Club Dinner Meeting – Rotary Youth Exchange – Inbound Student – Tom Deshayes

SPEAKER:   Tom Deshayes from France   

TOPIC:         Youth Exchange and Introduction to Tom

A great opportunity to invite some young friend along who may be interested in overseas student exchange

 Hors & environ avec Tom

My name is Tom Deshayes, I’m 16 and I come from the north a France close to a city called Le Touquet, 1hour south of Calais. I am sponsored by the Rotary Club of Boulogne Cote d’Opale, which is located half an hour from home and I am welcomed by the Rotary club of Lilydale.

I’ve got a little brother, Barnabé, who is 13 and is in Junior High School and a big sister called Louise who is 20 and whose studying engineering and architecture in Strasbourg. My father is a psychologist in an institute and works with teenagers and my mother is the curator of the museum of le Touquet. We’ve also have a dog called Calie.

I live in a small village called Villiers saint josse which is 10km away from my school so I have to take the bus every morning. I was last year in year eleven but as school stops in June in France, I’m actually finishing my Australian year eleven. My house is quite big and spacious and there is a huge garden.

In France, I used to practise a lot of sport, principally volleyball and beach volley with my club, but I was also used to hang out with my friends, to the beach or else, and to play the guitar. I’ve played volleyball for 5 years and the guitar for 6. When I was home, I enjoyed reading, watching movies and even cooking.

I’ve been several times to my Rotary club’s meetings to get to know them and we really got on well. The club is also sponsoring my partner who’s lived 3 months with me and who is still in France until he comes back in December. He comes from the area of the Blue Mountains in NSW and we became good friends, what gave me a good apprehension of Australian peoples.

My first feelings in Australia are very good, I’ve been really well welcomed by my host family, my host Rotary club and all the people I met, everybody is very attentive and curious. I also feel very comfortable in my new school, Lilydale Heights College, where I am making friends, and it enables me to have a new way of looking at school, as Australian system is very different from the French one. I am riding to school everyday with the bike that Hans lent me!

I am sure I will spend an amazing year here and meet a lot of incredible peoples.

Thank all of you for welcoming me!