C’était fantastique!! In fact, those words don’t even sum up how amazing our trip to Dieppe was. It was an early start to drive to Dover, but the sea views were all worth it as I caught a brilliant glimpse of France and England before we arrived at the port of Calais. Off to the bakery in Wierre-Effroy, where I bought some delicious honey croissants and pain au chocolat and got to practise speaking French in a different environment. Plus tard, we arrived at our hostel, ate dinner and went down to the beach. The sunset was so picturesque, meaning lots of photo opportunities and we skimmed stones (or I at least tried to) as the tide drifted in. What a perfect beginning to our trip!!

  

I woke up excited for the first full day to come and, full of our petit-déjeuner, we walked down the beach where Operation Jubilee museum was. Before we entered most of us were unaware of the attack on Dieppe, but the museum explained it all clearly. My favourite part came later, when we arrived at the swimming pool; it was like no pool I had ever seen before and I didn’t know what to do first. There were slides, whirlpools, lazy rivers and diving boards galore. The time went so fast I just did not want it to end.

  

For our second day, we travelled to Pavilly, a picturesque little market town one hour away from Dieppe. I had been saving my money for this. As we walked past stalls full of olives, sausages and more, my bag was getting heavier by the minute. On our way back, we visited the Canadian cemetery, where we stopped and looked at all the soldiers and heroes who gave their lives for us. I was heartbroken to see that some of the graves of soldiers weren’t even named. L’après-midi, we went shopping in the streets of Dieppe. We went around les rues, our shopping bags brimming over with goodies, my purse getting emptier.

  

Packing my suitcase was sad and now a lot heavier, as we tidied our room for inspections and spent the rest of the evening playing table tennis and other games. One last visit to the beach or watching the football game before going to bed for the final time. Although excited to get home and tell my family all about my trip, I did not want to go home as I had had such fun. So I have made up my mind to come and live in Dieppe when I am older. But we packed up and travelled to the hypermarket, Auchan in Boulogne, leaving Dieppe behind us. Au revoir Dieppe, nous nous sommes trés bien amusés.

The hypermarket brought back some fond memories from last year and this time I knew exactly where to find the sweets and chocolate. So we made our way home after such an amazing trip. Thank you to everyone who made this trip so fun and enjoyable. Thank you to all the teachers who took us on this great trip; we hope you have all recovered!!!!

- Ella, Year 8