Year 8 Trip to Paris

Thursday, 20th December 2007

One by one, the Year 8's were delivered to the Immanuel College gates in the early hours of Tuesday 11th December. The crowd of excited, chattering pupils grew until the group was complete and ready to leave.

The luxuriously appointed double-decker coach pulled out onto the main road and the journey began, ? we were more than ready but were les Parisiens?

Renowned for our patience, it was not until we reached the M1 that the familiar chant of ?Are we there yet?? could be heard up and down the coach. Sadly, we were not and would have to put up with another seven hours of travelling, enjoy a mobile Mincha and cross the Channel until we arrived at our first destination ? le Stade de France.

We were put into groups and had a tour of the stadium. We saw the pitch, the changing rooms, the showers, the practice room and, finally, the shop. The stadium was magnificent and very impressive. It had capacity for around 80,000 people and visiting it was a real privilege, although I think the boys enjoyed it more than the girls!

We arrived at our hotel at about 6pm. After dinner, the night time activity started - a quiz all about Paris. Although my team didn?t win, it was definitely a lot of fun.

On the Wednesday, we visited various famous sites in Paris, starting in the Jewish quarter where we had shwarma and chips, - even the teachers joined in!

We carried on walking around Paris and saw the Pompidou Centre and the Arc de Triomphe. After stopping at the Louvre, we reached the Eiffel Tower. This was the most incredible sight, as the whole of the Tower was lit up in bright, beautiful lights. We all took in the amazing scenery.

The last stop of the day was a wonderful boat trip, which gave us a chance to see all the places we had visited in the day from the River Seine. It was such a lovely experience and I would give anything in the world to do it again.

After dinner at the hotel, we watched the ?Da Vinci Code? ? how appropriate, particularly after seeing the Louvre. Some of the boys screamed at the scary bits but the girls reassured them that it was just a film!

We awoke on the Thursday morning with our hearts beating like drums. Today, we were going to Disneyland Paris and we were all so excited!

On arriving at the park, we headed off in groups of five. We enjoyed ourselves so much - we experienced every ride possible, starting with Thunder Mountain (about six times) and ending with Space Mountain (which came to an unexpected, sudden stop just as we were about to come out of the upside down section!)

When all the fun was over, we clambered back onto the coach, ate some pizza and started the journey home. Not many people slept on the way back to school as we were all still buzzing with happiness and excitement!

After a tiring coach journey we arrived at Immanuel College at about 3.00 am to meet our parents and go home.

The Year 8 Paris Trip was one that we will never forget; from the beautifully lit up Eiffel Tower to the rides at Disneyland, every single little thing was wonderful and I am sure that all of us would jump at the chance to go back again!

Our thanks to Mr Abrahams, Mr De Naeyer, Miss Shifrin, Mr Garman and Miss Hensman, for making this a truly memorable trip and ensuring that we all returned home safely (if exhausted!).

Hannah Harris 8CS