Day 5

After a French breakfast in Madame Lewis's cafe, we went to the French-American centre, where we did a quiz on vocabulary learnt during the week. Mr. Walters' group was the clear winner.

After exercising our minds on the quiz (Archie and Miles proved particularly proficient at clue solving), we walked to the medieval part of Montpellier and had to use our brains again to do the treasure hunt prepared earlier in the week by the students. After an hour of leisurely puzzle-solving in the sunny streets, it became clear that Madame Thiebeaux's group were the winners!

The group took the long-awaited journey to the scenic beach of Palavas where we met our beach volleyball coach (a pretty 'hench' guy - to use Madame Lewis' newly learnt Bedfordism). He also trains the French Olympic teams. He said we might need a bit more practice before we could play against them! For those of us who took part, we found the lesson to be interesting and fun, apart from getting sand in our eyes.

  Whilst waiting for our return bus, the double act - Rohan and Charlie- were doing their 'Excusez-moi Madame' routine (as usual!) . When referred to as 'Les faux-jumeaux' (non-identical twins) by Madame Thiebeaux, a French onlooker was unconvinced!!! 

After a long journey back to Montpellier, the boys wanted to partake in a bit of shopping, after which we headed to the evening's restaurant. The staff were really friendly and helpful and the food was delicious!
 

Lorcan's 15th birthday was celebrated in good company, both English and French.........

....although blowing out the candles on his cake had to come later and with a little less finesse than might have been hoped.
After indulging in a lovely pizza, some of the boys decided that they wanted to sample some of Montpellier's night life. They were even allowed to sample some non-alcoholic cocktails!

With assistance from Ed and Archie and Arun.

Day 4

It's good to know that the students of Rushmoor can always be relied upon to show manners and gallantry when riding on public transport. Lorcan gave up his seat without hesitation to an elderly gentleman and Rohan assisted him with the date stamping of his ticket.

Today the group left Montpellier and travelled by train to the ancient Roman town of Nimes. En route the boys chatted with a marine who had just returned from Mali: a sobering encounter.

Our tour of the Roman amphitheatre came complete with audio guides, giving us a detailed historical insight into its use over the centuries.

Some of our number attempted to make friends with the local wildlife. Unsuccessfully.

 

As we proceeded to the train station, back to Montpellier, we were informed that our train had been delayed. This gave us the perfect opportunity for a picnic in the sunshine.

 

Archie managed to make a new friend on the train ride home. The cat promptly asked to move seats.

 

 Sherin managed to alienate the German volleyball team by declaring his dislike of the German language, and as a result, we failed to get any autographs.

The French-American centre hosted a cake party where some of the students managed to scare off some of the guests! Others however were able to engage in some form of conversation with the boys. Madame T and Madame L were impressed by the improved levels of communication.

Afterwards, the boys played football for a while in the local park. Ben showed his skills despite his handicap.

Our choice of restaurant locale for the evening was ambitious, given that it was 100 metres from the hotel. Compared to the previous night, the food exceeded expectations, service was also much improved, and the students were even forced to eat something green!


Written by Ben (BABS) and Archie, with assistance from Rohan and Alessio.

Day 3

We went to the Franco-American Centre where we learnt about the town, and asking for information at the tourist office. Most pupils became quite proficient at asking questions.

We were thankful that we had our tickets on the tram, as there was an army of ticket collectors on board, providing free entertainment to onlookers and excellent French listening practice! Reinforcements were called for at every station when the culprit refused to pay the fine. The taking of this 'discreet' photograph, somewhat aggravated the situation!

Adding to the romantic atmosphere of the medieval market district, a skilled, talented musician enters the street with his trusted dog, and... his ukelele. He serenaded the street with his elaborate music (which happened to be in English!). Upon hearing his velvet-like composition, Rohan took the opportunity to express his request for that most esteemed artist Justin Bieber.

Football on the green was a time of relaxation for the boys.

 
However, an encounter with the friendly local dogs, turned out to not be so friendly after all!

 We hope that Ben will walk again soon!

 The vast array of animals in the zoo was mighty and interesting. There was a zedonk (we think), wolves and deer. One credit to the zoo was it's magical and colourful array of beautiful birds.After our visit to the zoo, sadly this is all that's left of Archie! It had been a while since the lions' last meal.

 

The bad-tempered waiter of the creperie seemed to be struggling with 23 orders! Compared to past dining experiences, the restaurant seemed quite sub-par.

With assistance from Alessio, Lorcan, Archie, Rohan and Ben (BABS).

Day 2

As the boys woke up, everyone got ready and went to the French-American centre to learn about buying fruit and veg at the market. Some students were preparing the afternoon entertainment somewhat prematurely however!

Our departure was a little delayed by a sock misadventure - Sherin was unable to find his Monday socks so we may have a problem on Thursday!. We are unsure that the learning objective for today was met, Edward W. did not quite succeed in purchasing the required amount of dried apricots.

As we proceeded through the day, the boys found confidence to ask for items in the market.  The groups then split up, in the medieval part of the town, to plan a treasure hunt for the other groups the next day. Alessio, ever the gentleman, courteously pulled Madames L's granny trolley, and met his match.

Charlie felt  a cultural reference was missing. Here is his Rodin 'Penseur' impression.

 

Montpellier's many feature fountains were repeatedly a source of entertainment. Matt W. may have regretted his encounter later on in the evening!

Some of us have taken every opportunity to practise our French on every possible local, and some have grabbed our attention more than others.

In the evening, we went out to dinner to celebrate Arun's birthday at the Hippo restaurant. He was sung to in French, even by the local diners. We all wish him a very happy birthday!


(with assistance from Rohan, Lorcan, Alessio, Charlie and Archie)

Day 1

From Montpellier's fine dining on Saturday night, our students had a corridor breakfast this morning (breakfast had to be purchased the night before - France still keeps to that old Catholic tradition of non-Sunday opening). We then set out in the rain to the Centre Franco-Americain. We stopped en route for the boys to practise their French shopping skills and stock up for lunch.

 Once installed in our classroom, the students made rapid progress learning hotel vocabulary and phrases and were soon able to prepare their dialogue for 'booking into a hotel'. Our braver volunteers put themselves forward for approaching receptionists in 3 different hotels. The hotel staff proved more than understanding, and the boys did us proud.

A long tram ride took us to Odysseum, where we visited the aquarium (the weather forcing us to change our plans, and we fed Lorcan to the sharks!).

We were joined by some French-American centre students at the bowling alley, prior to our meal out, where our pupils continued to practise their French with the visiting students and the waiters.

We arrived at the hotel safe but suitably drenched. It all seems rather quiet upstairs now, and no-one has volunteered to help write the blog tonight! I think we tired them out!

Arrival!

It is now 11:20PM French time, and the teachers are feeling a little weary! The students however are full of Montpellier nightlife and steak and chips, and enlivened by late night tram travel adventure!

The evening in the restaurant was spent speaking French to the locals (well, 3 of them!) and proceeded by a brief walk around the Montpellier scenic centre-ville, which was lively and buzzing with Saturday night revellers.

Tomorrow's weather looks disappointing and some changes may need to be made to the programme as a result. Tomorrow's blog should hopefully enlighten you! Enjoy your weekend, your sons are now settling down to sleep off their travel fatigue a demain.

Trip

The trip will be departing on Saturday 16th March, 2013.