Displaying items by tag: international

A short look back on what we did in France and Belgium in July while we were there for First World War commemorations.
Music is Trojans by Atlas Genius

Fresh crêpes, cobbled streets, photo booths and Parisiens smoking with cool refinement. Polished marble floors with a glassy sheen, wrought-iron lattices and metro stations flashing by in lights of dull grey. These are the things I remember about Paris. As soon as the Young Ambassadors touched down on French soil, we entered a place where history and modernity walk alive in the streets.

Our first week of the tour was a whirlwind of tourist attractions and grand military parades along with...

I have finally settled in and stopped living out of my suitcase after an unforgettable trip to France and Belgium. I am so grateful that I had the chance to experience this once in a lifetime trip with such amazing people. Since I have been back I have presented the amazing events we encountered, to my school, family and friends, the Eltham Lions, Stratford Genealogy group a maori radio station and to some local papers.

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Treatment of the Objectors – Wanganui Detention Centre

The policy implemented in which the objectors were treated by was extremely harsh with victims suffering brutal acts affecting them all physically, mentally and emotionally. 

Incroyable. Emouvant. Passionnant. Amusant. Interessant. There are so many words I could use to describe our trip to France. Ever since I returned to New Zealand people have asked me about my favourite part of the trip. I simply can’t give a single favourite part of the whole 2 weeks. So I will have to break it down into a few highlights which stood out from the others.

Sunday the 13th of July was the first full day we had in France. Naturally, we were all extremely excited to see all of...

I guess now that I am home and rested I should update my blog!

First off I want to make a half apology for not updating whilst I was actually in France. I along with the rest of the Young Ambassadors was preoccupied with the wonderful sights and sensations that France and Belgium offered us.  I had an incredibly amazing time and really want to thank everyone who supported me in getting there! You are incredibly generous people and I would like to mention you here:

·         La Cloche Café in...

Meeting the young ambassadors in Péronne!

We were very glad to meet the young ambassadors in Péronne last Friday. We met in front of the museum of the Great War that they were about to visit. Among them there was Huia, a young student from our partner school ( Stratford)! So, we were lucky to meet her!

It’s a shame that we are actually on summer holidays otherwise we’d have liked to take a few of our students to meet them.

Vendredi dernier nous avons eu la chance et le plaisir de...

We had a very memorable month in France and visited some of the major sites of the country, including the NZ war memorials, where we saw where some old boys of the school had fallen. It was a very moving and also insightful experience and i do not think that either staff or students will forget this in a hurry. This is the Facebook page of the tour, where there are pictures etc of all the great things we saw whilst in...

4th June

This evening I met a man named John MacNamara. His uncle Private Donald Wallace MacNamara, was killed in the Battle of the Somme, only 6 days before my great-great-grandfather James Livingston. Pte MacNamara has a burial at the Caterpillar a Valley Cemetary, where Livingston has his memorial. John read in the Manawatu Standard article about the Young Ambassadors Tour, that we will be visiting the Caterpillar Valley Cemetery during the trip. He contacted me through my school, and...

Bonjour!

Who is this man?  The dusty kaki coloured shirt framing a tanned face and the blanched periwinkle blue of the sky in behind the camel brown tent all suggest a war. But, which one? Perhaps it doesn’t matter as much as we might think...

This man is novelist, Tim O’Brien, during his service in Vietnam, lasting from 1969-70. I am currently in the midst of reading his most critically acclaimed novel, “The Things They Carried,” which, like this photograph, presents an aspect of...