ESC activities in June from "Les Amis de la Giraudiere" (France)

After May, June joined with summer vibes at its horizon. We travel all the way to Narbonne, close tri the Mediterranean Sea, to be a part of the seminar organized by the Erasmus+ programme, which included meeting new volunteers all over la France and building an international network.

In our quest visiting the south of France, the next stop was la Rochelle. It was a blessing walking through the streets: the mix between history and contemporary architecture, the smell of the sea and the prodigious port. 

June was also a synonym of public appearances. During the previous month, we were interviewed for the local newspaper called Courrier Français. 

Later came Sud Barbezieux who would say the next step was the radio? 

We participated at RCF Charente’s Programme called “26 minutes eco”, where we were questioned about entrepreneurship and its connection with economy.

Towards the end, we celebrated an open day at la Giraudiere. 

The aim of this workshop was to reunite different professional profiles to discuss the impact of entrepreneurship at diverse education levels and explain to them the goals of this project and our approach about the matter.

ESC experience from France: "May comes to an end at La Giraudiere " by Patricia

As time flies by, we can't help but marvel at the extraordinary adventure of France.

Last week we had the first La Giraudiere day, which meant a pause from our computer research and our project titled Recognizing Young Entrepreneurs & Teaching Entrepreneurship 2019 and Paul, the project’s director,  introduces to us some skills which are related to entrepreneurship and business skills. With a welcome break in the rain we also did some gardening around the house where we are staying, clearing branches and bad grass so we have a nice park at our newly adopted home for the following months.

Day trip to Saintes

The following day was a total surprise for everyone because we took a day trip to Saintes, which was not scheduled at all, but we had a good time visiting the city. Saintes is situated in the department of the Charente maritime and borders the river Charente and is so rich in roman history. We had previously visited Angouleme another city rich in history which we mentioned in our previous newsletter. Another delight of our first month in France was a group trip to Bordeaux and despite some rain during this trip it failed to dampen our spirits as we took on the many delights that Bordeaux offers.

Thanks to the French and the English lessons we are having with the teachers at La Giraudiere each day  we feel more confident about our language skills.

French and English lessons at La Giraudiere

In the same month, an important visit took place as the correspondent from the local newspaper, Charente Libre, visited us to see how the project was progressing, he prepared an article about our project and its prospects which was published upon the newspaper’s blog and Eventually, we hope, the article will be released in the press.

The Group with local & international volunteers and the Teachers

ESC experience from "Les Amis de la Giraudiere" (France)

The first week of our project is done and we are glad to share the beginning of our adventure with you. We are all very excited for this journey so let’s have a look on what we have been through the first days in Brossac, France. Talking only about ESC volunteers the first participants arrived at 04th May when even after a long day they decide to join the local ‘Fete’.

The first evening was spent meeting the international volunteers of La Giraudiere and the locals, trying to have some conversations in poor French and tasting French barbeque while sitting around a bonfire.

In the next days, the other participants arrived creating the new family of Giraudiere wich include : Angjela from Greece, Patricia from Portugal, Hugo from Germany, Vladimir from Russia and Laura from Spain. Besides, we would also like to refer to the international participants, who make our project more colourful. We are talking about Tom, a retired pilot from Texas, Peter, a researcher from Boston, Muriel from France and Shirley from Australia.

We start the week with a group trip to the nearest town, called Chalais where we could visit the traditional market, the castle of the town and exploring its beautiful streets. Afternoon was followed by an orientation from Paul, the project Director, when he analyzed all the project’s goals and set the week schedule.   While each one of us take turn to cook a traditional dish or their favourite food, always caring about everyone’s tastes and diet requirement. We were also introduced to the French teacher and already learn some phrases in French.

Friday night we visited one of  restaurants of the village, which is located just in front of the lake, thus it has a good view to end an of.
To end up, in week-end we visited the city of animation, Angouleme. Even if it was a rainy day we all enjoyed the trip. (Leonardo)