Title France to India: On Exchange with Good Friends
Professor Laurence Barbier/Teacher at Lycee Elie Cartan, La Tour du Pin, France
Date April 2017
Venue Meera Bagh, India
AMAZING! That one word would be enough to describe the experience students and teachers from Lycée Elie Cartan, France, have just lived! The mere fact of meeting up with our Indian friends was a great pleasure! But the 10 days we spent at St. Mark's Girls Senior Secondary School, India, from April 6 to 16, were also filled with discoveries, activities, emotions, laughter and happiness.
From the moment we set foot in India, our hosts: Ms Anjali Handa and Ms Jeetu Bhalla, the Principal: Ms Sheena Nyembo, the Vice Principal: Ms Sabina Shergill, the students and their families as well as the whole group of teachers that accompanied us during our stay made us feel at home, making the existing bonds between us grow even stronger.
Yoga, art, music, dance and cooking (Indian poori aloo and French crêpes) were among the activities organised at school for our students. Outside school, we were offered the privilege of a visit to Rashtrapati Bhawan (the President's house), taken on a tour of Delhi Heritage Sites (Lotus Temple, Qutub Minar, Gurudwara Bangla Sahib…) and of course a trip to the mythical Taj Mahal.
What's more, we took the opportunity of our presence there to make the students from different ASEF ClassNet projects meet (Culture through my lens/ River – an elixir of life/ The power of songs).
We were granted the presence of Mrs Caroline Schmitt from the French Embassy who attended the Cultural Programme.
As a gift to our hosts, we shared the edited version of the song we had recorded together in France. It is entitled "Welcome to my country" and sung in French, Hindi and English. Very special thanks to my colleague, Pierre Yves Barnier, for the incredible work on the song and the fantastic result.
Just as I did years ago, my students fell under the spell of India and its inhabitants! As partners became dear friends, leaving was obviously heart-breaking.
Hence our will to keep this fruitful and successful collaboration alive in the coming years.