Late in the evening of 9 February, our Year 14 French class gathered at school ready to begin our journey to Dublin Airport at the start of our four day trip to Brussels.  Our early morning flight the next day meant that we arrived in Brussels around breakfast time and we made the most of the first day as we visited the beautiful Grand Place, saw the famous (or infamous) Mannequin Pis statue and, of course, bought plenty of Belgian chocolate.  

We were definitely thrown in at the deep end as Mr Sampson and Mrs Corrigan “encouraged” us to use our French to reserve a table at local restaurants every night and also to buy our train and metro tickets at the station. 

The local people we met were extremely welcoming, especially one of the waitresses we met on our first night who, when we told her where we were from, said that she was a big fan of “Derry Girls.”

During our visit, we actually met up with two former past pupils, both of whom are now living and working in Brussels.  On Sunday morning, Amy Dalton, met up with us and gave us a guided tour of the city and, the following day, we were extremely lucky to be able to visit the European Council building where we were shown around by former pupil, Sally Bliss.  I found this particularly useful as the European Union is one of the topics that we studied on the A Level course and we were able to talk about this in our oral exam at the end of the year.

Personally, my favourite part of the trip was our visits to the Grand Place, especially when we walked across the square in the evening after dinner, when all of the old buildings were lit up.  It was a beautiful sight.

Visiting Brussels with my French class was an unforgettable experience that allowed me to improve my confidence when speaking French and have amazing memories with friends.   Brussels is an amazing city with so many opportunities.  We would like to thank Mr Sampson and Mrs Corrigan for organising the trip and also Mr Gallagher who kindly drove us to and from Dublin Airport.

 Azura Rice (Year 14)