Italian Diary in France

Sunday 31.03.2019

We left from Milan Malpensa to Paris Charles de Gaulle immediately after boarding another flight to Marseille. From here we took the bus to go to St. Charles station. Here, given that we had plenty of time before leaving for the final destination, we had a tour of the city. Visiting the center and the mall facing the harbor, the only interesting part of the city. Then we travelled by train to Nimes and then by bus to Alès, where we arrived in the evening. Here we met the representative teachers of the school to welcome us with the parents of the boys who welcomed the students into the host family while the teachers were driven to the hotel.

Monday 01.04.2019

On the first day we went to the Lycée Jean-Baptiste Dumas school to be welcomed by the project managers and then by the director. He gave us a presentation of the school and then we sat some small tests to get to know each other. After the test they took us to visit the school, their laboratories. The school is made up of pavillions, very different from ours and also this is a school purely with a vocational address. The French school timetables are different from those of the Italian school as they always have afternoons with lots of hours of workshop activities with a cycle that is completed in three years and about two months in the internship year. We usually had lunch in the city center and then went to the Film Festival area to see "Captain Fantastic" in English with French subtitles

Tuesday 02.04.2019

Today's meeting was not held in an institute, but by bus, with a packed lunch offered by the school to everyone, we went to Nimes, where we visited the university and they showed us their research on electric batteries with their prototype tractor and kart they have developed. Kart that in the following days the teachers could try on the circuit. The visit was certainly interesting especially for the students. After the visit we went to the city center where the guys from Tele Bleue organized a treasure hunt to introduce us to the city center. Groups have been formed with teachers and students from different countries. Hunting with backpacks and many puzzles turned out to be very interesting. After this we went to the Jardins de la Fontaine (a beautiful park) to have lunch or better to have a picnic. Returning to Alés we stopped at the karting circuit for the free trial of the electric kart teachers and maximum speed of 90 km/h. Dinner was free.

Wednesday 03.04.2019

On the third day there was a technical meeting between the teachers to further develop organizational and technical aspects while the students visited the department of science and technology. Lunch was offered by the school in their canteen. In the afternoon they took us to visit the IMT Mines of Alés where they are doing research on electric vehicles, showing us in addition the electric vehicle also the development of electric bikes. Then the guided tour of the city was carried out by the assistant of the director in multilingual. The city also has ancient mines and was the birthplace of the chemist Dumas who later gave the school his name. The evening ended with the dinner teachers, guests of the French teachers responsible for organizing the Erasmus + project.

Thursday 04.04.2019

Perhaps the most interesting visit is that of the “Polo della Maccanica” of Alés (Pçle Mecanique Alés Cevennes). An area consisting of seven circuits (cars, motorcycles and a karting area) including a gym and driving simulator for pilots. In the area there was also the Duqueine Engineering where we saw some wonderful racing cars. At the karting circuit a team kart race was organized with a small final prize with groups made up of teachers and pupils mixed between different nationalities. Alas! Poor Italians! the Germans together with the French won . The race took place after a 10 minute training session per person. Fun was guaranteed. Once again the lunch was packed at the school. Before returning to Alés we received the certificate of participation as the departure was scheduled for the following day in the morning at 8.00. The evening ended for the students as a free hanging around and for the teachers a guest repatriation to the home of prof. French, where the teachers collaborated in the preparation of the dinner. Beautiful evening!

Friday 05.04.2019

Departure day, adventurous return time lasted about 17 hours. The adventure involved the train to Milan, but with a change at Nimes, then change at Marseille, where once again we walked around the city. Then we stopped in Lyon and finally reached Milan and from there to one’s respective homes.