Summary of the trip1

TRIP TO SOUTH AFRICA
On Thursday, October 11th 2007 the trip to South Africa started. The meeting was at 4:45
am at the Airport. Everybody was on time, and when everybody was there Mrs Hoarau
checked the passports and gave out the flight tickets to go through the check-in counters and
the customs.
We took the plane to Mauritius. We stayed one hour in Mauritius. At 8:30 the boarding of
the plane to Cape Town started. We took off at about 10:00. The trip was very boring we
had no music for four hours. We arrived in Cape Town at 13:00 local time .
Then we went through the customs, we took our luggage and we went to the exit to take a
bus which dropped us at the Sea Point Library where our host families were waiting for us.
School
Even if we were in South Africa we still had class in the morning! Lessons were from 9am to
12am for us.
Both schools were situated in big buildings in the city center. In one of them the first person
we saw was Bianca, an amazing girl, so nice and welcoming! Then there was a room with
computers and internet. On the first day, we took a test to know about our standard in
English. During the break, we could enjoy time with the other students. It was interesting
for us because we met people from different countries. One of our teachers was Anthony .
He was so funny and we learned a lot of things! So thanks a lot to him! In the other school
there were Sadie and Veronica. When we finished school there, they gave us a certificate.
En Afrique du Sud, nous avions cours le matin de 9h à 12h. Les deux écoles se trouvaient
au centre ville. Dans l’une d’elles La première personne que nous voyions le matin était
Bianca, une fille extraordinaire. Il y avait un pièce avec des ordinateurs et internet. Le
premier jour nous avons fait un test pour mettre en place des groupes de niveau. A la
récréation nous pouvions rencontrer d’autres étudiants. C’était intéressant de pouvoir
discuter avec des gens d’autres pays. Notre professeur s’appelait Anthony, il était très
amusant et avec lui nous avons appris beaucoup de choses. Dans l’autre école il y avait
Sadie et Véronica A la fin, nous avons reçu un certificat.
Cape Peninsula
On Saturday October 13th, both groups (tennis and surf) went to the Cape Peninsula, the
most famous mountain chain in South Africa, where tourists come to see seals, penguins,
ostriches.
We were so happy to be together again!
After half an hour on a bus, we got onto a boat called “Circle Launches” for the “seal
island cruise”.
Then, we saw penguins, living in a park at Boulders: it looks like a real paradise. They
were so cute!
At lunch time, we went to the Ostrich farm, of course to eat: Ostrich. Some of us found it
delicious, but others didn’t.
At the beginning of the afternoon, we walked to the top of the mountain where we could
admire the view of the Cape Point: What beautiful landscapes!!!
We finished our day with this little tiring walk!
Le Samedi 13 Octobre les deux groupes sont allés visiter la Péninsule du Cape, la plus
célèbre chaine de montagnes d’Afrique du Sud qui attire beaucoup de touristes intéressés
par les phoques , les pingouins et les autruches.
Nous étions si contents d’être ensemble !
Après une demi- heure de bus nous avons pris un bateau pour aller à « L’île aux phoques ».
Ensuite nous avons vu des pingouins qui vivaient dans un parc marin, un véritable paradis.
Ils étaient si mignons.
A l’heure du déjeuner nous sommes allés visiter une ferme d’autruches où nous avons
mangé de l’autruche. Certains ont aimé d’autres pas.
L’après midi nous sommes allés nous promener à la pointe du Cape
Table Mountain, a wonderful site!
Our outing there was very interesting. Table Mountain is the highest mountain in Cape
Town and its structure permitted us to have a very good moment while we were visiting it.
On arriving, we had to take a cable car: a little cabin which took us to the top of the
mountain. It was very surprising and frightening.
This site is very famous because of its landscapes and its wonderful views of different
neighbourhoods of Cape Town such as Green Point, Sea Point…
And the most interesting was the view on Robben Island, an Island with a lot of history.
What a pity, we couldn’t visit this little part of South Africa.
Notre sortie a été très intéressante. « Table Mountain » est la plus haute montagne du Cape
et nous y avons passé un très bon moment. A notre arrivée nous avons pris le téléphérique
qui nous a amené au sommet. C’était assez impressionnant. Ce site est célèbre pour ses
paysages et la vue splendide que l’on a du sommet sur le Cape et ses environs : la plus
intéressante étant celle que l’on a de Robben Island, une île chargée d’Histoire. Dommage
que nous n’ayons pu y aller !
The Library
The library was closed but we were privileged, Mr Loise called the director and she arrived
to show us around the library and help us find a subject for the BAC.
So, we looked for some books, took their author’s name, publication date … to have more
information the day of our exam.
The library was very big; there were a lot of old manuscripts and very old computers to look
for books. We didn’t have enough time to have a look at all the documents.
It was so big that you could get lost in it.
Museum
Before the opening of the museum of South Africa, we went for a walk into a beautiful and
green park with a lot of birds (pigeons and sea gulls).Then we went to the museum and we
visited all the interesting floors and the planetarium.
We saw the skeleton of a huge whale. There were a lot of representations of prehistoric
animals; it was very interesting to look at all those different sorts of animals.
Our host family
For ten days, we were welcomed by the best family in the world, Gaynor,Len, Keith and Ian.
We lived in a loft with twelve bedrooms on Winstonia Street in Sea Point. In the house, there
were six bathrooms for the girls and six others for the boys. We had a big living room in
common. This loft was actually a guest house, that’s why there were other foreign students,
who came from all over the world. For instance, Mario who was a very nice boy from
Switzerland, or Martial a geologist from Angola. But at the end of the too short stay, we
were very disappointed and sad to leave them. The meals were generally served at precise
times : breakfast at 7 o’clock and dinner at 6 o‘clock. And three or four domestics were
there every day to please us, to serve the meals or to clean the bedrooms. We were really
considered as privileged !
At night , we watched TV with the other students, generally the rugby matches .
TENNIS
AT GREEN POINT
The tennis was the best moment compared to the other sports. Indeed, with Kenny, an
Australian tennis player, it was wonderful…!
He had a very strange accent but we understood him.
So, with the others we shared a fantastic moment, for example, learn English while playing
tennis.
GOLF
We went to play golf with our team, and the lesson was given by Jonathan, like the famous
player Tiger Woods!
He played very well compared to us…! But, it was a very good experience in spite of the
wind, we enjoyed that day a lot…
SWIMMING POOL
After school, we went to the “Turkish Bath”, in order to get a lesson with an instructor.
SHOPPING
This photo represents Century City Centre in Cape Town, a very big department store where
we could buy what we wanted…
There were more than 50 stores…
So, a very good moment for all of us, above all for the girls!!
We went to the shopping center two afternoons.
It was so fantastic, and very exciting!
DEPARTURE
On Friday 19th October 2007 we left Sea Point at 11:30 and some people were very sad. At
the airport we checked –in and then we went to the boarding hall. We all ate at the
restaurant before the flight, and at the 14:30 the plane took off and we said good bye to
Cape Town. The trip was good everybody slept because they were tired. We landed at
Mauritius at 21:30 (local time). We went to the exit . A bus arrived to pick up us, it was 23h.
The girls and boys were separated . The night was long. Most of us went to bed at 3:00 am.
The next day it was very difficult to get up. At 8:30 we had to go to the girls’ hotel to have
breakfast. After breakfast we went to the beach until 11:00. And we ate sandwiches and at
midday we went to the airport, we waited for one hour, and we took the plane at 14:15. The
trip was good. Finally we arrived in Reunion at 15:00, everybody was very happy to see
their parents.