Athboy students make French connection with exchange trip

Over the Easter period, 20 students from Athboy Community School took part in a French exchange with the Lycée Jean Monnet in Crepy-en-Valois in the Oise Department of the Picardy region of northern France. This is the seventh year of the exchange with the Lycée, which is located close to the Autonne Valley area with which Athboy has been formally twinned since 2000. On Palm Sunday, the 20 Irish students from second year, transition year and fifth year flew to Paris to begin the French end of the exchange along with teachers, school principal Mr Anthony Leavy and Mr Tony Magner. The first day was taken up with school-based activities as the students attended classes in the Lycée Jean Monnet. In the afternoon, the students enjoyed a Red Cross class where they were taught basic CPR and emergency training. They followed this up with a visit to the local fire station where they were given a tour of the premises, a demonstration of rescue and life-saving techniques to complement their Red Cross training and a demonstration of fire-fighting equipment which included putting on fire fighting gear and working both water and foam hoses from the fire appliances. On the Tuesday, the students, along with their French 'correspondants', were taken on a guided walking tour of Crepy-en-Valois, including the old town, the House of Joan of Arc, St Denis Cathedral and the town walls, castle and ramparts. They also completed their second and final module in their Red Cross training programme. Wednesday was spent at Chaalis Abbey, a French Cistercian abbey north of Paris, at Fontaine-Chaalis, near Crepy, founded in 1136 by Louis VI of France. The students went on a tour through the beautiful gardens and chapel before visiting the perfume factory and workshop on the site. The group members were given the chance to mix their own perfumes from a wide variety of scents based on herbs, spices, flowers and other aromatic substances like honey. Great fun was had by all synthesising the 'Essences D'Athboy' but the students will have to wait at least three weeks for their perfumes to mature before finding out which was the most successful blend! Holy Thursday saw a full day trip to Paris. The first sight was the Stade de France at St Denis. There was a lot of good-natured banter between the Irish and the French about a certain 'goal' involving the use of a certain hand! First stop was Montemartre with its famous Sacre Coeur Cathedral and beautiful artisans square, Le Place Du Tertre. After this, the group continued on a bus tour of the city, including the Arc de Triomphe, Place de la Concorde, the Champs Elysees and Invalides before a stop at the Eiffel Tower, Louvre Museum and Tuileries Gardens, followed by a scenic walk along the banks of the Seine. The day out also included some retail therapy in the city. Friday was equally action-packed as the group took to the trees in the Forest of Compiegne. An afternoon spent at the Acrobranche centre took the students through their paces as they ziplined and climbed between trees, swung on tarzan ropes, walked tightropes and climbed nets along a specially designed assault course high in the canopy of the forest. On the final full day, Holy Saturday, the students went to Asterix Park, a theme park just outside the city of Amiens based on the famous French cartoon character 'Asterix The Gaul'. It was a significant day for the park as it opened a much-vaunted new rollercoaster, Oziris. People came from all over France and northern Europe to see this massive new ride open and the intrepid Athboy delegation were among the punters on the historic first cars to take to the tracks. A fun day was had by all on the various rollercoasters and other attractions. As a final goodbye, the village of Feigneaux, one of those twinned with Athboy, hosted a soirée, featuring traditional French cuisine and music. All the students and teachers felt the trip was very successful and that some lasting friendships were made. Some are even heading back to France in the summer to renew acquaintances with their host families. From 22nd-28th March, 24 students from the French Lycée had visited Athboy, staying with host families in the locality. As well as attending classes with their Irish hosts, they enjoyed cultural trips to Newgrange, Dublin city centre and The Causey Experience at Causey Farm at Fordstown. The students have recorded their sincere thanks to their host families, to Mr Leavy and the French group leader, Ms Corinne Carillon, for all their work in organising the trip, and to Mr Magner and Mdme Chibani from the two schools for accompanying them on the exchange.