French Invasion
Over the course of the past two weeks, St. Paul’s School became a home to six French exchange students. Flying approximately seven hours to be here, Nina Chanteau, Ary Schlumberger, Julie De Halleux, Eloise Armour, Chloé De Bethmann, Laure Goudineau and Léa Filiu prepared themselves for culture shock, language barriers, and school life on our campus. To some students, SPS may seem to be an ordinary academic institution with classes, athletics, and dormitories. However, many of the French students begged to differ, saying that the U.S. and SPS couldn’t have been any more different from their French system.
Filiu says, “They are different in all kinds of things, like food and the relationship between teachers, students, adults, and friends.” In France, a high school student attends anywhere from eight to ten classes a day while here at SPS, we think that taking six or seven classes is…working to the max. Here at SPS, we are used to the idea of teachers not only teaching but also coaching and advising. De Halleux says that, “In France, the classes are just lectures. There is no personal interaction with the teachers. They’re just there to teach, not to be a person with whom you may talk about your personal life and family.”
The exchange students stressed the fact that they have much more freedom and liberty at St. Paul’s than back home in France. “We have so much free time!” exclaims Chanteau. However, those free hours didn’t go to waste. In compliance with their schedule here, the French students spent an hour and a half in the gym four times a week, participating in Fitness. For most of their unscheduled time, the exchange students liked to meet new people, sleep, and surf the web. They also had the opportunity to visit several museums and historic sites when taking trips into Boston and Concord with Mr. Cohen on weekends and Wednesdays.
Despite the multiple differences between the two lifestyles, all the French students agreed that they enjoyed experiencing new things while here. Chanteau’s favorite moments included meeting her American roommate, Nina Peluso, experiencing a campus-style school, and ice fishing near the boat docks. De Bethmann followed her curious palate and explored American food. Some of her favorites included the Upper breakfast sandwich, new ice cream flavors, chocolate pancakes, home-fries, and Mr. Cohen’s bagels. For Armour and Schlumberger, Winter Formal, including the love-letter reading, an exciting dance, and a delicious Upper dinner, was the best moment.
While sad that their stay couldn’t last more than two weeks, the French students are very excited to have their American counterparts join them in Paris during the first two weeks of Spring Break.
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