20/04/2012
GOODBYE PARIS! L
Today we finished our final bag checks and said our final goodbyes to Paris with a tasty buffet breakfast consisting of croissants, breakfast sausages, scrambled eggs and freshly made famous French bread with the usual coffee or hot chocolate at the hotel. We then left the hotel for the last time and boarded a bus waiting for us outside and started our 3 and a half hour journey to Belgium.
while on the bus while most of us slept, we were awoken by the “delightful” singing preparing for the bush dance and sing along which will be presented to the Ieper kids later on in the week.
Once arriving in Ieper, Belgium we had a couple of hours free time to have a quick shop buy some chocolates and some small last minute souvenir and present shopping plus having a quick lunch before getting ready to regroup and meet up with the Belgium kids.
We were greeted by a lovely English teacher from the Ieper school called Anne, who then lead us to their school and where we were welcomed by delicious chocolates and juice/water prepared by fellow students. We also received a speech from the headmaster who had even made the effort to learn English for the special occasion.
We were then lead into the PE hall away from the rain where we participated in social games where we socialised and got a basic idea of the different interests and of our basic lifestyle and day to day life.
After the short socialising session we than walked down to a local restaurant in the main square where we had dinner with some of the Belgium students. Dinner consisted of tomato soup, beef casserole with Belgium fries and salad with a creamy chocolate coated ice cream for dessert.
After dinner Mr V and Daniel left early to try and find the name of my relation on the wall of the Menin Gates, where Daniel placed a photo of him and a poppy next to his name and took photos for the family. We then soon left and met up with the rest of the students ready for the ceremony.
Once we were reassembled we took our places and waited for the ceremony.
It was a very busy and emotional ceremony for most attending which included many Australians, including students from Wagga Wagga and Queanbeyan.
Rachael and Daniel partook in a rare life time experience, being able to participate in laying a wreath at the wreath laying ceremony, both feeling privileged to be representing our school and our country.
GOODBYE PARIS! L
Today we finished our final bag checks and said our final goodbyes to Paris with a tasty buffet breakfast consisting of croissants, breakfast sausages, scrambled eggs and freshly made famous French bread with the usual coffee or hot chocolate at the hotel. We then left the hotel for the last time and boarded a bus waiting for us outside and started our 3 and a half hour journey to Belgium.
while on the bus while most of us slept, we were awoken by the “delightful” singing preparing for the bush dance and sing along which will be presented to the Ieper kids later on in the week.
Once arriving in Ieper, Belgium we had a couple of hours free time to have a quick shop buy some chocolates and some small last minute souvenir and present shopping plus having a quick lunch before getting ready to regroup and meet up with the Belgium kids.
We were greeted by a lovely English teacher from the Ieper school called Anne, who then lead us to their school and where we were welcomed by delicious chocolates and juice/water prepared by fellow students. We also received a speech from the headmaster who had even made the effort to learn English for the special occasion.
We were then lead into the PE hall away from the rain where we participated in social games where we socialised and got a basic idea of the different interests and of our basic lifestyle and day to day life.
After the short socialising session we than walked down to a local restaurant in the main square where we had dinner with some of the Belgium students. Dinner consisted of tomato soup, beef casserole with Belgium fries and salad with a creamy chocolate coated ice cream for dessert.
After dinner Mr V and Daniel left early to try and find the name of my relation on the wall of the Menin Gates, where Daniel placed a photo of him and a poppy next to his name and took photos for the family. We then soon left and met up with the rest of the students ready for the ceremony.
Once we were reassembled we took our places and waited for the ceremony.
It was a very busy and emotional ceremony for most attending which included many Australians, including students from Wagga Wagga and Queanbeyan.
Rachael and Daniel partook in a rare life time experience, being able to participate in laying a wreath at the wreath laying ceremony, both feeling privileged to be representing our school and our country.
We then said our goodbyes to the Belgium kids parting ways so they could return to their homes and us to take a 30minute train to Kortrijk where our hotel is and we settled down and quickly started resting after the big day and in preparation for the day ahead and especially for the big week ahead of that. Only three sleeps to go for our plane ride back to Australia.
- Alicia and Daniel
Daniel prior to the ceremony
At the Ceremony
Daniel & Rae ready to lay the wreath
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