GapBreak France 2011 come to an end

At the moment I am waiting to board the plane at the Charles de Gaulle airport which will take me to Kuala Lumpur where I have a 12 hour wait until I finally fly from Kuala Lumpur to Adelaide. Oh well, plenty of time to reflect on the fantastic overseas adventures that the five of us shared. It goes without saying, I am extremely sad to leave my French family and the beautiful Brittany that has been home for the past 3 months.

Today I felt a great amount of sadness saying my final goodbyes to my lovely Bretagne host family. It is safe to say on behalf of Rebecca, Samuel, Anna and Andrew that we had an absolutely incredible three months in France. We will miss the people, the architecture, French food and yep the entire experience! The experiences we shared with our host families and our new friends will be remembered for many years. It is remarkable to think that just three months ago, we were all extremely nervous about being sent to an unknown family in a foreign country with a completely different language. Looking back now we had the time of our lives. It was not always easy. Some of the foods took a little bit of getting used to, the language barrier could be frustrating and let’s be honest not knowing our way around at the beginning was a little nerve-racking. We wouldn’t change those things for anything! We overcome all barriers and grew more open to trying new things and being independent.

Watching the children that we were tutoring progress with English was extremely rewarding. At first most of them were too shy to talk to us but as the days and weeks progressed, some of them could even have a flowing conversation in English! It was so cool to watch! I was lucky to enough to have two host families and I was able to keep going back to visit my first family, it was so nice that my little host sister remembered all of what I taught her such as the names and spelling of Australian animals. With both families, tutoring was fun! Activities included cooking and eating in English, arts and crafts such as Aboriginal dot painting, board and video games and if the kids were older having a conversation and helping with homework.

The Antipodeans placement has come to an end but the Gapper’s overseas adventures are not over! Andrew is spending another weekend in the city of lights visiting night clubs and eating quality French food. He is also heading to Rome and London to visit friends and family! Rebecca and Samuel are exploring London and a little bit of Eastern Europe and then returning home just before Christmas! Anna’s European adventures are not even close to finishing, the lucky thing! She is meeting her mum this weekend in Paris and will be spending the week soaking up some France and London culture. Anna will enjoy the rich European lifestyle until the end of March 2012! Her itinerary includes England, Belgium, Sweden, Germany and Amsterdam.

So yes, having a GapBreak in France was such a great idea, I know I can speak for the entire group when saying this too.