Carnet de voyage

Linguistic Travel in Australia

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There is my personal travel book to tell you my wonderfull experience of immersive english talking and the discovering of a new culture and new habitudes, See you soon in France, Paul
Du 19 avril au 19 juin 2018
62 jours
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I was waiting this moment for a while, and it's now reality, I'm leaving my family for two months, I think I don't actually realise the experience I will live...

I left mom and Faustine at the airport, I've a strange feeling, I'm neither sad neither freaky, I'm alone in this big croud...

I'm now in London I've three hours before taking the big plane, lights of british sunset are beautiful, I enjoy the stopover to take a sandwich at "Pret à manger" a relly good fast food with tasty french baguette.

12 hours later, I'm in Singapore, I've 1h45 of stopover, the first flight was fine even if a bit long, I had enough time to chill and sleep, finishing the amazing book "L'ombre du vent" and watching a really good film, an awarded one :"3 Bilboard",

My "Travelmates" are really kind, the woman helped me to fill my immigration card,

I'm now arrived in Sydney, it's 5.15 am, last flights hours were unsupportable, I just wanted to land as soon as possible cause 23 flights hours are a bit too long.


Saturday, 21th of April

Today was a long long day,

When I arrived Will showed me his house, It's so huge, my room is bigger than mine in France and I've a king size bed,

Then we went to a mall to shop food for the week, and as I was there Steven bought a baguette and some French cheese like Comté, Camembert or even Brie, It was so weird to see a baguette at 4$!

We came back home and then took the car to Patonga to see Sarah's brothers, they were really kind with me and we talked a lot, their wifes were really kind too.

Wills cousins are younger but we played a lot with Henry the oldest one, we was really cute, and he made me think to Aldo my little cousin.

Patonga is a really beautiful beach with “Indonesian” vegetation and a really different climate, It was sunny there and we ate many shrimps and others seafoods at lunch, it was really tasty.

As usual in Australia sunset was around 6.00 pm, For the first time of my life, I saw a red sun making a beautiful light,

When we came back home, I was falling asleep because of my long day, I slept really early tgus night.

It was a great first day of stay,



Patonga Beach

Sunday, 22nd of April,

When I woke up I felt really good thanks to my long night,it was ten when I woke up, I played Fifa against Will and I won some games,

Then Sarah's Uncle and Aunt went for lunch and Katie's boyfriend : Jack who is so cool, we had some discussion about France and they said to me that they had a cliché about french: french are always complaining. I said they were right;)

After lunch we swam in the pool tgey said it was cold but it was even 22°C!

Then we played with Will, Jack and Katie at Australian Trivial pursuit, I understood a lot of questions but couldn’t answer a lot, it was funny because the piece where they put their points is called pie and they laughed a lot when I told them that in France we call it a Camembert.

Then tonight we watched an Australian soccer game, and it was funny to see such a bad level of soccer even if someone scored with a Bicycle!

It was a great “Chill and relax” day...

Monday, 23rd of April,

Today Amelia, Will's girlfriend went home, she was really nice with me.

We played a lot of card games as Uno and I learned them how to play Kawana, they loved it!

Then we went to a mall and they showed me some differents stores as a sport one like Decathlon, but I was really disappointed because there wasn’t Salomon sold,

I aslo visited a High-tech shop and I saw my drone sold, I wasn't expecting that!

Then came back home and watched “The maze runner” (Le labyrinthe) in English without subtitles and I understood most of the time even if I cheated a bit cause I read these books 3 or 4 years ago.


Going out from railway station

Tuesday, 24th of April,

Today I visited Sydney,

We took a train with Will to Sydney City center, a really confortable train and not on strike:)

Arrived, we walked around the Opera house and Harbour Bridge and then took a boat to Manly a beautiful beach facing the ocean, We ate sushis for lunch, I was really happy because in France we never eat it cause dad an mom don't like it whereas I'm keen of sushi. For dessert we ate an ice cream tastier than I expected maybe as good as Italian ones.

Then we came back home and chilled because we walked a lot and were a bit tired,

Tonight it was Katie's 20th birthday, and Jack came he is definitely really cool.



Wednesday, 25th of April,

Today is a “public holidays” day in Australia because it's one the two national days in Australia,

Steven and Sarah didn't work today, so we went discovering some different place of Australia : a beautiful river Harbour and a big beach with many surfers.

The weather was stormy but it didn’t rain, lights were beautiful and the ambiance was stunning, We took a really good hot chocolate before leaving.

I loved all those Australian landscapes wich were so differents from french ones!


Thursday, 26th of April,

Today we visited Sydney deaper than on tuesady,

First we joined Steven at his job to eat an excellent fish and chip with one of his collegue, she is Chinese. Will explained to me that each Australian company must have a Chinese in their team to tell them Asian wishes, because Asia is the biggest “customer” of Australia.

Then we went walking around some famous places in Sydney : First we walked in a beautiful park with a beautiful view on Harbour bridge then went to the Sydney’s observatory, then a famous Sydney suburb, the oldest one, and then arrived to the Opera house wich is one of the most beautiful building of the world!

I heard some French speaking, and I was really happy to understand some of my language!

Sydney is definetly a beautiful city.

Friday, 27th of April,

Even if we are in holidays, visiting and walking is tiring, today we were abit tired with Will.

We stayed at home with Sarah doesn’t work on Friday, we went to play football in a beautiful parc before lunch, in the parc there was a little “flying fox” it’s the way of Australians to call a Tyrolienne ( a flying fox is a kind of a big bat who you can see it only in Australia).

After lunch we swam in the pool, it was nice.

I read a lot my current favourite writer : Carlos Ruiz Zafon.

Nothing special today, but really nice, great day off.

Saturday, 28th of April,

Today we get off really late, we had breakfast and then I read again, after lunch we went to the same park as yesterday and booked a tennis court, I was really happy to play tennis again.

When I came back home I phoned my family, apparently they are good. It was funny to see that it was sunset here and sunrise in France….

It’s been a week I am in Australia, it’s hard to think about that, because this week spent so fast! Sarah and Steven are so nice that I find them like my parents,

Sometimes it’s funny because I find me thinking both in French and English, a kind of Franglais thinking!

Sunday, 29th of April,

Today Family went home, the same as my first day, as I wasn’t tired anymore I could enjoy them more than on Saturday.

We talked about cars with Dom’ (Sarah’s brother) and his son Henry who has the same age of Faustine.

Will’s Aunt found the book of Annecy in the Lounge, and I explained them every places, they said that it was a gorgeous place and when they come back in Europa, they will visit it.

We talked about France, differences between those two country, different school systems and the importance of the learning of English or even a foreign language. They where really impressed of the compulsory of learning at least two foreing languages.

I love this family, and it was a wonderful Sunday.

Monday, 30th of April,

Today we did nothing, Will worked a lot, so I read all day long, around 150 pages,

Tomorrow I have my first day of school!

Tuesday, 1st of May,

Today is my first day of school,

I get up at 6.30 am and took a bus of 40 minutes. When I arrived, every students were dressed with the same uniform.

My school is a military one, it’s called King’s school, and students are Kingsman, Kings school has been created in 1831 by the English king to form students of military duty.

Then we put ourself in lines and did some military salutes.

After this exercice, we went to an auditorium bigger than Annecy’s one and we had Assembly, some teacher did speech of philosophy, ethics, remember and congratulated some teachers who had some diplomas for holidays.

After Assembly, I went searching my school uniform wich is beautiful.

Then I made my school timetable and chose Economics, Business study and German in more wich substitute Will’s subjects wich were boring or even too hard for me.

I had three lessons today: chemistry, biology and ethics, I understood most of the time even if chemistry exercises were too hard.

After school we had football and I played in defense. I saw how huge King’s was, It’s a village! They have 7 football pitches and 30 rugby one.

It’s Insane!

We finished football at 5.45 pm and then took the bus to come back. I was tired due to both football and school in English.

It was a wonderful first day of school really different of French system….

Wednesday, 2nd of May,

Today was my first normal day of school, I had a different timetable than Will, because I chose mine.

I started the day with math with Will but I understood nothing because he was working about the equivalent of terminal program.

Then I had Economics with a wonderful teacher. The topic was about supply and demand. I enjoyed myself in this lesson.

We had break. During the break we are in our Houses, mine is called Dalmas, I love a house’s atmosphere, it mix every ages and it’s a kind of Family. In the house we can play tennis table, pool table or even talking with others students and listening music.

After the recess I had German, the teacher is really nice and she teachs really well, I found the lesson hard because they are better then me, but I think it’s a good way to improve.

Then I had business studies, I think it was my favourite lesson with economics, the teacher, was great and he asked us to go to Apple’s website and find some reasons why it work such well. We studied Apple economic and shops strategy. It was very interesting.

Then we had Lunch, It was really bad as Will prevented me.

After lunch we had English wich is really boring for me and Australian students too.

And for the last lesson we had French, I wasn’t the only French: Oscar, he was born in Paris lived there 4 years and then moved with his family to London, Singapore where his parents and his siblings live, he is a border and come back to Singapore only on holidays.

I Talked to him in French for the first I’m in Australia, I think he was happy too to speak in French even if he is bilingual cause he’s been at Kings for a year and a half.

Then we came back home and did our homework!

Great day, Today!

Thursday, 3rd of May,

Today I had two hours of French, for first and I worked with Oscar to make an oral comprehension. He is such a really nice boy.

After break I had German, it’s really weird to learn a foreign language in a foreign language even if now English is easier and I consider it as my second language.

Then we had English, Economics, which is still so interesting. And then Maths but I didn’t understand anything.

Then we had football train, We trained to be ready for Saturday’s match, because on Saturday morning, we have game against another school, I’ve selected in the 5th team of the school, I can’t wait to be on Saturday.

Good day!

Friday, 4th of May,

Today was the end of my first week of school,

I had boring subjects in the morning and then I had Business studies and Economics, I love those subjects.

At 3.30 pm when the bell rang, Many speakers in all the school played music, it was really nice to enter in Weekend. The atmosphere was really nice.

When we came back home, I read for two hours to finish my book of 600 pages that I read in 6 days!

I am really happy to be in Weekend.

Saturday, 5th of may,

In Australia, Saturday is known as the Sport day, Most of the schools play games against other ones.

Today King’s played against St joseph in many sports (Football, Rugby….) There are about 30 teams of football and maybe the same number of rugby teams.

I played with the fourth team at 10 am and we won 7-0 and I did score one goal and did an assist, our coaches were really happy of us, and I enjoyed playing with them. Then I waited a few hours before seeing Will playing in the first team as a goal keeper. They won 3-0!

Then they had lunch after the game, I enjoyed the moment to watch the first team of rugby playing, it was an insane game, but they have been really unlucky, they lost in the last seconds with a drop 24-22.

Then we left king’s and before coming back home we went to Angela’s parents home (Angela is Sarah’s brother wife), her parents were lovely, they are Greek, and speak with a strong Greek accent, sometimes it was hard to understand them.

We came back home at 5.30 pm and as Emily and Toby organised a diner with friends, we went to a “Curry” restaurant and I ate their speciality: The Butter Chicken, an amazing chicken with curry that we eat with rice. I loved this restaurant.

Then we watched an insane movie “The Saint”.

I wear King's Shirt and and Will his special uniform considered as an award 

Sunday, 6th of May,

Today we visited the reptile parc with many Australian animals,

First we watched a show with big snakes, alligators, big lezard and others reptiles. We watched some crocodiles chilling, and many koalas sleeping, a giant turtle…

I saw a rare animal that you can see only in Tasmania, the Tasmanian Devil. He was really funny but a bit aggressive.

At lunch time Kangaroos were free walking and sometimes tried to play with us or even tried to steal our meal.

After lunch we went to see a giant crocodile feeding. I was impressed by the power of the crocodile!

Then I had the opportunity to caress a Koala, he was really cute.Then we came back home and I did my homework.

Sunday, 13th of May and 3rd Week,

This week I had a normal week of school, I start to know most of Will’s friends and become more autonomous.

Everything is going well, teachers are really nice with me in particular economics one, this week we spoke about wages, work and unemployment rate: We compared Australian one and French one (5.5% in Australia and 8.9% in France!).

I had others lessons really interesting this week, Business study is really interesting, we learned how worked a company and what are the legal things to do first when you create a start up.

I had 5 hours of German this week, I think that moreover than improve my English I will improve my German!

At the end of the week, I was really tired due to long days and speaking English all day long . I was really happy to be in Week-end.

I did nothing in particular this Week-end, I continued reading and I think that I will have finished my 7 books in less than two weeks, then I’ll read Will’s books in English (Harry Potter, Agatha Christie…)

Today it was mother’s day and all the family was here. Mother’s day is I think a bit more important in Australia than in France.

Now I feel muchh better and ready for another week!

The center place of King's where I have all my classrooms 

4th Week,

Last week I was really tired due to long days and English speaking all day long. Now it’s getting much better, it’s less tiring and easier to understand.

I saw my improvement when on Monday I had biblical study which I have once every two weeks.

Two weeks ago I had it for the first day of school, the teacher spoke really fast and with a strong accent, I didn’t understand at all what he said but on Monday I understood most of the time, and I’m only half way of my stay!

I had a normal week of school, I continued reading and finished “Brave new world” (Le meilleur des mondes).

I love the subjects I’m doing even if this week in economics and business studies we didn’t do a lot of things because they revised their next exam.

This saturday I played football at 8.00 am against one of the best team of the league, they were much older, stronger and taller, therefore we lost 9-1, but anyway I had fun and I loved to play with Will’s mates who are really nice with me. The coach is really nice and in the team I have now the nickname of “Frenchie”.

Will’s team lost 4-0 but apparently next week the team we’ll play against will be easier to beat.

On Saturday night we watched an amazing film that I hardly reccomand “The greatest showman”, The main actor is Hugh Jackman, a famous Australian actor who studied in Knox Grammar school, a school wich is only 100 meter away from our home and where Will used to study.

On Sunday we had Football seasons launch event, 1st and 2nd team players received their special king’s shirt different than mine to show that they are in the best teams. It was special and interesting, I explained to Sarah that we don’t have this habit to award every time in France.

This week-end was the “anniversary” of my first month in Australia.

5th Week,

I had a really good week and some special things happened!

On Monday, I had nothing special, in the afternoon, Will had a little parade but I didn’t have to do it.

Then on Tuesday, I had a normal day of school with at the end, as usual my Football training (not soccer!).

On Wednesday, we had our weekly assembly, every week, some students have a nomination for a good behaviour, or a good deed. This week I’ve been nominated because I went to the self twice a day: once to eat with Will and his friends and a second time to eat with Aryian who arrived a bit later and was going to eat alone.

On Wednesday lunch, Language department organised for year 7 some activities to introduce them to the language they chose to start to learn (Year 7 seven is the only grade where learning a foreign language is compulsory.

I helped the French teacher to look after year 7 (cinquièmes) and organise French games like “La Pétanque”.

Then an animator introduced them to French music, we sang “Aux champs elysées”, Gainsbourg, Danielle Darieux… But he had the worst idea to sing “Allez les verts” and said that St Etienne was actually the most popular French football club, I was really shocked!

On Thursday morning we had Chapel as usual, but we went not as usual in the old King’s Church. It was a gorgeous ceremony and the place was lovely.

Then we had a normal end of week.

On Saturday, I played football as usual at 8 am. The pitch had an amazing view to the harbour and lights were amazing. It was a tight game but we finally won 1-0. Will played some hours later but lost sadly 1-0.

We went then to Dom’s and Beckie’s house in the middle of Sydney, we had a great time. We ate thai food and I loved it.

On Sunday we had such a quiet day and I needed it, and for the evening we went to center Sydney to take a boat rented by King’s music department. The main band played all “the cruise”

long. The meal was really nice and I loved the atmosphere. All Sydney was illuminated for the Vivid festival.

It was an amazing night!

6th and 7th Week,

In had two busy weeks, that’s why I summarise my two last weeks together.

Nothing in particular happened those last two weeks, I went to school as usual and continue to speak English all day long. I saw my improvement but as expected I’m still not bilingual;)

Last Tuesday Will and some of his classmates perfomed a recital. Some sang, two others played violin written by a French composer: Camille Saint Säens. Will played really well and received the best mark, one of his classmate played marimba an aboriginal instrument which I loved.

At the end of the recital, I spoke for 20 minutes with the French pianist who accompanied them: He used to live in Paris for 22 years and then moved to England for his studies, he met there an Australian girl and got married with she. He lives in Australia for fifteen years.

He was happy to speak in French with me and me as well.

I finished the week hardly because I’m getting tireder because of the long term, And we don’t have either many quiet days.

On Saturday I played football as usual in the second biggest Big cities park after Central park.

It was really windy and a bit cold for French (It was freezing from Australian point of view)

I played later and it allowed me to sleep in.

We lost 3-1 against arrogant and cheaters players and the referee was even worst. But it doesn’t matter we had fun and I still enjoy playing with King’s!

On Tuesday King’s organised an amazing cross country of 4.5 kilometers long. I tried as much I could and I came 22nd out of about 230 people. I was happy of my score!

We finished our week of 4 days because of my first public holidays of my stay: I enjoy a 4 days long Week-end.

On Friday I went shopping and bought somethings to bring back to France. Yesterday we went to Newcastle to visit Katie who lives there for studies. We went to a restaurant in front of the sea. I ate amazing calamari donuts.

At evening we went to eat to Amelia’s Dad house and then watched Australia against Ireland in Rugby.

It's hard to think that in exactly a week I'm gonna be on the plane!

It was a particular week,

I'm both happy to see my family again because I miss them and also sad because I will leave every thing I used to live for two months in paricular everyone I met, I wil keep in touch with them.

On tuesday I had my last football train. My mates brought some pizza. It was really nice from them. It was a really nice way to say good bye to all my team even if I was going to play my last game on saturday.

At Friday lunch, Most my House's Year 11 brought some pizza again.

I spent two amazing last days at King's, It was wonderful from them.

Saturday, I played my last game with King's I sayed to my team taht I would be grateful if I could score this game. And... I scored two goals out of 6.

It was an amazing way to finish my wonderful stay!

I arrived two months ago and it's as if I arrived yesterday, As we say "Time flies when you're having fun"And I had fun thanks to all of you who made my stay unforgettable!I just wanted to thank everyone for all your kindness, your welcome, your fun...I'd like to thank in particular my 4 months brother, Will, we lived amazing things together this year and I won't ever forget this amazing exchange experience!These last two months were just a dream for me, it changed my mind about many things that I had never thought aboug before, it was a really enriching experience.Now I go back in France with my mind changed and full of good memories and I don't know when I will come back to Australia, but I hope it will be as soon as possible and I will see you again,I will miss you,I will miss Australia,