking handfuls of PE day (oh joy, oh rapture etc.). There
cherries for dessert from all around me. were various PE groups for the year. Not
My host family only drank wine at wanting to show up the sporting elite of
weekends, sticking to water with meals the school, what with my superior cardio
for the rest of the week. People were very vascular endurance and upper-body
openly friendly. Every morning, when strength, I chose badminton....
French boys from my class met, they For some reason, girls didn’t go in for
shook hands, and as soon as I got to know the rugby option and my class was well
them, it was the same for me. I discovered furnished with pretty French girls; in fact,
that the South of France has a separate there were only three other boys in that
identity, culture and even language - class.
Occitan, a language related to French and I also chose extra sport after school,
Spanish, which is now only spoken by old partly because I didn’t have anything
people living in the Pyrenees region. My better to do and partly because it would
French exchange was one of only two in mean speaking less French than I would
his year who were studying it. have to if I stayed in study, except for the
The three weeks went quickly, and too bare sporting minimum: ‘le balon’ and
soon it was time to say goodbye. Our ‘ici’. A few accurate but jammy toe-bogs
group took advantage of a long stopover and the coach was eating out of my hand.
in London to visit the city, and this was a To this day I still can’t believe the amount
fitting end to a stay which was as much a of flukey shots I scored goals off, and the
holiday as a learning trip. Many thanks amount of French swear-words that
are due to Ms Nevin for putting so much accompanied them.
work into the organisation of this most The food was not great, in a country
enjoyable exchange. which claims to have the best food in the
world. I did, however, see a real canteen. 1
Patrick Wall (Senior 4S) felt like Kevin Arnold, of Wonder Years
fame, walking up the hall looking for
someone to sit with. And oh! the
T w o M o n th s in B ritta n y loneliness I felt when I reached the top of
(n o t q u ite a y e a r in P r o v en ce) the hall without having found anyone to
sit with. Normally I was taken pity on and
Yes, it is true what they say about asked to sit with someone, much to the
boarding schools. I should know; I spent anger of everyone else at that person’s
two months in one. table. Strangely enough I was never asked
My school nestled snugly in Department to sit with the same people twice.... they
56 in the sleepy little town of Vannes. I must have wanted to share me with the
too was sleepy, for every morning we rest of the school.
began at 8.00 am, save Mondays, when The school was strange in the degree to
we came in at 9.00 to allow the boarders which it valued extra-curricular activities.
time to commute in from further afield. They had a system called equipes or
We could finish any time from 12.00 noon teams. Every student was in an equipe
to 5.00 pm, depending on the day; in fact varying from surfboard design to
68
music. A great deal of effort was put into before the sun rose, and finishing at 5.00
the preparation of food, and it was when it was dark. For those two months I
delicious. One of my best memories is of never knew what it felt like to be outside
eating a lovely barbecue dinner in an in the light on Thursdays.
orchard owned by my exchange’s I did, however, know what it was like to
grandmother, and afterwards sitting in the be outside on Tuesday, for Tuesdays was
top of a cherry tree, taking handfuls of PE day (oh joy, oh rapture etc.). There
cherries for dessert from all around me. were various PE groups for the year. Not
My host family only drank wine at wanting to show up the sporting elite of
weekends, sticking to water with meals the school, what with my superior cardio
for the rest of the week. People were very vascular endurance and upper-body
openly friendly. Every morning, when strength, I chose badminton....
French boys from my class met, they For some reason, girls didn’t go in for
shook hands, and as soon as I got to know the rugby option and my class was well
them, it was the same for me. I discovered furnished with pretty French girls; in fact,
that the South of France has a separate there were only three other boys in that
identity, culture and even language - class.
Occitan, a language related to French and I also chose extra sport after school,
Spanish, which is now only spoken by old partly because I didn’t have anything
people living in the Pyrenees region. My better to do and partly because it would
French exchange was one of only two in mean speaking less French than I would
his year who were studying it. have to if I stayed in study, except for the
The three weeks went quickly, and too bare sporting minimum: ‘le balon’ and
soon it was time to say goodbye. Our ‘ici’. A few accurate but jammy toe-bogs
group took advantage of a long stopover and the coach was eating out of my hand.
in London to visit the city, and this was a To this day I still can’t believe the amount
fitting end to a stay which was as much a of flukey shots I scored goals off, and the
holiday as a learning trip. Many thanks amount of French swear-words that
are due to Ms Nevin for putting so much accompanied them.
work into the organisation of this most The food was not great, in a country
enjoyable exchange. which claims to have the best food in the
world. I did, however, see a real canteen. 1
Patrick Wall (Senior 4S) felt like Kevin Arnold, of Wonder Years
fame, walking up the hall looking for
someone to sit with. And oh! the
T w o M o n th s in B ritta n y loneliness I felt when I reached the top of
(n o t q u ite a y e a r in P r o v en ce) the hall without having found anyone to
sit with. Normally I was taken pity on and
Yes, it is true what they say about asked to sit with someone, much to the
boarding schools. I should know; I spent anger of everyone else at that person’s
two months in one. table. Strangely enough I was never asked
My school nestled snugly in Department to sit with the same people twice.... they
56 in the sleepy little town of Vannes. I must have wanted to share me with the
too was sleepy, for every morning we rest of the school.
began at 8.00 am, save Mondays, when The school was strange in the degree to
we came in at 9.00 to allow the boarders which it valued extra-curricular activities.
time to commute in from further afield. They had a system called equipes or
We could finish any time from 12.00 noon teams. Every student was in an equipe
to 5.00 pm, depending on the day; in fact varying from surfboard design to
68
