French students spend two weeks living life as an American teen
They shopped, they had fun in school, they enjoyed Slurpees.
Typical American teens?
Nope. Nearly two dozen students from Nantes, France who spent the past two weeks soaking up American culture as part of an exchange program with Bellevue’s International School.
The French students stayed with an American family of an International School student and experienced life as an American teenager.
“She could not get enough window shopping” said Danica Brustkern, a senior at the International School, of her exchange student, Juliette Dagaut
Whether it was in Bellevue, SouthCenter, or downtown Seattle, the French were amazed by the abundance of stores and the huge variety.
“She just about fainted from excitement when she entered the Levi’s store. The Levis in France are very different from the ones in America, so she flipped out over buying a pair of ‘real’ USA Levi’s, with ‘holes already made in them and everything.’”
“I love shopping!” Dagaut said, “but I spent all my money so fast, I had none left at the end.”
The exchange program, which takes American students from the International School to Nantes to live with students at Lycée Saint Stanislas (Saint Stanislas HS), and brings students from Nantes to America, to stay with families in Bellevue, has been in place since 1998. The goal of the program, in addition to improving the language skills of both sets of students, is to “Push the two cultures together and let them learn through experiences” said Christophe Bouran, a teacher at Lycée Saint Stanislas in Nantes.
The French students were amazed by many things, but the fact that school was fun, and didn’t last until late in the afternoon baffled them.
“She was mesmerized by the fact that fact school ends for us at 2:30, and we have the whole afternoon to do what we please” explained Ari Nevins, a senior at the International School, of her exchange student, Clemence Autechaud.
“In France, school ends at 5 or 6 p.m. and we have dinner at 8, so there is not very much time to relax” said Autechaud, 16. “And our [teachers] are not as nice as [the ones here].”
One of the highlights of the trip for many of the French students was their trip to British Columbia, where they spent a long weekend (Saturday, Sunday, Monday) sightseeing and bonding with their new American friends.
“The food in Canada was excellent” said Autechaud. “In France, we have nothing at all like the wilderness we saw in Canada.”
All of the French exchange students were the same age or younger than their American counterparts. For Courtney Kwong, Brustkern, and Nevins, the best part about hosting French students was not only showing them around Bellevue and Seattle, but getting to create a bond that felt like a sisterly bond.
“My favorite thing about her being here was showing her around Bellevue and becoming good friends” said Kwong, a junior at the International School “Basically having a little sister and hanging out with her everywhere.”
“We became really good friends and I will hopefully visit her in the future” said Jessica Bennett of her student, Laurie Guerin, “and I got to practice my French, of course!”
Many students, both French and American, noticed a significant improvement in the language skills of the other students.
“Her english got a lot better,” said Kwong of her student, Laura Raimondeau, “I could talk at a faster speed by the time she left.”
“They seemed to know a lot of formal language that’s not really useful when they got here” said Nika Ghassemikia, a senior at the International School and host of Leslie Diard, “But by the time they left we had them saying ‘chill’ and ‘tight’ in their conversations.”
Many of the French students found things that the American students saw as unimportant and trivial to be fascinating.
“She was mesmerized by the funniest things … Slurpees, how my neighborhood resembled the Sims to her, how friendly my teachers were. … The fact that she took interest in the random facets of people’s lives here was a surprise for me” said Brustkern.”
Said Kwong of her exchange student; “She was amazed at the fact that we couldn’t jaywalk and had to wait at a crosswalk to cross the street.”
While the French students have left the International School, the memories of all the experiences that came with them still remain.
“I miss the frenchies!” said junior Nusha Ghassemikia. “Life is so bland without them.”
Through all their experiences, from a Sonics game after which they got to meet Johan Petro and Mohammed Sene, to their trips to British Columbia and XXX Burger, the French students spent two weeks immersing themselves in American culture, leaving with a better understanding of what Laura Raimondeau called “the best country ever!”
Matt Hansen is a senior at Bellevue’s International School.
