We delighted to welcome back Eleonore Weinstoerffer, our overseas exchange student from 2018-19, who joined our meeting via ZOOM from her home in France.

Eleonore told us how she has just completed her Year 12 studies and has secured a place at Bordeaux University to study French Law. It has been an unusual year with all her final school exams cancelled because of the Covid-19 restrictions. This meant that final results were derived from school-based assessment during the year and teacher reports.

Eleonore expressed some disappointment with this outcome as she was hoping to obtain a high final score under the usual system but was deprived of the opportunity to do so. She will commence her three-year university course in September and this will be followed by two years post-graduate training before she is a fully qualified lawyer.

Regarding the Coronavirus, Eleanore lives in Parentis-en-Born about 50km south-east of Bordeau, a semi-rural area near the Atlantic coast surrounded by parkland and green spaces. The impact of the virus has been much less than in Paris. She explained that initially, people did not take the public health threat seriously enough, but once the death toll started to rise the Government brought in strong restrictions including only being allowed outside your home for one hour at a time to do essential shopping. Her father who is a carpenter was allowed to continue working but her mother who is a school administrator has had to stay at home.

One unfortunate side-effect of the virus has been the high number of dogs on the streets, abandoned by their owners because of fear the dogs could transmit the disease. Like in Australia, the French Government has provided financial support to people unable to work because of the virus. Restrictions have now eased although the one-metre separation rule still applies. On the more positive side, the Coronavirus lockdown has meant less air pollution and less traffic on the roads.

Eleonore is looking forward to starting her university year in September.
We wish her bonne chance and agreed we would keep in touch.

For a PDF copy of the weekly bulletin click here. RC of Ivanhoe 27 May 2020