After a long but exciting day travelling we arrived on the beautiful island of La Reunion to be greeted by our Reunionaisse hosts. We then drove the entire west coast of the island from St Denis to our new hometown of St Pierre. This was a breathtaking journey, the first few kilometres of which were along the most dangerous road on the island. We survived as, fortunately for us, no volcanic rock fell on to our car. Phew. 
We were promptly whisked in to our primary place of work: Mission Locales Sud office in St Pierre. The team were really pleased to meet us, even though we were sweaty, flustered and unkempt from travelling, and a little too tired (and unequipped) to speak French! Evidently, office culture in La Reunion varies somewhat from that in England...
Our accomodation is lovely, a twin room in a small family run hostel with an outside kitchen and a wonderfully colourful and exotic garden. (There is a coconut tree!)
We have explored our local neighbourhood. There appears to be a vibrant culture, bustling markets and shopping streets and many bars and restaurants on the sea front. We have discovered Reunion's answer to Banksy in the form of “Jace”.
Due to “Sakifo” a music festival accomodation in St Pierre was overbooked. However this afforded us a chance to visit several other places on the island, St Phillipe on friday evening, where we dined with our host Philomene, and the stunning hill town of Entre Deux on saturday evening, in a small chalet with two girls from a Belgian sending organisation.
Today is our first day at work and we are very excited just like our first day at school.
Amy and David, short term Leonardo Trainees.
Project part of Gaining Through Training
Project part of Gaining Through Training
and supported by ECORYS UK
and the Lifelong Learning Programme
of the European Commission.
of the European Commission.
