On Tuesday 6th July, the jazz ensemble, guitar ensemble and choir went to France and Belgium for two days. After our fantastic performance at the Summer Soiree, we went to perform our music to people from other countries. We had to wear our school uniform all day so that they would know where we were from.
The coach trip was long. It took us probably two hours to get to Folkestone. During the trip nearly every student thought we were going to travel by ferry, but as we got to Folkestone we knew we were wrong. It was not a ferry we had to get to go to Calais, but Eurotunnel. This train is no ordinary train; it is built for coaches, trucks and cars only. The journey between Folkestone and Calais was not that long.
As soon as we arrived at our destination, Parc Richelieu in Calais, everyone was excited to perform their music. As the performance went on, the crowd grew bigger and bigger. Coming to the end of the performance, there were a lot of people and when we finished, we were praised by nearly everyone for performing quality music. Two French journalists came to Ms Baumann and asked her about the performance. Now we are published in French newspapers.After a fantastic and exhausting performance, we went straight to our accommodation in the town of Albert. Within thirty minutes of our arrival we went out for dinner and then bowling. It was a really long walk but was worth it.
The second day was the best out of the two. On that day we went to Brussels (Belgium). The trip was about two hours long and some people slept on the coach. We went straight to the Atomium which is a science museum structured as an atom. It was fun. No one was bothered about the facts as we just wanted to have fun.
After the museum visit, we went straight to the residential home to perform. It was another successful performance! This was a great experience to be part of because we got to meet and greet elderly people in French. After the end of this performance, we visited the Grand Place (an area famous for waffles and chocolates). Everyone was stuffed with waffles and some people bought chocolates. These were expensive to buy, but worth it. All students were given 45 minutes to access all areas of the Grand Place. After this visit, we had a games night at our accommodation where we played pool, table football and could access computers.
Everyone was upset to return to London because we had had a wonderful and memorable experience. We wished the trip was longer, but we packed in as much fun as we could in the two days. For this fun we thank Ms Baumann, Ms Yangopoulos, Mr Keefe (drum teacher) and Mr Hendry (guitar teacher).
Raviendran Pradeepan and Adam Hewins (Year 11)
