The Hallifordian - 2016-2017

18 On Tuesday 11th October, 15 Halliford boys left for the French Exchange. We had been waiting for this day for weeks ever since we excitedly hand- ed in the sheets to Mr Gruner’s desk. We were all so excited to find out who was going since there were only 15 places available. Everyone was so pleased when they knew that they were going. So on Tues- day we took the minibus to Gatwick where we met up with the Notre Dame girls. Before our flight we went through security and then looked around the shops for something to eat. After that we boarded the plane and took our seats. The flight was about an hour and a half long. We had a great time on the plane since our seats were completely mixed up and some of the boys aren’t great flyers. Once we landed, we got our bags and made our way to the coach which was to take us to to our partner school in Bayonne, the Collège Marracq . It took us two hours to get there by coach and when we finally arrived we were greeted by our exchange partners and their parents. I think it was rather scary for all of us, meeting new people that we had never met before and going to live with them for a week. But once we met them and the families made us feel welcome, we were much more relaxed. I met up with my exchange partner Malo, and we went off to his house. All the Halliford boys were scattered around Bayonne: some could walk to school, some drove, some took the bus etc. Luckily my partner walked to school and was only five min- utes away. When I got to his house I was shown to my room and told to leave my things there and we went and played football in his garden. After that, we went back for tea and that was when I met all of Halliford French Exchange 2016 During the Autumn Term Halliford’s second French Exchange took place with a group of 15 boys from years 9 and 10 who spent a week at our partner school Collège Marracq in Bayonne. Bayonne is beautifully situ- ated in the heart of the French Basque Country in the south of France, close to the Atlantic Ocean and the Pyrenees. Here is our Year 9 student Elliot Howard’s (Year 9) account of the trip: