Student Exchanges

Sophie Chuter, Year 11, Ridgeway Campus

I lived in Bressuire, France for 3 months with my host parents and host sister. I had the amazing opportunity to speak French, attend school, travel around my area, visit the south of France and experience my birthday, Christmas, and even the New Year celebrations in a different country- while making life-long friendships.  

The school I attended was called Saint Joseph’s Lycèe which means high school and I was in secondaire which is the equivalent to year 10. My school day usually started at around 7:50am and would go until 5 or 6pm. Each class would go for roughly an hour, and for lunch, we would have a 2-hour break. Most days for school lunch I would eat at the canteen/cafè then leave school and wander around town with my friends. The food in France consisted of lots of baguettes, croissants, pain au chocolats, cheese, and lots more.  

On the weekends my family and I would visit lots of Christmas markets and we occasionally visited bigger towns nearby. For example, we visited La Rochelle, which is known for its amazing beaches in the summertime, and it was only two hours from Bressuire. I also got to visit Nantes, one hour from Bressuire. Over the Christmas break, we had 2 weeks of holidays and in the first week, my family and I undertook a nine-hour road trip to the south of France. In the south, I visited, Sète, Montpellier, Marseille, Nîmes and a few more places, and on Christmas day we visited a Christmas village and spent time with my host mum's side of the family.  

Overall, my exchange in France was a scary but an amazing experience that I will forever look back on. My French understanding and speaking improved so much and I made so many amazing friends that I'm still in contact with. I would highly recommend going on an exchange and I'm so grateful for this experience. 

Harriet Brown, Year 11, Ridegway Campus

During my 9-week exchange in France I learnt so much about French culture and it really opened my mind to different types of people and experiences. I spent my stay in a small town of 900 people called Juvigny in the Champagne region. Initially it was really hard to be living in a country town with a new family, especially with the language barrier. But as time went on, I began to create close connections with the family and my French speaking skills improved dramatically.  

School in France was also extremely hard to adjust to, due to their school days often being up to 10 hours. However, I soon made some French friends and began to really enjoy the school life and my new friends, making it quite bittersweet to leave at the end of my stay.  

One of my favourite things about exchange was going out with my friends to discover new French foods and desserts. It was such a great way to socialise while also learning about French culture and trying tasty foods.  

When I first arrived, I gifted my host family a few Australian items like Tim Tams and a footy. One of my favourite memories with my host brother was teaching him how to play footy before he taught me how to shoot a rifle, as they lived in a town in which everyone hunted. It was great to be able to share our cultures with each other and learn about different ways of life.  

The main thing that I learnt during my exchange, apart from French obviously, was to be open-minded. At the start of my stay, I was quite judgemental of how my family and friends lived as their lives were drastically different to mine. But ultimately as time went on, I learnt a lot about French culture and my host family’s way of life. They allowed me to open my mind to new experiences like French dances, shooting, and the often-eccentric French fashion choices. To anyone learning or even thinking about learning a language I urge you to look into going on exchange as it is such an eye-opening experience and leaves you with memories to last a lifetime.