Trip to Ireland 2006 Collège Honoré de Balzac

ON THE WAY

2006-04-10T01:53:00.000-07:00

It was 11a.m, in front of Balzac when panic started to rise: we couldn't take the boat from Cherbourg to Roscoff, because of strong winds. After Mr Griffin's long conversations on the phone with the travel agency, we left for Calais by bus.
From time to time, we stopped to stretch our legs, eat at a petrol station and watched films in the coach, then we arrived at Calais around 5p.m to take the shuttle. Some people were upset because they couldn't see any fish (Mr Griffin's "hilarious" joke), on the other hand we arrived safely in Folkstone. We went past London, and stopped near Oxford to have "dinner"(not very healthy food: Crunchies, Aeros, Cream Eggs, etc...). When we were to get back in the coach, it was pooring down, everybody was soaked when they got in because "some people" (Thomas & Theo) were blocking the door, so that everyone was stuck with their legs in and heads out in the dreadful english weather.
Apart from that, we stopped in Whales, and "some girls" (Anyssa, Solanne, Eva, Nina and Tara) had a water fight in the bathroom at 1 o'clock in the morning. "I'm here for the water story", said the cleaning lady as they ran out.
3.a.m: We arrived at Hollyhead and took the ferry for Dublin. The crossing lasted three hours which were three hours of talking gibberish, because we were too tired to think. we arrived at Dublin harbour at 6am.

Families

2006-04-09T01:53:00.000-07:00

Being in a family means being hosted for a certain amount of time. We are fed for breakfast, lunch and dinner. There are two types of families: some welcome students for pleasure, and others for money. Many of the students brought presents to the families to thank them, but unfortunatly some of them were immediatly put aside. We were led to our frozen rooms (considered being the warmest in the house). They then put down rules:
-Stay in our rooms until dinner
-Make no noise
-Be back straight after the arrival of the bus
-Respect the curfew etc...
After that, we had dinner without the family in the kitchen. Funnily enough, we all ate the same type of food: junk. Later on, showers were to be taken. For some of us, it took around twenty minutes to wet our entire body. Nevertheless, the trip was great fun and some families weren't that bad. Many thanks to Mr G!!!

Some photos of Kylemore Abbey

2006-04-08T12:58:00.000-07:00

the leenane cultural center

2006-04-07T01:54:00.000-07:00

On saturday afternoon, we visited the leenane cultural center. The main theme of this cultural center was sheep, and their sheering. First we watched a film on Conemara, which was as boring as the documentary " chasse et peche " . Thankfully, Mr G helped us to get away .Then a woman (who had a passionate relationship with sheep) taught us about the different types of wool and the modern and traditional ways of colouring and weaving it. She demonstrated her weaving talent. She gave us all a bit of wool.

Inishmore

2006-04-06T01:39:00.000-07:00

We took the ferry to the Aran Islands on Sunday morning. It was relatively big with seats inside and on the top but not big enough to stop it from rocking. Some students were scared, others sick, and the rest were just jumping around and screaming. We were all impressed by the movement of the ship, the force of the waves, the movement of the ship, and the beautiful scenery (oh, and the movement of the ship too). We arrived in Inishmore safely about forty minutes later, with no "lost" students.

Once we arrived there, one group with the majority of the students hired bikes to visit the island, while the other group walked all day. It was windy but sunny, which was surprising as we were in Ireland, and it was also rather warm.

The bike ride lasted about 5 hours, with the lunch break, the refreshment of some people in the sea, and the visit to the castle. The castle, Dun Aengus, only had three walls, as it was built on a cliff. After going up the hill to visit, some people were delighted to sit down on the edge of the cliff and admire the 84-meter drop, causing Mr. G to nearly wet himself!

We had a 2 hour bike ride to go back, and we had one hour to "decorate" the beach with lovely messages. We learned that the Irish had too many stones and didn't know what to do with them, so they used them to build stone walls about everywhere they could. If they would have used them for another purpose, they would have enough to go to New York.

We took the ferry at 4h30. The trip was rockier than on the way there, enabling some people to experience the forces of the wind against saliva. We arrived at about 5h15 on the mainland, and reached Galway at 6h30, with faces covered in salt.

Mr G's heart attack !

2006-04-04T01:54:00.000-07:00

"Quick get back QUICK! PLEASE GET BACK! Your scaring the hell out of me! " Said Mr G (Griffin) when we arrived at the cliffs of Moher.
"We only wanted to take a photo of a 200 meter drop! And look, Imogen is dangling her legs over the edge! So why can't we?" We would reply to him.

"Those cliffs look like a good climb, you would have to get the rope made specialy though." was Felix 's only comment!
That is when he had a HEART ATTACK!
* because of the death of their english teacher the authers reject all legal responsibility for grammar, spelling and syntax errors

The Cliffs of Moher

2006-04-04T01:52:00.000-07:00

Monday morning, Greg and Paul woke up to a nice breakfast and left their house around 8:20 to go to the checkpoint, James Joyces gardening shop. There they met up with Theo and Arthur. All of a sudden, a dog got ru over by a car. Arthur and Paul took the dog onto the sidewalk so it wouldn't get hurt. The lady who had hit the dog came back and took him to the vet just as the bus arrived. Paul and Arthur and Theo and Gregoire rejoiced that the dog was now saved.

Later that morning, we set off to the cliffs of Moher. There we went directly to the only shop in the small confined buildings. We weren't allowed to bring our bags inside. The old ladies who kept the shop screamed like harpies. A majority of the students bought ice cream. They fled out of the shop as the ladies started to howl again. We were freezing, so we started walking up the hill towards the cliffs to warm our bodies. Soon, as a tower came into sight, we regained our blood circulation and ate around the castle. Shazmeen kept chasing plastic bags in the strong wind. We were about 90 meters above the sea with no barriers whatsoever to stop us from falling; There were actually barriers, but on the wrong side of the path so nobody could come in, but I think it was to keep us from going out... The cliffs are really high and it totally freaked Mr Griffin out (our totally cool but freaked out teacher).
There was a tower called O'Brians tower, we saw some pretty funky guys(or weirdos if you ask me, take a look at the photos!!!)

Boogie nights

2006-04-03T23:59:00.000-07:00

What we did at night by valentine and imogen.

The first night we were all too tired to go out so we stayed in and had early nights. By the second night we were all out having fun, and doing what the 3eB do best that is PARTYING. Most met up at the Church and then went to the park, most of the time we went up to joyce's (an irish supermarket) and bought enough candy and crisps to feed half of Ireland. The second night, everyone had to explore a bit because we didn't know where things were. Some didn't even try and they just met up with other people. Others had problems meeting up so that's why we had to bring them back. The local people were reeeaaallly friendly and were very chatty and generous to us.
When it was near the time to go back home we accompanied Rebi,Raphi, Suzanne, and the guys back to there house and we chatted on the lawn in front of the guy's house. To get back to our house was simple in theory but in fact quite hard. We had to do what Irish people do best, that is jumping over walls. we had to go over a small wall then climb up on top of another one and jump 3 meters down onto a road. It wasn't the first time Imogen and Valentine did "opérations kamikazes", but for very "unsporty" people such as Shazmeen, it was the first time and she was coping pretty hard. This was quite fun the first couple of times, although we sort of hurt ourselves a lot having to jump down and roll about on tarmac, which is quite painful suprisingly. On the last night we were more than three to do this, the ones who hadn't done it before had to be helped down; we made a lot of noise that night. Most were home but some lived further away. There was a little passage way down by the side of the church, which wasn't lit and is quite scary to do at night, especially since Suzanne told us someone had been stabbed down there. So the people that were left didn't want to take that passage way, I (Valentine) showed them a different way to go.

Photos (Rebi's)

2006-04-03T22:02:00.000-07:00

Here we have a nice photo of a nice drop (not for those who are scared of heights), Mr G pretending to be Russian, The Back of the Bus (be aware, it is dangerous to venture there), and Lucas Nico and Arthur not following the very useful instructions (please don't run and stop suddenly at the edge.. like we haven't noticed we're on the egde of a cliff)

the trip back to France-the last night

2006-04-02T01:54:00.000-08:00

It was about four o'clock p.m ( irish time ) when our bus arrived at Rosslare. We left at five. After a tour on the boat (which had a posh restaurant, a café, a bar, a lounge, a "teen center", a shop, a movie theater, even a hairdresser and greatly smelled of cow ) and the discovery of our rooms ( that weren't designed to appeal to claustrophobics and also smelled of cow ), we decided to go on the deck to enjoy the view and fresh air. The sea was beautiful but there was a lot of wind and some of us nearly flew off the boat while singing Titanic.
That evening Mr.Griffin received a very "special" present : a nice shamrock covered thong. He greatly enjoyed this small gift and the card that came with it ( signed with comments such as " I hope you grow some hair ", " I feel sick " or " the leprechauns made me buy this "). We had him promise to wear it some day so if you ever notice, tell us!
That night after dinner and some vomiting we returned to the lounge. There an irish man sang or rather " ruined " old depressive songs for about an hour and a half. We were very happy when he left and gave way to the DJ. Everybody started dancing wildly except the teachers, Samuel and our driver Robert, who all sat at a table with impressive pints of beer, observing us and looking discouraged. In the end, we were so dizzy we weren't sure if the boat was moving because of us or if we were moving because of the boat.
The music stopped at twelve, much to our dismay, and while some of us went straight to bed to our cow -fragranced rooms, others stayed up the rest of the night, playing cards or just talking.
We arrived at Cherbourg at one o'clock p.m ( french time ), tired and cranky. We finaly reached our dear Balzac at seven o'clock and found anxious parents waiting for us.
We thanked our great driver Robert who had to put up with us the whole week, as well as the teachers, and went home, all half asleep but happy.

The lake Isle of Innisfree

2006-03-29T17:00:00.000-08:00

I WILL arise and go now, and go to Innisfree,
And a small cabin build there, of clay and wattles made:
Nine bean-rows will I have there, a hive for the honey-bee,
And live alone in the bee-loud glade.

And I shall have some peace there, for peace comes dropping slow,
Dropping from the veils of the mourning to where the cricket sings;
There midnight's all a glimmer, and noon a purple glow,
And evening full of the linnet's wings.

I will arise and go now, for always night and day
I hear lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore;
While I stand on the roadway, or on the pavements grey,
I hear it in the deep heart's core

William Butler Yeats

VOYAGE INFO FAMILLES

2006-03-29T06:10:00.000-08:00

PRINCIPE DE FONCTIONNEMENT

Le service téléphonique Info Famille a été mis en place pour vous permettre d'être informé 24h/24 sur le déroulement du voyage de votre enfant, sans que vous ayez à supporter le coût d'une conversation téléphonique vers le pays de destination. Cela pourra vous être utile plus spécialement en début de séjour, lorsque les élèves n'ont pas eu la possibilité d'appeler, ou que leurs horaires ne coïncident pas avec les vôtres, et également avant le retour du voyage, en cas de modification d'horaires...

1. Pour cela, il vous suffit d'appeler notre serveur d'informations téléphoniques au

0899 7001 47

2. A la demande du serveur, vous composerez notre code organisme (3 chiffres) qui est le :

077

3. Nous vous demanderons alors de composer le code voyage de votre enfant (4 chiffres) qui vous a été donné le jour du départ.

Vous pourrez alors prendre connaissance des messages laissés que nous aurons laissés, notamment le jour d'arrivée et lors du voyage du retour. Si nous avons la possibilité de laisser un message au cours du séjour, vous serez également informés.

CHECKLIST

2006-03-28T01:38:00.000-08:00

A glisser dans vos bagages impérativement !

o Vos papiers d' identités + autorisation de sortie du territoire mineur si besoin.

o L' attestation Européenne d' assurance maladie

o Vos médicaments habituels (traitement pour l'asthme, etc.) et les ordonnances
correspondantes

o Des médicaments anti-vomissement pour mal de mer ou mal de car

o Vêtements chauds (il fait entre 4° et 12° généralement début avril)
- de bonnes chaussures de marche
- pulls chauds
- blouson imperméable
- bonnet, écharpe

o Appareil photo

o Carnet + trousse pour prise notes

o Un panier repas pour le déjeuner sur le trajet Paris-Cherbourg.

o 50 Euros pour le complément des repas: petit déjeuner et dîner sur le bateau à l'aller et au retour + déjeuner à l'arrivée en Irlande + déjeuner à l'arrivée à Cherbourg au retour. Par sécurité, nous vous prions de bien vouloir glisser la moitié de cette somme (soit 25 euros) dans une enveloppe, à remettre aux professeurs le jour du départ avec les papiers d'identité et les papiers médicaux, et le règlement du voyage signé.

o Sacs à dos avec le nécessaire de voyage pour la nuit sur le bateau + les médicaments (les autres bagages restent dans la soute du car pendant toute la traversée de 18h)

PROGRAMME DETAILLE DU VOYAGE A GALWAY

2006-03-26T11:02:00.000-08:00

Jeudi 30 mars 2006

9h00 Rendez-vous devant l’établissement.
Vérifications d'usage: cartes d'identités, autorisations parentales de sortie de territoire, etc.

10H30 Départ de l’établissement en direction de Cherbourg
Arrêt en route pour prendre un déjeuner pique-nique (emporté par les participants).

18h00 Départ du ferry
Dîner libre à votre charge à bord du ferry. Traversée de nuit en cabines couchettes de 2 lits.

Vendredi 31 mars 2006

Petit déjeuner et déjeuner libres à votre charge à bord du ferry.
11h30 (heure locale) Arrivée au port de Rosslare. Formalités de débarquement (compter 30 minutes)

12h00 Route pour Limerick

16h00 Visite du parc folklorique de Bunratty Castle. Nous y verrons une reconstitution d'un
village typique irlandais du 19e siècle, avec sa rue villageoise, son école, son pub, ses
boutiques....

17h30 Route pour Galway

19h15 Accueil par notre correspondant local et les familles. Dîner et nuit en famille à Galway.

Samedi 01 avril 2006

Petit déjeuner en famille.
08h00 Rassemblement au lieu de rendez-vous. Départ pour une journée d'excursion dans le
Connemara.

Petit arrêt à Clifden, la capitale du Connemara.

10h00 Visite libre de l’Abbaye de Kylemore – Connemara :
- une présentation audio-visuelle
- accès au centre des visiteurs
- visite de l’église gothique
- visite des jardins surprenants

Déjeuner pique-nique au bord du lac de Kylemore.

14h30 Visite du Leenane Cultural Centre - Co.Galway.
Puis retour sur Galway par la route intérieure: Maam Cross et Oughtenard sur les
bords du Lac Corrib.
18h30 Retour dans les familles

Dimanche 02 avril 2006

08h00 Rassemblement au lieu de rendez-vous, et départ pour une journée d'excursion à
Inishmore

10h30 Départ du ferry pour l'île d'Inishmore, la plus grande des 3 Îles d'Aran. Durée de la
traversée environ 35 minutes

11h05 Arrivée sur place.

Visite du Aran Heritage Centre
Puis promenade sur l'Ile d'Inishmore : le village de Dun Aenugus, le Tempall
Breachain (les sept églises). Vestiges d'une cité monastique, Tempall Breanchain,
est un des plus beaux lieux de culte du monde.

17h00 Départ du ferry pour Rossaveal.

Lundi 03 avril 2006

08h30 Rassemblement au lieu de rendez-vous, et en route pour une journée d'excursion
dans « the Burren ».
Découverte du site des falaises de Moher et vue panoramique depuis la Tour
O'Brien. Visite du centre des visiteurs qui fournit de nombreuses informations sur la
faune et la flore de la région.

Déjeuner pique-nique, puis route pour Ballyvaughan

14h30 Visite guidée des grottes d'Ailwee, visite guidée en anglais

Puis quartier libre à Galway

Mardi 04 avril 2006

08h00 Rassemblement au lieu de rendez-vous.
Route pour Rosslare
Arrêt en route pour un déjeuner pique-nique

14h30 Présentation au terminal car ferry
Dîner libre à votre charge à bord du ferry. Traversée de nuit en cabines couchettes

Mercredi 05 avril 2006

Petit déjeuner et déjeuner libres
11h30 (environ) Arrivée à Cherbourg
Formalités de débarquement (compter 30 minutes)

12h00 Route pour l’établissement

Retour à l’établissement vers 17h00