From the 9th September to the 15th September Aquinas took part in a French exchange with our partner school Lycée Maguerite de Flandres in Lille. It was an amazing experience and we all have some great memories from it.

On the night of their arrival we all went to Aldergrove airport to meet them and bring them home to meet our families. We were all very nervous but everyone got on extremely well and everything ran smoothly.

The next day the French and Irish pupils went to Titanic quarter and learnt some interesting facts about linen, titanic and Belfast. We were all given a quiz that we had to complete with our French partners. This helped to us get to know each other and work together as a team. That evening we went into town t allow the French pupils to do some shopping and see what Belfast was like. They really enjoyed it but it was exhausting!

On Friday we went to the Linen hall library and once again had to work with our French partners to research linen history in Belfast and also the Titanic. Afterwards we went to Queens University for their open day. It was great to all have our lunch together outside Queens as it was a beautiful day. That evening we all met up for bowling and had so much fun together. We were all great friends!

Over the weekend we all went to Newcastle to the beach. It was very warm so we all went into the water and got soaked. By this time everyone was acting as if they had been friends forever. On Sunday we went to the park and played baseball. It was a funny experience because it was the French teens against the Irish teens. We all had different opinions on the rules.

The French pupils got to visit the Giants causeway and they loved it. It was our last night together so all the pupils and all the teachers went out to dinner together. It was a great night but also very sad!

On our last day together we went to the Ulster folk and transport museum and gave presentations on what we had learnt about the Titanic and linen over the previous days. When we got back to Aquinas it was time for the French people to leave. It was very emotional and there were a lot of tears. We knew that we all going to miss a new friends.

Now we cannot wait to go over to Lille in March!