Creil, 3rd June 2017. Today Maria and Wesan have returned from their work placement in France with a lot of great experiences. In Marl’s twin town Creil they could actively support the staff in an old people’s home for 3 weeks. Thus Maria calls her work placement abroad a “truly lucky chance” and reports, “The old people’s home is a varied and interesting loca-tion for a work placement, where you never feel bored. I did a lot of activities together with the seniors, who were mostly still amazingly active: zumba, water gymnastics, karate, shop-ping, excursions and much more.
Wesan met with great approval with her idea of taking her guitar with her and sing and play German and French songs to the residents and she could motivate the seniors to sing along lots of songs. She tells, “The staff of the old people’s home were really very helpful and open to ideas. I always felt good and was supported with everything. My language has greatly im-proved by the work placement. I can only recommend it, for you learn and have fun with it at the same time!”

Haltern am See, 18th May 2017. For one week 21 pupils of the twin town Roost-Warendin, Northern France, have been visiting Haltern am See with their teachers. Like in the year be-fore the exchange was supported by the Elena Bless Foundation. The programme included excursions to Münster and Essen. The pupils go to Collège Schaffner, the twinned school of Alexander-Lebenstein-Realschule.

Boulogne-sur-Mer, 29th April 2017. Today the exchange with France of the classes of the secondary modern schools of Brede comes to an end. As in the first exchange of this kind accommodation in French host families had not yet been possible, the Elena Bleß Foundation took share in the costs of accommodation in a youth hostel. Cheerfully, the pupils wrote on a postcard to the Foundation. Next year the exchange is to take place with a collège at the Channel coast with accommodation in host families.

Crèvecoeur-le-Grand, 26.4.2017. Enthusiastically, Lea, pupil of the Grammar School of the Mariannhill Missionaries reported on her participating in an exchange of her school with France, which was partly supported by the Elena Bleß Foundation. She took home quite unexpected impressions of classes at French schools: “Classes were different from those in Germany, because the teachers quickly became louder as the pupils usually opposed the teachers more often than in Germany.” But there was also enough free time. “Chloé and I spent the weekend going bowling in Beauvais with some others and enjoying the sunshine on Saturday and going for a walk in a big park with a part of Choé’s family in fine weather on Sunday. Afterwards the aunt invited us to eating crepe, which everybody liked after such a forced march.