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I felt a sense of anticipation and fear at the same time. I
had been away from home before but six months! I felt like calling it off but
something inside me told me I would be missing the chance of a lifetime.
Arriving at Valentin's house in the west of France I was nervous but when my
parents left for England three days later I was petrified. I didn't want the
farewells to end.
But within days of my parents leaving I felt at home. Life
in France was all that I expected and more. Communicating was not too
difficult. French children learn English from the age of nine and many or my
new friends had a good grasp of it already which helped me while I picked up
French. Within six weeks I was fairly fluent and had almost forgotten how to
speak English!
I fitted into everyday life easily. I joined Valentin's
football club and began to play handball, which is one of France's national
sports. I had become friends with all of Valentin's friends and every weekend
there was a gathering at one another's houses. My French family enjoyed
entertaining their friends and every other week there would be a dinner party
which went on until the early hours. It was great, playing hide and seek
Nintendo while the adults ate and drank. That's another thing about France, the
food. even at that age I was a food lover so I found the beautifully barbecued
meats and mouth-watering desserts just too tempting. I would often go back for
thirds and fourths
Experiencing school was a reason to go on its own. I wasn't
used to arriving at 8am and not leaving until 5pm. The subjects were different
as the French was split into sections Grammar, Dictation. Literature. All the
children studied English and they were at a much higher level in maths. Imagine
learning about pi at the age of nine in a foreign language. Of course there
were some similarities - canteen food was terrible I loved sports lessons and
football was always top the agenda. I had to adjust to some things in every day
life too. When we came back from school we used to eat what was called 'gouter'
which was cereals, sweet breads and chocolate spread, but dinner was a lot
later about 8.30 which meant I was starving. My French family thought I was
greedy because I cleared my plate and every body else's.
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Two-and-a-half months into the exchange though it came to a
bit of a standstill. I broke my leg on a skiing holiday in the Alps and was
stretchered off the mountain side and was in plaster for two months. When I
rang home to break the news my mother burst into tears and I genuinely felt
like coming home. Initially I was bed bound for a couple of weeks but once I
started walking on crutches it was as if nothing had ever happened.
Of course I couldn't play football or handball but there was
still so much to do. The family holidays continued. A trip to Paris, visiting
relatives in the north, seeing Valentin's grandparents in the vineyards of
Bergerac and a summer holiday camping on the Ile de Re just after coming out of
plaster. I experienced many different things and visited almost every corner of
France.
One lasting memory is celebrating the 90th birthday of
Valentin's grandma in a huge restaurant. Everyone was sat in a big rectangle of
tables and seven courses were served over three hours. In between courses all
the children played huge games of football in the evening sun. It just summed
up what being in France was all about
It opened up a whole new world for me.
So what did I gain from my exchange? Well the most obvious
advantage is that I am now totally fluent in French. I have been back almost
every year since the exchange to visit everybody and top up my accent. I took
my GCSE at 14 and I did A-level French.
I now plan to study French and linguistics at Leeds
University. I know that it's going to help me find a good job in the future
because languages are so important in modern life. Being fluent in French has
helped me pick up other languages easily as well. I got an A* grade in German
as GCSE and I am going to try Spanish at Uni. I have the opportunity to work
and live abroad which many people wouldn't consider.
Apart from the obvious language skills that I gained on my
exchange I feel I learned so much in those six months. I gained from the
independence I had because even though my French 'parents' were like a mum and
dad to me there were times when I had to deal with things myself and I grew
more mature because of it.
I am not dependent on my parents and this is going to help
me in later life. My six months in France has allowed me to experience so many
things that a lot of other nine year olds wouldn't have been able to see. I
feel that a whole new world opened up before me and now I have the confidence
to visit other countries and experience more new things.
Incidentally, Valentin has just passed the equivalent of
A-level in France - and he is going to study English at a higher level.
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