Besançon Exchange to France

We had an amazing experience overall! We packed each day with fun activities around Besançon and were very excited to meet up with our partners again after their trip to London in March/April.

On Friday, we went to the covered market in the city centre for some local food tasting and tried lots of regional specialities including a cheese called Morbier, made with a layer of ash inside it! In the afternoon, we took the tram to  ‘Le Criollo,’ an artisan chocolatier based in Besançon. We were able to see the process of making one of their signature chocolates, Faïencine and were lucky enough to have lots of free samples! Afterwards, we had a good look around the shop, where there was a wide variety of different selection boxes we could buy. It was a lovely and rather delicious experience.  Later that day we went bowling with our partners, followed by a scrumptious pizza meal, which was a great bonding experience for us all!

At the weekend, we spent time with our families and did some more fun activities. Personally, I went shopping with my partner and a few of the other girls and then to a local cave, which was very interesting.

On Monday, we went on a lovely boat trip around Besançon where we saw all the lovely local architecture from the viewpoint of the river.  We then took ‘le petit train,’ which trundled up a steep hill leading to the citadel. It was very interesting to learn about the city’s past here, and we also enjoyed the zoo and insectarium.

Emily , Y8