Volunteering in France – A Cultural Exchange between France and Germany
Julia, a volunteer from Hamburg in Germany, has just arrived at La Giraudière and will be joining us for the next six weeks. The opportunity to experience French culture in a beautiful village in the countryside, to improve her French language skills by interacting with the local community on a daily basis and to work in an international environment at the same time was her main motivation to come to La Giraudière and to help with everything that is needed.
After having studied International Business Communication in Germany and the UK, Julia has worked in sales for a company selling medical devices for 3,5 years. Following that she decided to take some time out to discover the world , to get to know different countries and to authentically experience new cultures. She has been travelling through Asia for 3 months and will finish her travels after having volunteered at La Giraudière.
Cultural Exchange after a competitive match of Pétanque with a taste of vin rouge
Julia has only been here for three days now, but during these days she has already been completely involved in Brossac’s village life by playing Pétanque with the locals in a very competitive and serious atmosphere. Pétanque is a famous sports in France with the goal to throw metal balls as close as possible to a small wooden ball called a cochonnet (literally “piglet”) or jack. Furthermore, she was lucky to witness France’s most beautiful spring weather which made it possible to explore the wonderful area around La Giraudière straight away.
During her stay Julia will be responsible for different tasks such as writing articles, carrying out social media activities or housekeeping. Her first task was to write an article about a group of students from Utah in the USA. The Freedom Preparatory Academy spent one week at La Giraudière to learn about the French way of life and to experience French culture. This included cooking courses and language classes as well as trips to some of the nicest cities and towns in the region. Three famous newspapers in France (Sud Ouest, Charente Libre and Courriel Français) each published an article about the French – American cultural exchange. To create a press page covering all these articles was also one of Julia’s first tasks. As the “Season 2015” has just started, there are many more projects and tasks to come she can look forward to for the next 6 weeks.
