I have been away for a week, enjoying a mini Summer paradise in New Caledonia. A group of French students from my school as well as another school went to the island to practice speaking French (at least, thats what we told the general public...it was more of a holiday rather that an educational trip).
I had never been away from my family for possibly two-three nights maximum but I didn't feel nervous or worried at all. In fact, I didn't really feel anything, it didn't feel like I was about to go on holiday, let alone to another country (which I have never done before).
Daily rundown:
Day 1
5am start! Fly from Launceston to Melbourne. Melbourne to Sydney. Sydney to New Caledonia. Lots of travelling but not very tired. One of the best things about the day was that all the safety demonstations of the last flight were in French so I didn't have to here them again. I loved how the flight attendents all spoke French to us. When we first saw the city (Noumea, the capital of New Caledonia and where we were staying) one of the other studens pointed out that 'it looks like West-Ulverstone'. It did in a way but most parts were really pretty (apart from the fact that most buildings were that horrible peach colour). We had tea a really groovy place next to the hotel. The vegi burgar that I had was nice but had too much unidentifiable sauce in it!
Day 2
My first experience of the hot weather. Sticky and no air movement. Yuck. We had free time unil 12:30 so my room-mates and I went for a walk and looked around the street we were in. At 12:30 we went to Parc Foristier. Heaps of birds! Some really different ones and really beautiful ones too. There were owls that followed you with their eys where ever you went. I think they were my favourite as well as some white peacocks that were georgous. Bagette with salad for lunch. A ginormous apple and a bottle of water too. An afternoon swim in the massive pool then time to get ready for tea. Starters: Salad. Main: Rice, noodles, beans (which I didn't eat) and chips. Desert: Vanilla and chocolate ice-cream. The best speaking experiences of the day: Saying 'bon jour' (hello) when I ment 'au revoir' (good-bye). Told a local the time (in English, it took my long enough to work it out in my native language, let alone in French!). Buying an ice-cream in French (Toblorone flavour).
Day 3:
We had a French lesson on how to buy things from shops. We then all went for a walk to the various places that people wanted to buy things from. I bought an almond croissante from the bakery. It was so good but to big to finish! For lunch I bought a panini that had three different cheese in it. It was really long and sickening. I only managed to dowm about half of it. At 1:30 we went for a tour around Noumea in a petit train (little train). It was bright yellow and rather conspicuous. This was one of the best things we did because we got to see some amazing things and learn a bit of history about Noumea. Every person that we passed, I waved to. They always waved back and I even managed to get a few photos of them waving. One little boy blew kisses and tried to chase the train to catch up with it, but we turned off to soon! When we got back to the hotel, I went for a swim and we played a game where you have to push the others off an island type thing in the middle of the pool. It was here that I got my first battle scar. I was one of the last two people on the islad and then I fell off sideways, scraping the inside of my thigh. It was bleeding and was bigger than both my hands. the next day it had massive black bruises rigt around the injury. It still hurts today. I bought an ice-cream after my injury (chocolat noir). We had tea at the hotel: salad, pasta and strawberries with (what I believe to be) brandy cream tart. It was really yummy! There was show where the native people danced and sang. It was so amazing! A little boy threw a fire stick and did tricks with it.
Day 4
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