Enjoying Paris!

Walking along the Seine

View from the triumphal arch

Different coloured trees

Exploring Rouen

Bicycle ride

Rouen city

The harbour

Visiting the beach

Departure

Scooter in Paris

In front of the Notre Dame

Bird attack in Paris

Exploring Rouen - Lovely city!!!

Nous voyions beaucoup de boutiques chic

Nous nous baladions aux Champs Elysées

La rue est longue

Place de la Concorde

        C’est une photo de la tombe du soldat sous L’arc de Triomphe - à la memoire d’un soldat français

                                        C’est une photo de l’escalier dans L’arc de Triomphe

C'est une phote avec la vue

Nous voyions la Tour Eiffel, c'était formidable

Des farces au Tour Eiffel

Nous mangions un sandwich à un snack-bar en face du Tour eiffel

Nous étions à Palais de Chaillot et voyions la belle vue

Nous langeons la Seine

Ici, on voit le grand Notre Dame

À Aalborg aéroport - avant le départ

La cour du Louvre - c'est bon

Ici nous sommes devant le Musée du Louvre

Les Danois arrivent à Paris

Au bar à Paris

Food Culture in France

The French and the Danish food cultures are very different. In Denmark we like to have small meals and lots of them: we eat a meal in the morning, maybe a snack between breakfast and lunch, then we have lunch, we eat again in the afternoon, we have dinner about 18 or 19 o’clock, and then also sometimes a snack in the evening. In France you have a small breakfast, or maybe you skip it all together, a BIG lunch and a big dinner at 20 – 21 o’clock.

So there is a difference in when we eat, how much we eat and them of course: what we eat. In Denmark for breakfast before you go to school, you will usually have oatmeal or some kind of cereal.

For Breakfast we eat a lot of the same things though in France the products are much more sugary and even though we eat bread in Denmark the French eat way way more. Also chocolate is a common thing in France whereas in Denmark milk, tea, juice or coffee is more common.

When you go to school it is most common to bring a lunch pack, but you can also buy a sandwich in the cafeteria at school. The lunch pack normally contains a piece of fruit and a piece or two of rye bread with some kind of sliced cold meat, and maybe some vegetables. In France, if you get food in the cafeteria, you’ll have a first course which is a kind of appetizing, a big meal, often something “rice like” with meat and sauce, it varies from day to day , and a dessert which is something sweet like budding or cake. There is always a choice between the courses, so if you do not like one thing or can not eat a special thing, there will always be something else to choose from.

In the afternoon in Denmark, what we eat varies, though bread with butter is common.

In France for dinner you have a first course, like soup, than a main course. We tasted: a dug dish with salad, crêpes, chicken with stowed mushrooms and also couscous. Then you would usually have different kinds of cheese on bread and then for dessert there would be e.g. fruit, cake, pudding or yogurt. So the French food is definitely worth trying!

In Denmark diner is much simpler seeing that we only have one course. The course often contains of potatoes, rice or pasta, a slice of meat, and a salad, and we do not eat as much bread as they do in France. 

Family life and the life of the teenagers

When we first came to Rouen, we soon realised how friendly everybody was. We got our first kisses on the cheek from our French family: one on each cheek. We knew they would do this, but nor the less it felt very odd because we only shake hands or hug in Denmark.

    The parents in most of the families did not speak English, so the conversation was mostly between us and our French pen friend; or the parents would speak French to us (we found out that we understood a lot more French than we thought) and we would answer in English and then our French pen friend translated our answers into French. But they were very friendly and were very hospitable: they gladly gave up their rooms so that we could sleep comfortable and we weren’t at all allowed to help clean up after our meals – we really felt like well treated guests during our visit in France. They all seemed very proud of their country and wanted to show it of – which we totally understand. Looking back we do not have a single bad word about our French hosts. 

At the school in Rouen they have very long days: sometimes they have classes until 6 pm. This means that many of the teenagers don’t have time for afternoon activities like sports and stuff like that. In Denmark a lot of people practice sports; many teenagers spend a lot of time during the week playing sports – where as in France they have to skip sports in favour of their homework.

   They have a lot of cafés in France and it is a place where the teenagers hang out after school (and during school in their long afternoon brake). This is something we don’t do in Denmark – at least not during the week; it is more of a weekend thing here.

We had a lot of good experiences during our week in France. Even though it was very different from our way of living, we all enjoyed it.

The French School System

In the French schools there are another relationship between the teachers and the students. First of all they call their teachers ‘madame’ and ‘proffesseur’ where we in Denmark call our teachers by their first name. The French students start school at 8 am and some of their days end at about 6 pm. But on the other hand, in the middle of the day, they have a 1-2 h long break where they eat. In this break they can choose to eat at the cafeteria or go out to eat at cafés.

 Here in Denmark we have a communal area where we can eat our lunch and sit during the day. In France the students do not have a communal area and the classrooms are locked in their brake, so they spend their spare time waiting on the hallway or sitting in a café downtown.

The classes in France are 55 min. long; in Denmark they are only 45 min. long. On Wednesdays their day only lasts until 12 pm. Some of the students use this day to do some sports or other spare time activities. They also have classes at Saturdays, from 9 am. to 12 pm. This means that they have longer vacations than we do. When ever we have a smaller vacation for a week, they have two weeks of vacation. 

Computers are not something they use at the French schools where as we in Denmark use them quite a lot. We use them to take notes during classes and our school has its own website where we can check our homework. Also computers are a must have at our finals (of course using a computer is optional). 

All in all there are many differences between the French and the Danish school systems. But they are both good, in their own way.

Rouen City

Rouen is a culturally rich city. It is known for its medieval buildings, half-timbered houses and the cathedral Notre Dame. There are a lot of differences between Thisted and Rouen. Rouen is much bigger than Thisted, and has a lot more attractions and activities. Compared with Thisted, Rouen is a lot older, which among other things is showed in the medieval buildings. We visited Le Musée des beaux-arts de Rouen where we found works of quite a few artists. We visited La Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Rouen which is a Roman Catholic Gothic cathedral. The cathedral has recently been renovated. It is created in a Gothic style, and has many decorated windows – which were very typical for this century. The cathedral is very different from the Danish churches compared to the French churches; the Danish churches are typically made of whitewash. In addition it is also the seat of the Archbishop of Rouen and Normandy.  

We were also at Le Musée Jeanne D’arc which is a collection of Jeanne D’arc’s life.  

Rouen has a big clock which is called Le Gros-Horloge. Le Gros-Horloge is a symbol of freedom for the people of Rouen. Besides we were also in Caen, where we were at Le Mémorial de Caen which is a historical museum, which describes World War I and World War II.

There are a lot of differences in the landscape. In Rouen there are numerous of hills, compared to Thisted, but at the Danish oceans there are a lot of dunes. There’s the ‘Seine’, which passes through Rouen, where we in Thy have several streams, inlets and lakes.