SENIOR SCHOOL
French History Tour
The 2016 French History Tour was undoubtedly one of the greatest tours the School has ever coordinated . Anticipated by the students and staff for over a year , the tour went above and beyond expectations for an abundance of reasons , being a success in terms of both education and enjoyment .
This tour was amazingly helpful and insightful to all students who study French and / or History , with those studying French being able to hone their speaking skills , increase their vocabulary and gain a greater understanding of the French culture . As well as this , History students were able to see for themselves the battlefields of the First World War in Amiens , Villers-Bretonneux and Ypres as well as the D-Day landing beaches in Normandy , where there were still remnants of the artillery used by the Germans . Throughout the entirety of the historical aspect of the tour , which lasted for around a week , we were guided by an Australian tour guide named Dennis , who was extremely insightful . It was great for the boys to have an Australian taking us around as , for most of us , it made it a lot easier to understand what we were being told . It also made our visits to the Australian war memorials and cemeteries a lot more meaningful and moving , with the boys holding a memorial ceremony at Villers-Bretonneux .
I believe I ’ m speaking for all of the boys when I say that the time we spent on this tour was the two best weeks of our lives . Throughout the entirety of our stay there
is not one time that I can think of where I wasn ’ t having fun nor was I ever bored with something being organised for us each day . This varied from visiting tourist sites such as the Eiffel Tower , Mont Saint Michel and the Louvre , to going on a dinner cruise along the Seine . No matter what we did , it was always a magical experience and the memories from the tour will stay with us for a very long time .
Of course , I can ’ t talk about France without mentioning the food , which can only be described as nothing short of magnificent . Every morning the boys woke up to a buffet full of beautiful French cuisine with croissants and pain au chocolat , alongside some of France ’ s finest cheese . While our meals were all simply amazing , some of our fondest food memories are of our visits to the local supermarket , where we bought what we wanted ( often ordering in French ), and ate in a car park of all places . Because of this , we got to sample true French cuisine without having to splash the cash , all in the comfort of a car park .
At the end of the day , the 2016 French History tour was outstanding . On behalf of everyone involved , thank you to Mr Creuzot and Mr Wildman for organising everything perfectly so that the boys had a great time and nothing went wrong . I hope that such a tour can happen again at some point in the future so that other students can have the opportunity to experience what we experienced .
Owen Conner ( 11He )
18