It’s been  a month since we returned from France, yet it feels like another lifetime ago that we were driving the country roads of Northern France and walking the streets of Paris.

In my mind, the trip lies in three main sections. The first segment kicked off with our arrival in Arras, and stays with me as memories of sun, quaint country towns, and the taste of delicious family meals around the dinner table. During this time, we travelled around the beautiful towns of Arras and Peronne...

Time has flown by since first finding out that I was lucky enough to be selected to participate in this incredible programme. I remember exactly when and where; I was at the movies with my friends, and having just come out of our viewing, I thought, “Maybe I’ll just quickly check my emails to see if they’ve told us.” Sure enough, I had an email from Pascale, and I remember being so wound up that I made my friend read the email for me! It seems surreal that two weeks from now, we will have...

Time is progressing towards our trip to France - and it doesn’t seem so long ago that the French students were just with us.

Spending the week with the French students was really interesting in lots of ways. We spent a lot of the week comparing the differences between our two cultures, and a point that came up a fair bit was the difference in the ways that New Zealanders view their own history, as opposed to the French attitude towards their own. The French seemed bemused at the way that...

Bonjour tout le monde,

My name is Shani McMullan, and I am super excited to be part of the Young Ambassador’s group for 2018!

To me, being an ambassador is about relationships. I went on a high school French trip two years ago, and as part of it we visited a school in Nice. It was so interesting to meet young people like us, yet who lived completely different lives. I didn't have too much of a chance to bond with any of the students then, but this time round I’m hoping to make more...

Shani shares her view on the commemoration and tells about her interest in being a Young Ambassador 2018.