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Rouen Visit

Last week, 20 pupils and three staff returned from the annual Year 9 French exchange. We left Highgate on Tuesday morning, hopped on the Eurostar and were in Paris for lunch. After a sweat-inducing RER journey with suitcases in tow, those who had not ‘packed light’ were beginning to regret it, but we eventually all made it to Rouen, our final destination. The week was peppered with bistro meals, diabolos grenadine and novel culinary experiences, although no one in the group quite mustered the courage to order steak tartare (this obviously excludes staff). During a restaurant workshop, some of the boys demonstrated great skill in preparing their very own foie gras terrine, each working on their own piece to remove the nerves, while the other half of the group skinned, pipped and cored apples to make everybody’s dessert for the day: tarte aux pommes.

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This year’s photo competition was the best the judges could remember. Each group of pupils was issued with a list of things to look for and a disposable camera and the most inventive, artistic and original entries were rewarded with French CDs. Composed of Ben Walpole, Riaz Razaq, Abigail Cinnamon, Rafe Jennings and Charlie Noble, the winning team’s entry for “quelquechose de bleu et qui n’est pas un drapeau” was rather inventive, though the group led by Eloise Donovan and Felicity Juckes deserves a mention for absolute cheek, after they flagged down a police car just to take a picture.

Pupils were invited to the France 3 studios, where they visited each department and were even allowed in the studio itself. There, they ran into a famous local politician about to be interviewed, whom Riaz greeted with a rather friendly ‘ca va, et toi ?'

Finally, pupils engaged in various sporting activities: running up flights of stairs in Paris, walking their way around Rouen and, last but not least, a pétanque competition. In the lead until the eleventh hour, Ted Bolt will forever remember that terrible last-minute spot-on throw from Justin Hoggard which robbed him and his team of the coveted trophy.

The last 24 hours of the trip were rather eventful, with late trains and bomb scares delaying our arrival by only a couple of hours. It was a memorable trip, despite.  CCP

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