Bonjour tout le monde!
We are en route back to Sheldon after a wonderful week here in France. Our students have truly profité this week (had a whale of a time!). There were emotional farewells this 7am this morning between partners, hopefully the beginning of many longlasting friendships. We always believe that our students on the French exchange are a real credit to us at Sheldon, but even so we can't remember a year where things have gone quite so smoothly. Not a single midnight phone call, not a single souci. Un grand merci et bravo à nos excellents élèves !
Yesterday, our last day in France, we spent the day in a beautiful village at the edge of the Vendée region called Nieul-sur-Autise. Here we went to La Maison de la Meunerie for a breadmaking masterclass. All in French, we learnt about the ingredients and process used to produce le pain à l'ancienne, and were fascinated to discover that this mill has been making bread since 1728 and that the bread takes 17 hours to prove. Two hours later and we left with 22 gros pains (the bread, not the students).
In the afternoon we crossed the road to the village Abbaye, a very old Abbey and monastery dating to around the 11th century. Another tour en français and a workshop on colour (spot the trend). Our étudiants were encouraged to work on their painted enluminures (illuminations) as the monks would have done in the olden days - in silence. Finally, a bit of peace and quiet for us teachers!
Another fabulously sunny day, inbetween visits we enjoyed some downtime playing football and 'crutchball' (how far can you hit a tennis ball with Piers' crutches?!).
At time of writing we are yet to cross the channel; the roads are clear and the weather bright. As we travel north the rainclouds build and the traffic jams loom! But it's home sweet home! All being well, we will be home at 8pm.
À l'année prochaine!
Mrs Bowie, Miss Lang and Mr Spurdell
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