``We were in the stadium when France won the final. It was sheer madness there and we were cheering and shouting with everyone. We had the greatest time,'' said Rucha Kavathe, a 16-year-old student from Ahmedabad. Although most of them didn't know much about football before leaving, they are now irreducible fans of the game. One of them even managed to get an autograph from Michel Platini, while another got her sari torned while trying to get a glance of goalkeeper Fabien Barthez.

But if the trip was mostly focused around football, the programme also included touristic and cultural activities of all sorts. Paris, its museums and monuments are no more secrets for the lucky winners, who also had a chance to visit Versailles and see a bit of the countryside. They were also lucky to attend a number of official receptions, particularly with the ministers of Youth and Foreign Affairs, and with President Jacques Chirac on the occasion of the national day, including a garden party at the presidential palace.

The laureates were selected on the basis of their knowledge of French, their personality and their ability to speak in public. The contest took place all over the world, and so the Indian delegation shared their experience with some 700 other students from 120 different countries, all aged between 16 and 21.

A feeling of fraternity had developed within the delegations, and each came back with dozens of new friends. Filled with memories and impressed with the hospitality they received, all six have one idea on their mind: to go back to France again.