It was 1980 and I was just 12 years old when I embarked on the first great adventure trip of my life. My school was one of the first who organized an annual student exchange with France. So in 1980 we took a bus from Austria to the south of France, 1500 kilometers to Toulouse! Quite a distance at that age, considering the cost of a telephone call (via cable) at that time and the fact that we communicated almost exclusively by letter. But I was not completely alone on the way, the schoolmates and two teachers were with me.
The student exchange lasted 3 weeks, which each of us spent with the families of a French student. Only on school days and for excursions our Austrian class came together. Then the next spring the French came to visit us in Austria.
When I was planning to write this post I was sure I had some photos from that time. But although I used this very rainy weekend to search all possible places here in the house and even went through my mom's photo boxes I had to realize that they are not here anymore.
However, I found something else, a diary in French that we had to write for school at that time and one single photo where it looks like I'm learning Latin. As you can see on these more than 40 years old pages, my love for "blogging" was already predetermined at that time ;-) And it reminded me, I finally should start with kind of journaling again.
And I'm glad I found this diary, because honestly, some of the trips I had already completely forgotten! For example, the tour to the (1980 relatively new) Airbus factory in Toulouse. And that was really fascinating to see the unfinished airplanes in the assembly hall. They look much bigger and more impressive there than when they are finished and outside.
On a day trip, we visited a huge animal park on the Mediterranean sea, the "Reserve Aricaine de Sigean." Crocodiles, giraffes, zebras, lions and especially the flamingos made an impression to me, because I never have seen them in reality before.
On the same trip we visited what for me was the most beautiful destination of this time, which impressed myself deeply and awakened both my love for medieval things and for southern France in general, that was the visit to Carcassonne. This is the famous city with the "Cité de Carcassonne", the largest medieval castle complex that exists in Europe, now listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
I can still remember so well these fantastic narrow streets with the cobblestones, the many small stores and this very special flair. Definitely worth a trip. Such a pity that I can't show you any photos.
Leaves collected at the "Canal du Midi:
The three weeks flew by, my French, both the vocabulary and my pronunciation improved a lot and it was a very special time.
"See you again in Graz"
Now, what was so special about it?
I am incredibly grateful that I was able to gain an insight into a completely different world at such a young age. The French lifestyle is in many things very different from ours. Hard to put into words, I think it's just the mix of "savoir vivre" (knowing how to live), having a good time, but still being proud and confident that makes the big difference. The language is also so beautiful and expressive.
On the one hand, I think this has made me the open-minded and unprejudiced person who has no problem to accept "strangers" or new situations, environments. But on the other hand, it has postitively influenced my entire life and a small part of who I am for sure has become distinctly French.
Apart from the fact that Bain au Chocolat and French goat cheese have been my favorite foods since ;-)
And so Toulouse is the best school trip I ever had to answer this Weekends Engagement question "The best school trip I had was ..."
*all photos by 
mostly translated with deepl,com free version
