Last sun soaked days in France

Sarah Smith and Sarah Wray on the beautiful beach before the Mediterranean Se

Right now I’m sitting on the plane that will take me from Paris to Kuala Lumpur, then from Kuala Lumpur to Sydney, and finally from Sydney to my home town Townsville. Our placements in France have come to an end, with twelve weeks of sunny French living behind us. And with a respective thirteen, then eight, then three hours of flight ahead of me, I have plenty of time to reflect on how wonderful our final two weeks in France were.

The group of us kicked off our final fortnight by making the lengthy train journey through Nimes and past the cities of Montpellier, Narbonne and Perpignan to the tiny coastal town of Argelès-sur-Mer, which lies just thirty kilometres from the Spanish border. Here we would see the likes of Arcade Fire, Two Door Cinema Club, Foals and a number of other alternative rock bands play in a little known music festival being hosted by the cheery village. The most part of the sunny day and a half leading up to the festival was spent lying at the beach in front of the beautiful blue Mediterranean Sea, whilst at night we camped out in two hurriedly bought tents which barely housed the six of us.

Perhaps we had collectedly put it past the French to stage a three-day music festival with the backdrop of an ancient chateau amidst a widespread vineyard, though this was exactly what we found. On the night of the concert we all had a wildly energetic and wonderful time, though the low point amidst the many highs of our coastal trip came when the festival was concluded not only by Arcade Fire, but also heavy downfall and thunderstorms. To add to our now miserable cases, we had left most of our towels and dry clothes hung outside, and by the time we had run back to the campsite in the torrential downpour it was difficult to decide if our belongings or us were more drenched. Needless to say, that night was spent a) sleeplessly and b) wondering if our tiny tent was doing anything at all to keep the rain out.

The next day allowed me little time to catch up on sleep however; back in my (thankfully) sunny town, the much-awaited village fete had begun. The following five days entailed about as many bull runnings, French breakfasts with the entire village (sausage, steak and red wine at eight in the morning!?), and communal parties as humanly possible, and concluded with my own participation in an Abrivado, a local sport which sees bands of white horses running through the main streets of villages, tailed by both furious bulls and people daring enough to try and catch them.

potentially life ending Abrivados during the village fete.

After having spent the last five nights enjoying the festivities of Générac with just about every friend and family member of my host family’s, however, there came the sobering moment when it was time to say goodbye to the people who had housed and fed me for the past three months. They had shared both their rich culture and language with me, as, on a lesser scale, I had them, and it was with saddened goodbyes that I boarded the express train to Paris, where (with solace) I would spend my last week abroad.

When I got off the train the balmy, sunny weather of the South of France had evaporated and was replaced sixteen degree winds and light downpour despite the fact that we were in the middle of summer. The bout of depressing weather did little to extinguish the life of the vibrant city, however; having met up with Sarah Wray, we visited the Louvre, La Musée d’Orsay, ate dinner on the banks of the Seine, went to the cabaret and were stunned by the Champs-Elysees and its cornerstone L’Arc de Triomph, around which a plethora of cars and trucks endlessly swerve and beep at one another. On our final night in Paris we met up with Will, who had opted to spend the weekend in the city, and made the lengthy climb (by stair, not lift) to the top of the Eiffel Tower. Here, at night, the entire city, with the Seine, the Montparnasse Tower, the Sacré Coeur, and L’Arc de Triomph were glimmering beneath us.

Sarah Wray, Will and I in front of Paris's famous Notre Dame.

 

It was reluctantly that the next morning I rose early and boarded the plane that I’m sitting on now. Our journeys in France have come to an end, and we are grateful for the many people we’ve met, experiences we’ve had, and opportunities we’ve been given. Each of us set out to live with an unknown family in a foreign country, most of whom spoke little English. It was by no means easy, though I feel we all did very well. And in fifty years we may look back on our experience and still feel the same way.

The lourve!

As for what’s next for the GapBreak French team, Sarah Wray and I are both heading back to Australia to be with our families and friends. Sarah Smith has already embarked on a two week Contiki tour around Europe, seeing the highlights of London, Germany and Italy, whilst Ellen heads to Amsterdam to enjoy more of the vibrant European culture. Henry, Will and Maddie are all heading to the United Kingdom where they will spend the next few weeks, or even months, before reluctantly returning to Australia. Perhaps in a few years or so we will all meet up again (perhaps not in Montpellier, Avignon or Nimes, but Sydney, Perth or Melbourne) and look back on the amazing experiences that we’ve all shared.

ThanksJesse.