Welcomed by British host families, the pupils of Louise Michel College discovered the « British way of life ». Here are their testimonies and somme of the anecdotes which surprised them the most…

Strange, but Funny Cats

« Cats are strange animals, but British cats are really the strangest! », says Gaëlle. «  We were having dinner with our British host family when their cat came into the dining room and sat on the chair next to us. He stared at me and suddenly winked three times! It was really funny! »

The spying Cat

Everybody knows that cats can sleep anywhere! So when you find cat sleeping in the bathroom, you think « well, nothing special ». But when he watches you having your shower…, this is quite unusual ! « I was having a shower when I looked at the other end of the bathroom. I saw the cat, and it was looking at me! I felt like being spied in the shower, it was a weird experience! »

Singing in the shower…

« The woman who welcomed us in England went to the bathroom to have a shower one evening. Suddenly, we heard her singing, and she was singing opera songs! It was great, because she was singing  very well. »

Water fight in the English Family

« My friends and I were quietly having dinner with our English family when the man that welcomed us came into the dining-room and suddenly threw the jug of water on the table. I did the same : we had a water fight ! It was great fun, and it was really my best memory with this family ! »

What is this Green sauce?

When you say you go to England for a week, many French tell you « poor you, you are not going to have a decent meal! They will make you eat peas with mint sauce! » Indeed, Abel and Yann had a surprising dinner one evening : « The family served us pasta with mint sauce! We were very surprised, but, to be honest, it was quite good and we liked it! »

Misunderstanding

Understanding his British family was not too difficult for Thomas, but making himself understood was another story! « On the first morning, I asked for an orange juice for breakfast… When she gave me an orange, I thought this week was going to be a difficult experience! »

My tea was not so rich !

The British are famous in the world for drinking tea. But for Julie, Cassandre and Eva, tasting British tea wasn’t a good experience at all: «  it tasted like bleach! It was so bad we couldn’t drink it! But we didn’t dare tell them, so we poured it into the pot plants that were in the dining room instead! »

Most of us think the families who welcomed us were nice and friendly. Of course some were odd or behaved strangely. But, to be honnest, there was certainly nothing strange in their behaviour : we were not in France, we were in England and people live differently. We have discovered that when you go abroad, you discover a country, but you also have to experience the customs of the country ! It was a very good experience !

Article paru dans les Reportages d’Europe N°5, 2010

Rédigé par Gaëlle, Julie et Cassandre du collège Louise Michel de Paimboeuf