Château du Loir in January - personal experience

by Anna-Lena

We arrived at Château du Loir, a small town near le Mans, after a stormy flight and a long trip by train. I was very impressed, because we took the very fast TGV.
I think it’s faster than the German one, called ICE.
I was cordially received by the French students in their school. First, nobody had any ideas to speak about but after a few minutes we ate cookies together and everybody had fun. At this first afternoon, we had a greeting with the mayor of Château du Loir. And later, all students were at their families but I was at a boarding school.
When we arrived there, we ate a little bit and before we went to bed, five Frenchgirls and me sat in a room and they all spoke French very fast. So I couldn’t understand anything.
The next day, we had e.g. a badminton and volleyball match with all European people from four countries. So we got to know the other students better.
Friday, we made a trip to Amboise and Tours. In Tours, we stayed there for a while with our French girls and we went shopping and saw many little streets inside Tours. On this day, I liked most the special castle of Amboise. It was very interesting, e.g. the grave of Leonardo da Vinci and the beautiful view of the nature and the village next to the castle.
Friday afternoon, I met the parents of my French student Fanny. They were all so nice and very hospitable. I was fascinated, because the food was so tasty! I think in France, there is the best food of the world!
The next day was the best I had. In the morning we drove to le Mans and met the other students for iceskating. It was very funny with all of them.
But above all, the best was the citycenter of le Mans. We saw the big church and we bought some presents for our families in Germany.
In the afternoon we drove to our home and we ate fondue. Of course it was different to Germany but I liked it very much!
Shortly after the food, we went to a bar. We laughed the whole time and enjoyed it much. Janin, another German girl with her French student was with me. It was better because I could converse in German with Janin and we could help each other if we had problems with our English to talk with the French girls. It was a succesful last evening in France!
The next day, we went back to Germany. =(

My personal profit of this trip is firstly to advance my French language skills because I want to speak and write it fluently! Secondly, I’m not so afraid any longer to speak French and English to foreign people, like before my trip to Château du Loir. Finally, I became more self-confident. Before I went to France, I was not very self-confident.
All this goes to show that I can simply say that the trip to France was very full of new positive experiences!
This exchange came up to my expectations because I gained lots of new positive experiences.
Anytime, I would do an exchange again, to meet new exciting people!


Anna-Lena