Welcome to America!
Welcoming the new French exchange students, Makenna Radke and Wren Cook hosted Mahaut Forestier and Camille Roger-Mas. Both students have traveled to many other countries, but never this far. Because France is in Europe, there are many closer countries available for travel, but from France to America it’s around 13 hours. These exchange students are from Annecy, France, and had some expectations for their visits.
“I thought everything would be bigger and for school I thought everything would be like American movies and American shows, and it’s really like this,” said Roger-Mas.
Though these students had some expectations, they also had some surprises.
“I think I wasn’t expecting you to do that much of sports, like cause you practice everyday, also your sports are divided into seasons, and I wasn’t expecting that,” Forestier said.
Other than expectations, both students have some favorites.
“I really like learning about softball and baseball, and the food too… there’s so many things here,” Forestier said.
Roger-Mas really loved to walk in St. Charles and see the beautiful surroundings.
Back in Annecy
There are many differences between here in America and in France.
When asked about the biggest differences, Mahaut said, “school… clothing, like everyone there dresses in jeans, a top, it’s very different…shorts are forbidden.” Not only is the school dress code different, but so is the school day.
Forestier’ school day starts by waking up at 6am, eating breakfast, followed by getting ready for school. She then goes to school on her bike because in France cars are not as typical. Her school day starts at 8am with two hour classes followed by 15 minute breaks. In the middle of the day for lunch, they get a break of an hour and 30 minutes. Finally she ends her day around 5:30 or even 6 p.m. sometimes.
On the contrary Roger-Mas thinks it’s the people here that are the biggest difference here from Anncey.
“I think the people…everyone is kind and you can’t tell who’s strangers and everyone smiles, not in France…In France nobody smiles on the streets, you can’t speak with the strangers, if you try no one will listen to you,” Roger-Mas said. She said that you can ask for directions, but otherwise, people won’t talk to you.
While school is a major difference, back in France, cars are another topic that has different expectations. In France cars are smaller, and they don’t really have trucks. The main use of transportation is bikes, trains and bus depending where you live.
“We don’t drive as much as you do here,” said Forestier.
