Italian Exchange
Italian Exchange students come to Woking 2007
On 17 November, 30 Italian exchange students arrived in Woking for a week of experiencing life as an English student. As they arrived our nerves started to kick in as our exchange partners got off the coach. It suddenly became real that the people were people and not just pictures! My partner was Francesca and she was really lovely. Straight away she was chatty and very polite. She settled in quickly and we got on well.
During her stay, my family and I took my partner to Brighton. It was nice for her to see and compare her own town, by the sea, and an English seaside town. In the evenings, we also took her bowling in Woking which was really fun (but she won by quite a lot!) and we took her out for dinner at an English pub to see what the cuisine is like as well as the atmosphere.
The students spent one day at SJB and sat in on the lessons, ate lunch and experienced a typical school day. The students commented that it was very different from their school: in particular the size and the fact that they stay in the same classroom for all their lessons. During their stay, the Italian students visited Winchester and Windsor. They found Windsor castle very interesting; however my partner told me that the Queen was not in residence. One day was spent in London where they visited the Tower of London and experienced the public transport including buses and tubes. My partner said that it was very busy and she had never been on anything like it before. On Friday morning, photos were taken and goodbyes were said. It was a tearful farewell for a lot of the Italians not to mention some of the English, (particularly the boys!!) Overall we had a brilliant time with all of the Italians, they were so much fun and were very polite and appreciative when staying in our homes. We can’t wait to go to Italy in February!!! Helen Sears