Erasmus Interns in France take time out

Posted on August 5, 2021 by La Giraudiere

Visiting the coastline of South West France

Pons – Charente Maritime

Hi! My name is Gabriela, I’m from Poland and I am an Erasmus student interning at La Giraudière. Two weeks ago together with others in the group we took an outing to the delightful coastline of South-West France. Our first stop of the car ride was for café at the city of Pons. Pons is located in the Charente-Maritime department in southwestern France. The city is known for its numerous national historic monuments dating from the 12th century on wards. One of the most well known is the 33 meter high Keep (or Dungeon) of Pons which is the official symbol of the city. We spent there about half an hour, grabbing a coffee, admiring the old dungeon and wandering around the park.

Dungeon of Pons

Talmont Sur Gironde

Our next stop was at Talmont-sur-Gironde, one of the Plus beaux villages de France. This is the second plus beau village for me as I had the opportunity to visit Aubeterre-sur-Dronne on a previous outing.

Talmont-sur-Gironde is a village in the Charente-Maritime department in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region in southwestern France. Its inhabitants are called Talmonais and Talmonaises. Talmont is also a small port where sturgeon were once fished for its eggs (caviar).

We saw there the admirable Romanesque church of Sainte-Radegonde dating from the year 1094. A former bastide founded by the King of England and Duke of Aquitaine Edward I in 1284, this small city camped on a promontory overlooking the Gironde estuary was once a formidable stronghold, of which only a few sections of ramparts and the remains of a medieval tower half ruined (white tower) now remain.

St Radegund church in Talmont-sur-Gironde

Meschers and Saint George de Didonne

After that, we took a ride by Gironde estuary, passing by the towns of Meschers and Saint-Georges-de-Didonne. Then, we headed onto Royan, one of the main French Atlantic coastal resort towns. We left our car just north of there and started long, remarkable walk along the coast.

House in Royan
Vaux and Saint-Palais-Sur-Mer

Our walk was accompanied by lots of sunshine and nice sea breeze. Exceptional hotness of that day didn’t bother us, since we were surrounded by astonishing coastal views. During the tour, we crossed the towns of Vaux-sur-Mer and Saint-Palais-sur-Mer. In that second one we had our very French lunch that consisted of crêpes. After a well deserved meal we had time to cool off by swimming in the Atlantic ocean.

In total, we had walked around 14 km. The route from Royan to Saint-Palais-sur-Mer was a bit longer, because we chose the way along the coast. It was about 8 km. Journey back was 6 km long, since we decided to walk the road.

Intern from Poland taking a trip to the coast in south-west France
Polish intern at French coast
Barbezieux Relais – Truck stop

After the long and intense day, we stopped for dinner in Relais de Barbezieux. It’s a restaurant mainly used by truckers who pass the town on their way to Spain or Paris. We ate very tasty food there, drank some wine and with regenerated strengths we came back to Brossac, refreshed and ready to continue our interning the next day.

This was not our last excursion. Stay tuned to find out how we spend our time with La Giraudière’s program.

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A Singaporean-American volunteer in France

Posted on July 28, 2021 by La Giraudiere

We welcome our new friend

Yanli Muhs, who I am writing about in this post, arrived to France on last Thursday from Guilford, Connecticut. She is only 17 and can amaze you with her ambition. Yanli is going into her final year of high school which she will spend abroad in Rabat, Morocco. Besides that, she is a founder and leader of a registered non-profit organisation empowering young women in Jamaica called Poetreef Summer Term. They organize 2-weeks summer camps during which girls have a chance to enhance their self-esteem and learn how to overcome social issues.

Yanli came here to realize a 4 week volunteer program. She is helping with some cleaning works and a website creation at the moment. It is good to have Yanli here as she is a great company to us all.

Singaporean-American volunteer experiences south-west France in Angoulême
Volunteer experiencing south-west France

Spending time together in south-west France

In general, our free time passes on walks to Brossac and bike rides among vibrant French countryside. On rainy days, playing a 1985 version of Monopoly is also a good idea. Just after Yanli arrived, we decided to visit Angoulême – the closest city from Brossac. We spent whole Saturday there, visiting museums, restaurants and local shops, while practicing our French and gaining a truly unique French experience.

Monday at La Giraudière is a market day so we visited the market town of Chalais which is 8 km from here. Chalais closes it’s main roads to accommodate this traditional market and the crowds of locals and tourists. This again was a great time to practice our French as we purchased some of the local delicacies consisting fromage, saucissons and crêpes. We also participated in the French pastime of sipping café at the local cafés whilst taking in the local gossip.

Yesterday, we took part in a picnic hosted here by the commercants de Brossac at the local lake l’Etange Vallier. It was also a perfect opportunity to participate in French culture and overcome language barriers.

Sunset over the lake in Brossac
Sunset in Brossac – the place of learning and volunteering

Prior to Yanli’s arrival, I have already visited the wonderful coastline of this region of south-west France and several plus beaux villages de France which I will be blogging about in the near future.

This weekend coming, we are planning to take a longer trip and visit “la ville rose” – Toulouse. I look forward to updating you how everything went. Be sure to follow us on this blog and Instagram, where I will post some cool new photos soon.

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Intern arrives from Poland

Posted on July 22, 2021 by La Giraudiere

Erasmus Internship at La Giraudiere

Bonjour, toute le monde ! – My name is Gabriela Kot and I come from Poland. I’m a bachelor student in cultural management on Jagiellonian University in Cracow. I always wanted to use my time on the university to travel abroad and France was first on my list. I decided that I will spend my summer holidays in a different way than I usually did and chose to find an Erasmus Internship. For discovering what suits my field of study best, I used an Erasmus Internship base with offers from all over the world.

Polish intern in France
Gabi interning at La Giraudiere

What drew my attention to internship at La Giraudière was the fact that everything is included. (You can read more about it The all inclusive internship.) Don’t let some paid internships – for example in Paris – fool you. You would still have to find and pay for accommodation and organize meals on your own. At La Giraudière you’ve got everything in one place while being surrounded with splendid countryside of south-west France.

Internship structure

How the days go by – I arrived on a thursday evening at La Giraudiere just in time for the weekend break which normally is from Friday to Monday but due to an arranged excursion on Tuesday, Monday became a work day. I will write about our excursion to the wonderful coastline in my next post.

My duties as an Erasmus intern include, for the moment, office and administration work. I help Paul – the president of Association – with managing the emails and updating information and guides important for our community. The emails includes inquiries and applications from all points of the globe to either volunteer or intern at La Giraudiere. I also take care of the blog, as you can clearly see now. This is the first time I have used the WordPress blogging software so any tips from you would be welcomed. I am improving my skills in communication, marketing, search engine optimization and French language. Living so close to the friendly community of Brossac undoubtedly helps with the last one. All these new skills and experiences will be definitely useful in my future career. I will try to make sure that you receive all the news about how my internship goes here in a very sunny Brossac. It’s 34 degrees today.

Internship in Brossac France
Brossac Village France place of learning for internships

Covid affects internship in France

Come and join us in France – Despite the ongoing pandemic and the imposed travel restrictions we are still receiving internship applications for this year but Paul has been cautious in selecting candidates and as a result our group is smaller than pre-covid. Apart from myself and Paul we also have Bill from Indonesia here as a volunteer. Tomorrow a new volunteer arrives from USA and I will update you in my next post.

Indonesian volunteer in France
Volunteer visits internship library at La Giraudiere

As a result of the vacant accommodation Paul has open the doors to colocaters and we are accommodating an English couple staying in one of the apartments. You’re more than welcomed to join us and contribute to the association with your unique cultural input. We are open until the end of September 2021 and of course you can apply for 2022.

Written by Gabriela Kot a Polish intern in France

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Summer in La Giraudiere

Posted on July 4, 2021 by La Giraudiere

Beautiful Charente

The fresh smell of mowed grass, sound of howls of foxes and vibrant color of fields and flowers are some of the best things here in La Giraudiere during summer. Being a part of Charente, an area with longest daylight time in France, Brossac offers a refreshing ambience with stark contrast with the hustle and bustle in the city. With average temperature of 30o C, there are just endless spots that you can discover here every day.

Working while Exercising

               So how is my rural French internship day typically like so far? Well after my self-isolation period was over even before when I noticed – since it felt like normal days here with all residents living in separate gite – what I carried out was mostly outdoor works such as land mowing, bush pruning and wall repairing to keep La Giraudiere in shape. Although for some it sounds exhausting, to be honest it was also stress-relieving especially if you have been working distantly from quite a while. The job made me use my “dormant” muscles that you get the best of both worlds: exercising, enjoying the summer vibe while at the same time doing your volunteer work.

               There are still other works which you can help with should you decide to join the program! Worry not if you prefer indoor activities because there are also things to do with the administration and clerical desks. You can choose whichever suits you that will brighten your summer French experience!

Written by Bill, during his volunteering period

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Internship for Lifelong Learning

Posted on June 4, 2021 by La Giraudiere

During this restricting pandemic situation, many students like me think it will be difficult to find an on-site internship. Are there still companies or institutions that offer internship programme in the midst of this COVID-19 situation?

While there are still a plenty of distantly-held, there are features which can be experienced only when you move to a new location and live there firsthand. For me, tasting a new culture is what I await the most when it comes to an internship abroad as it would surely broaden my perspective and help me eventually become a lifelong learner.

Cultural exchange in France

And so I decided to look on the internet for intern or volunteer positions in places other than my home country and Finland where I am currently studying, and came across this project called La Giraudiere. It is a perfect match for what I expected as this program takes place in France which in fact is one of the most diverse European countries. Moreover, La Giraudiere itself aims that during their weeks that can range from 3 weeks to 2 months, not only are the participants immersed in the French culture but also cultural exchange can be promoted among the group of volunteers and interns.

I cannot wait for this exciting adventure. At the moment there is only me, since the project manager is very strict about the ongoing pandemic situation. La Giraudiere indeed puts this into consideration and so should volunteers or interns wishing to come. Vaccinated applicants are preferable but if that is not possible, for example because the countries they are residing in cannot afford it yet, they can bring recent negative PCR test result. More details of this health measures can be found here.

Internship with safe measures

The location of La Giraudiere is a kilometer away from the village Brossac which is the nearest commune. The nearest city is Angouleme some 55 kilometers away after which there is Bordeaux the nearest major city is about 85 km. In other words we participants are isolating ourselves from the crowd as we stay and volunteer here.

In addition to that, there are four gîtes or self-contained apartments at La Giraudiere so whoever has just arrived from overseas can self-isolate for the recommended number of days, which is exaclty what I am doing. We have an adaptive project manager called Paul here who can adjust the day the work schedule that even during the self-isolation period you are able to contribute by for instance writing something on the blog like this. Plus I am learning how to get it listed in google and much more which I did not know about.

Internship for LifeLong Learning
Location of La Giraudiere from Brossac

Therefore, if you want to have an exciting but also safe internship or volunteer project, La Giraudiere is a perfect choice. You can work, learn and enjoy the beauty of rural France at the same time, and for sure it is better than any other lifelong learning internship institution that I know of.

Lifelong Learning Written by Bill whilst volunteer at La Giraudiere 31/05/2021

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