Monday
On Monday, 24.03.2025, we had breakfast at school in the morning. There we ate Croissants and chouquettes. After breakfast we had to complete different challenges in and around the town centre using an app called Goose-chase. For example: Counting to 10 in both languages. Afterwards, we went to a bakery. Then we took a picture in front of the castle where we pretended to be horses. We took lots of pictures with the landmarks of Ancenis.
On Monday afternoon we went on a canoe trip with the exchange students from France and the teachers. At first we drove with a train to Oudon and walked towards the changing room. After we were done changing we walked towards the canoes. Once we were there our guide explained how to do it and we got separated into groups. Three students stayed on land due dizziness. As we went into the water with our canoes some people got stuck or crashed into trees… or against each other. Some people were really slow because they didn’t know how to really paddle and the guide had to help and gave tips on how to become faster. Three French students fell into the water and were completely wet. As the time flew by, we went back to the start and everyone was soaking wet due water fights. As we went back to the train station we waited for our train. Some people changed into dry clothes. As we went back to the school we all said our goodbyes and went back to our exchange families. It was a really great experience and we all learned something new… hopefully everyone had fun.
(Tomke-Christin Schmidt, Lionel Pohl, Joudi Allada und Nina Stüven)
Tuesday
On Tuesdaymorning, 25,03,2025, we went on a boat trip on the Loire river in Nantes. On the boat trip we learned about the history of the Loire. They made the Loire straight. But they didn’t know that it wasn’t that good of an idea because the river became really fast afterwards. On the river we saw some artworks to remind the people how it was before changing the river. The names of the artworks are: Les Anneaux, Belvédère de l’Hermitage, Lunar Tree, La Maison dans la Loire, Les Sémaphores, Le Pendule, Serpentine Rouge, De Temps en Temps, The settlers, Résolution des Forces en Présence and you can see them like in a gallery alongside the river. We also learned about the bad side of Nantes because in the past Nantes was a big slavery site. They stole people from Africa and other countries to sell them in America. Some of them died on the ships because of sickness or bad food. Many died of the hard work too. We discovered stones in the ground with the names of the ships that went from Nantes to kidnap people from Africa to sell them in America and there is a big monument near the Loire river about the slave trade from Nantes. On Tuesday afternoon we discovered the city centre of Nantes. This city was surprisingly big and interesting. We were in the castle from Nantes and we saw historic statues and old homes from back in the day. We saw a 3-storey carrousel and a huge mechanic elephant made out of wood and metal in the city. Also, the city has the largest river in France, its name is Loire. We were able to look at art and nature within it. The city had a lot of industrial fabrics as well. However, we were in the city from 8:20 to 16:45, so we had a bunch of time to take a look around. We were very impressed by the fontaine at the Place Royale and the Passage Pommeraye. It was big and looked so old. After this wonderful experience in the city, we returned to our french families.
(Elija Mick, Ines Bäuerle, Dajana Saibel und Nicole Veresov)
Wednesday
On Wednesday, we were at school. The program was run by two English ladies. First, we played Taboo with a few freetime activities and other things. Then we were divided into groups and roleplayed one of four different scenarios. In my group, we went to a tourist activity store, and the youngest member of the tourist family was 6, and the oldest was 95. We had to find an activity for each age group. Afterwards, four of the eight groups went into a theater room and acted it out. After that, we made a crossword puzzle and compared our answers. Then we finished and went to our host families.
(Greta Bodenbender, Marie Palosch)
Thursday
In Nantes we first saw the big elephant at Les Machines de l’île. It was super big and just stood there. We took a lot of pictures because it looked really cool. After that we went shopping in the city centre. There were many shops, and we bought souvenirs, clothes, presents, and snacks. The streets were full of people, and it was fun to look around. Later, we went to a crêperie. The crêpes were super tasty, with chocolate, Nutella, or banana. We sat together talked a lot and had a great time. It was a really nice day.
(Dana Zieske, Mila Zieske)
Friday
On Friday 28.03.2025, We took the bus to Guérande. The journey took about two hours and we were able to see the beautiful landscape on the way. In Guérande, we visited a salt field to see how salt from the ocean is made. A guide explained the traditional process of salt extraction and showed us the salt pans. We learnt that the famous fleur de sel is skimmed off the surface of the water. We were then able to taste the salt and buy some varieties. The weather wasn’t so good but that didn’t put us in a bad mood. We had some free time in the afternoon before travelling back to Ancenis.
(Keysha Botchway, Josef Austermann)
