A week summary by the 1ere STG

Here is how the 1ere STG saw their week in England :

Wednesday 25th April (morning)

By Lucas, Julien and Daniel

In the first day, we left at 8.30 am to go to London city. We took the M25 and enjoyed the landscape. To enter the city of London, we had to cross London Tower Bridge. We could see a lot of  pubs, taxis and traditional buses. After that, we saw the tower of London, and a lot of building in the Docklands. Far away, we saw a new skyscraper, the Shard, which will be the highest tower of Europe when it is finished

Wednesday 25th April (afternoon)

By Light, Remy and Florian

The bus stopped in the city of London at 12pm in order to have a meal. We could go everywhere we wanted. After that we had a meeting at London Metropolitan University. London Metropolitan University has a lot of buildings all over the town. At that university, we met 2 professors of business. They explained us how the school is working and all the possibilities for students who come from abroad : how to get in the school and the way of youth life. After that we went in an organic shop : Whole food Market. The store where we were was the biggest Wholefood Market in England. They explained us the goals of the company, the way the shop is organised, they introduced the products that they sell and their services like restaurant, take away shop or food courses. We had some free time. Then we came back in our host families at 7.30 pm

Thursday 26^th April (morning)

By Alexandra and Anahy

The Sheperd Neame brewery was created in 1689. It is a beer factorywith different taste which was passed on from generations. It is the oldest brewery in England. You can buy their products in all the shops (Sainsbury’s, blue water, wholefood etc..) Their beer is sold in England and in France. They sell it in little and big barrels and bottles. What makes it taste special in barley, yeast, water and hop. Everything ferments during a precise time. There are 3 different tastes like blond, brown.., but if you are not 18, you can not taste the beer.

At the back of the brewery, there is a packaging building but we weren’t able to go because of the danger. The old stables have been turned into a place where they taste all of the ingredients so that the beer always tastes the same and the quality does not change. People come into the brewery and they are blindfolded and have pink lights, they taste the beer to see if it tastes the same every time.

Thursday 26^th April (afternoon)

By Morane, Louisa, and Zahraa

Sainsbury’s: it was created y John James and his wife in 1869. At the beginning they sell only butter, milk and eggs. In 1900, there were 50 shops whereas in 1939 there were 255. The motor is “quality perfect, price lower”

One of their principal value is security and health. On every product, there is a multiple traffic light label which gives you information about what it contains. The aisles are larger than in France but the shelves smaller than in France.

Bluewater : it is one of the biggest shopping center in Europe. The goal of Bluewater is to recreate a little village. The construction began in 1990 and ended in 1999. They spent £6millions for it. There are approximately 330 shops on 2 levels, and a lot of restaurant, coffee places and a multiplex cinema. They are 13000 parking spaces, several fishing and boating lakes. It is huge !

Friday 27^th April (morning)

By Charles and Tanguy

We met at 8.15am in the car park, and left at 8.20  to go to Tonbrige Grammar School.

First we came into an economics class and made 2 groups. Group 1 visited a company “heathfield and co”. The company creates lights or lamps. It is a small company which belongs to the secondary sector. After the visit with the guide, we walked back to school. Our history and geography teacher did a visit of the school and explained the system and the rules. Then the second group was gone for the same visit.

Later we all came back to room 40 to discuss the positive and negative points of this trip and get some ideas about the next trip.

Friday 27^th April (morning)
By Laura and Mallaurie

 

This morning, the class was separated in 2 groups. Mallaurie and I were in group 2. We had to go to school at 8:45and had a 2 hour lesson with Mrs Holroyd, where we learnt about the product life cycle. After that, we went to a company that sales lights to professionnals. We found out they make the light by hand and have collaborated with Hilton in London. We then went back to school and spoke about the trip with Mr launay and Mrs Holroyd.

Friday 27^th April (afternoon)

By Camille, Luana, and solweig

During this afternoon, we were at school, in a class and we summarised what we did this week (what was interesting and less interesting).

At 2.05pm, school was over and we started walking to the bus stop. Before going in the bus, we had a bit of time to do some food shopping.

We took the bus to Tunbridge Wells. We visited the town, and had a coffee together in café Nero. We had a free hour before going back to our host families.

Back in France

8.45 we are back in Ferney after a long and unconfortable night in the bus. Probably not our best memory of this great week in England ..

A few pictures about this week

Leaving Calais


Arriving in Tonbridge


Conference at London Metropolitan University


In front of Wholefood


In Sainsbury's


Charles buying a small bag of crips


Ready to go to school




Visiting a lighting company



Resting in Tunbridge Wells on Friday afternoo

In the bus

Yesterday was our 3rd day and a very cultural one. We had a day in Tonbridge Grammar School. The morning was divided in 2 periods. 1/2 the time was spent in class. The other 1/2 we went to visit a lighting company with Mrs Baker the economics teacher. We left school at 14.00 to go to Tunbridge Wells. For everybody it was time to relax and go for a coffee all together.
Today we went shopping in shopping heaven : Oxford street. After spending all our last pounds in the pouring rain, we went back in the bus to see the most important monuments of London.
Back to the tunnel.
21.44 in Calais... Time to sleep (?)

Second day

Today has been another rainy day. 8.15 we head off to Faversham. We are early for our brewery visit but we can start our tour. The visit is very interesting. We learn about beer, we smell beer, and 4 lucky over 18 students can try it. For all the others it will be juice. Quick lunch and off to Sainsburry. The tour is very interesting. We realise that UK supermarkets and french supermarkets are very different. We also find out about HR jobs. Last visit in England 's largest shopping center, Bluewater. So many shops so many things. The tour is interesting, we all get a chance to spend an hour to spend some pounds.
We end up our day in the bus doing Karaoke with Nicolas our tour guide, and Azdine our bus driver. Another long day is over.

Our first day in England

Today has been our first day. Our trip yesterday went really well, and we arrived just on time to meet our host families.
This morning the feed backs are excellent : families are nice, food is good. Everybody is happy.

We start our trip to London. Obviously London is a big city and the traffic is quite bad. It takes us 2 hours to get there finally. We start by a bus tour of Docklands. The 1ere STG1 are very familiar with this area of London, as they studied it inside out with Mr Launay. They are able to explain to their friends in STG2 what we are visiting. The financial center is quite impressive.

The rain and the traffic make our journey a bit too long and we have to forget about the Olympic stadium : too far. It's a shame but by that time we all need to go for a walk.
The bus takes us to the City, and we all look for food. Some adventurers students even manage to find a KFC restaurant, which seems to be the place to eat...

13.30 : We all go to London Metropolitan University in Moorgate. We get an interesting talk about the various possibilities of studying in England, Life in London and the business school.
Time to go to South Kensington. On our way, we get to see interesting places St Paul's Cathedral, Royal Court of Justice, Trafalgar Square, St James' Palace and the Royal Albert Hall.
16.00 : Right on Time for our Last visit : Wholefood. We are greeted by Jenny, the marketing director and Ginni her assistant. The shop is impressive. Not only their products are mostly organic, but the choice is enormous, the products are very well presented. We get to talk to the wine section  manager, a french person from Haute Savoie, who tells us about their choice of wine, and the wine, cheese, and beer courses the shop runs. Too tempting, some of us do a bit of shopping, and time to go home.

Another 2hours in the bus to get "home" under the pouring rain and wind. Time for a nice cup of tea.

The program is out !

Here is finaly the program of our trip. We have already prepared a lot of these visits with our pen friends.
By the way : no need to wear a uniform on Friday 27 April, this a non uniform day in TGS.

PROGRAM

Tuesday 24 April

Departure from Ferney	Meeting at 5.00am on the school car park Leaving at 5.30 am
Arrival in Tonbridge	Arrival at 9.00 pm in your host family

Wednesday 25 April : London

Visited place	Details	Links with STG topic
Dockland and the Olympic site	Leaving Tonbridge at 8.30 9.30 Coach tour and comments	Geography
London Metropolitan Universty	13.30 Presentation of the bristish university system, and the LondonMet Business School	English culture
Wholefood	15.30 store visit + meeting with the marketing director+ Q&A	Management (strategy), marketing
Whole food café (TBC)	Blog updating, summary of various visits

Thursday 26 April : Faversham

Visited place	Details	Links with STG topic
Shepperd Neame brewery	Leaving Tonbridge at 8.30 10.30 Factory visit + Q&A	Management (Production)
Sainsbury	13.30 Shop observation + meeting with store director+ Q&A	Management (human ressources, strategy) Marketing
Blue Water	16.00 Tour of the biggest shopping center in the UK, Q&A Blog updating, summary of various visits (TBC)	Management, marketing

Friday 27 April : Tonbrige Grammar School, Royal Tunbridge Wells

Visited place	Details	Links with STG topic
TGS	8.40-15.20 Spending a day in an English school	English culture
Royal Tunbridge Wells	15.20-18.30 Visiting the town	English culture

Saturday 28^th April : London

Visited place	Details	Links with STG topic
Oxford Street	Shopping	English culture
London	Coach tour to the major London sites Back to France	English culture
Ferney Voltaire	Arrival at 9.00am

So many things

Yes we seem to have done so many things since September : discovering NGO, working on new products, working with penfriends. Such a shame we only have an hour a week together ! Quick summary of our main events since January

January 2012 : Working with NGO.

We met Kristina and Nancy who both work for standproud. Students prepared questions and discover a complete new area. A very interesting hour.

February 2012 : The bag challenge.

All the students worked in team of 3 and had to invent a new bag concept made out of recycled materials. They also had to make their marketing plan.

Michelle Giuliano, founder of BolderKids came to advise all the groups on how to improve their projects

March 2012 : The bag challenge : D Day !!

On March 22, we welcomed Michelle again and Mr Pellerin from Procter and Gamble. They both presented their company and their role during an hour. Our 5 goups then did the same : presentation of their new bag concept, in english in front of 2 professionals and 50 students. Well done all of you.

 

April 2012 : Working with our penfriends

In the begining of the year, we have worked with a bristish school TGS. The economics students came to Ferney and spent 3 days with 1ere STG1. It gave us an opportunity to prepare our futur visits in the UK.