French Exchange Program

For 24 Pres families, their home life changed from Feb 5 to Feb 17 as they took on an international flair. The annual French exchange trip came around again this year, but this year with a new group of kids. The school from Montpellies, France that have worked with Presentation in the past decided to go to Washington D.C. this year, so we had Frenchies from Fabreques, France that are younger than all of the previous years with the majority of them being 14-15 years old.

This year, my family decided to take in a student because, for one, I will be around to help unlike the years to come, and also because my sister has learned a fair amount of French to help out.

We were assigned a 15-year-old boy, Axel Gines. Being a family with only three girls, we were a little panicked of how to keep a BOY busy!

When we picked him up from SFO airport on Feb 5, we were both nervous and excited to meet our temporary brother. When he came forward, my dad shook his hand and asked if he spoke English. Axel’s response consisted of a head tilt to the right and then a shake of the head, and it was at that point where we realized the skills our family had developed from charades on family game nights would come in handy.

My younger sister, Lucy, 11, who takes Spanish at her middle school, became professional at flipping through the French/English dictionary we brought to help us out. Axel and Lucy spent hours together depicting each other’s thoughts, slowly but surely.

Throughout the first week, we introduced him to our homemade burgers, the game of golf, yoga, Laser Tag, a crab feed and even the traditions of the Superbowl. During the day while Pres girls were in class, they visited San Francisco, Sacramento, Monterey, and museums around the area. When Meryl and I brought him to school for two days, it was expected to have student flock to him and his friends. When we came home Friday, he had a good 10 new friend requests on Facebook. Who knew we grabbed a popular brother!

Axel ended up making a lot of friends in his 12-day stay. One freshman, Sasha Coughlin, became very close with him and his group of friends. “I learned that you had to use small words with them, in order for them to understand the gist of the idea. Also, hand gestures helped when it came to things around the house or even the type of food we were offering them,” she said. “I thought it was a lot of fun to interact with them because it was a whole new experience for them as well as us. Even though it was hard to communicate at times, you could definitely tell they were having a good time whether or not either of us understood.”

By the second week, Axel’s English vocabulary had grown tremendously, although he had a few words that he always used to describe certain foods and activities. When we served him pancakes and bacon on Sunday morning, we explained that it was sweet, and he took a bite and said, “It’s strange!” We handed him a croissant after be gobbled down one of the most traditional American breakfasts.

When junior Rachel Ometer interviewed him for her French independent study class, he commented, “Pancakes was the weirdest thing I ate in America because in France we don’t have anything like them.”

Axel has become family. We loved introducing him to the American culture and learning about some of his French culture. The experience for the Parks family was so much fun, as I’m sure it was for all of the other host families. Although tears fell the day he left, the experience was completely worth it for everyone. He even said so himself, in English!

My Journey To France

After spending two weeks in France, living and breathing the life of a local in the southern city of Montpellier, all of us nine students can definitely tell you that things are, to say the least, a little bit different here. While we expected to encounter cultural differences and surprises, it was no doubt that some of the things we have learned here are interesting and even funny:

Les Toilettes et La Salle de Bains

While it might seem a funny thing to discuss, after each of us passed our first night with our host families, one of the first things we discussed when we got to school in the morning was the bathrooms.  In America, we have an all-in-one package – the toilet, the sink, and the shower are almost always all in the same room. That very fact is something we all accept and do not think much of simply because it is normal. Well, this is possibly one of the first instances which made us exchange students realize that what is “normal” in America does not translate to “normal” in France. In France, the toilet is normally in one room, les toilettes, while the sink and shower are in another, la salle de bains. The fact that both are in the house means that we certainly have the facilities to survive, but in exchanging our stories we did all find that the separation of the toilet and sink made for some awkward moments. Unsure of whether or not it would be normal for me to walk down the hall to the salle de bains and wash my hands after using les toilettes, I spent my first few days trying to be stealthy and go unnoticed, but eventually I realized that I would have to just continue as I normally do and dismiss it as nothing more than a cultural difference.

Driving in France

As most of us have just received our licenses or are at least working towards obtaining them, we are keenly aware of driving with all the rules and safety precautions freshly pounded into our brains; we are all familiar with the proper following distance, the correct speeds, and the proper driving etiquette. Even after just one thirty minute drive home from the airport, I realized that if I were to follow all of the American safety precautions, rules, and laws for driving, I would not be able to get as far as down the street. In France, all of the driving seems much more chaotic; the roads are so tiny that it nearly feels as if you are going to either fall of the road or hit the car next to you. No one waits for anyone either – I could barely keep my laughter in as we sped past a neighbor, cutting him off, but waving with big smiles at the same time.

L’école

If there is one word I could use to describe school, or école, in France, it would definitely be long, closely followed by drawn-out. In France, school begins at 8 a.m., similar to schools in America; however, it ends much later in the afternoon, occasionally as late as 5:30. A nine-and-a-half-hour long school day can indisputably be classified as long, especially in the United States where our school days range from six to seven hours. While such an extensive school day is long, I would classify school in France as drawn-out as well since it is more regular for students to have free blocks and because the lunch is much longer. At Lycée La Merci, lunch lasts an hour-and-a-half, over twice as long as our 40 minute lunch at Presentation. Between that and other seemingly unnecessary time-consuming activities, such as being bused over to an alternative location for gym class, it seemed as if the long school day could have been condensed if they moved at a faster pace.

.  . . And Volcanoes

It was definitely appropriate that many of the experiences we had on our exchange were unexpected, but something no one could have factored into our plans and anticipations was a volcano. Never did we think that a volcano of all things could factor into our experience. On Wednesday, April 14, flights began to be cancelled due to the aftermath of a volcanic eruption in Iceland. Even then we were unaware that such a bizarre occurrence would affect our exchange trip. It wasn’t until Thursday night, the night before our originally planned departure, that the news came through. Right after my host, Priscillia, encouraged me to order whatever I wanted since this was my last night in France, I learned that that statement would most likely be proven false. Because of the volcano, ash was spread throughout the air and our flight from Paris to San Francisco was cancelled for safety reasons. With clean laundry running out, a need to get homework finished at home and a desire to have time to find a prom dress, many of us started worrying. Still, on Thursday night, things still seemed manageable. It was not until the next day when I found out that 23 airports in France were closed that it could be quite a while before I got home. Even now, as I write this article, I am sitting in my host family’s house with my flight postponed indefinitely, wondering if I will even be back when our newspaper goes to print. Just as no one could have anticipated the volcano erupting and the creating biggest flight disruption in years, I guess we will just have to wait and see.

French Revolution

Someone should have included a fair warning. Someone should have pulled them aside before they boarded the plane and irreversibly left. Someone should have broadcasted the information loud in clear in the simplest way so that even an eight-year-old would have understood. Someone should have said something. Surely, they deserved one.

But nobody did.

In some ways, no one can be blamed for neglecting to warn the French male exchange students. It is a perplexing situation they bring to our Pres community. Their presence guarantees hundreds of girls a cultural experience, but is it the right kind? It seems that if the Frenchies were to truly experience authentic Pres culture, they would see us in all our messy-haired, slipper-wearing, makeup-free glory.  But instead, our guests are met with clusters of preening girls in and out of the classrooms during the days they are here.

It’s pretty funny to watch.  Every year as winter starts to blend in spring, the unsuspecting male French students come to Pres. They come unaware of the revolution they will start. It starts before their first footsteps even fall upon the girls-only school grounds. Once the announcement that they, those celebrated male exchange students, are coming, the student body reacts as if someone has just announced that tomorrow will be an extra day off. An excited buzz electrifies conversations in the halls as students file out and go home. The topic is obvious: Do you know who’s hosting a guy this year? Do you think there’s going to be any cute ones? O-M-G, what should I wear?!

Some students will go home to iron and straighten those long ago softened pleats of their plaid skirts. Others will actually finish homework in time and sleep early as they set their alarms an extra fifteen to thirty minutes early. Carefully applied eyeshadow will be applied to hide those dark, baggy effects from the last minute cramming of integrals, anaphase and comma rules. Unruly hair that hasn’t met a hairbrush since Christmas will be tackled. Legs will be shaven for the first time since Black and White.  Rather than spontaneous and unconcerned attire, girls suddenly care.

After all, the day the French exchange students arrive will not be any ordinary day. No, out of 180 school days, the next day will be the first of five or so days when those of the male, teenage species can freely roam the halls. For the Pres student body, it is as much of a culture shock as it for our guests. The halls are forbidden territory for most of the teenage population with a Y chromosome.  Those brave souls who attempt to breach the borders of the foyer doors are usually politely shown the way back out. But, no, these French exchange boys will be met with not the exit door, but teachers asking for introductions as if they were a shadow. For the students, the fact that these boys are French adds a sweet flair like the addition of chocolate to an ordinary croissant. There is mystery! There is allure! And oh la la, they speak the language of love!

The causes of this one-week revolution of the Pres student body do not know that they are the cause, however. The male French exchange students innocently come wandering into our halls one not-so average morning. They see girls with shining brushed hair, ironed skirts, and shaved legs. For them, this is the average Pres girl. They have not seen what was before their arrival to know what average, pre-exchange-students Pres culture is truly like.  In the next few days, these unsuspecting boys will see the polished Pres girls as they slow down in the hallways to catch a glimpse of their male faces. There will be girls the boys have never met greeting them suddenly by name in the center during lunch. More girls they have never met will ask if they can take a picture with them.

So what’s the solution?  Could Mrs. Stampfl make the arrival of the French students a surprise?  Given that she has to arrange housing for all of them, probably not. Could the teachers be allowed to give detentions for excessive giggling or hair-tossing?  That seems pretty unlikely, too.

But what if Pres allowed more male teenagers – and American ones, not just French – into the Presentation culture? What if we didn’t freak out every time a guy stepped onto the front lawn?  What if, instead of showing them the door, we welcomed them and stopped treating them like potential threats to our chastity?  Constant exposure to the teenage male presence would lessen the dramatic reactions of male students on campus. Our palms could stop suspiciously getting damp. We could stop giggling hysterically when a male voice answers a question in class.

But since allowing boys on campus isn’t on the agenda, for now, all we have is our two weeks where French boys think that Pres girls are silly, pretty, flirtatious and empty-headed.  And isn’t that the kind of culture we should be fostering?

Let the French Revolution begin.

France: Anything But Les Miserables

“Bonjour, je suis une américaine.”

Translation, please? Actually, this is a phrase some Pres girls would have become familiar with this Easter break—“Hello, I’m an American.”

On April 10, a contingency of 17 juniors and seniors from French 3, 4 and 5–selected after a formal application process–took off from the San Francisco International Airport in an Air France flight. Their destination awaited halfway across the world in Montpellier—they were about to begin 14 days of cultural immersion on the annual French Exchange trip. And between walking tours of the Champs Elysees, visiting the home of Van Gogh and, of course, sightseeing at the Eiffel Tower, there was hardly a dull moment. Ms. Harris, Presentation French teacher and chaperone, when asked about the highlights of the trip, commented, “I get to see my students use the French language in real life situations. I enjoy seeing their eyes light up the first time that they see the Eiffel Tower and Paris. I get to show my students that there is more about learning a language than memorizing grammar and vocabulary. And I think perhaps that is why this kind of trip is important. It makes the language real to students.”

After arriving in Paris, slightly jet-lagged, the group hit the ground running with a trip to the Eiffel Tower on Saturday; the next morning, students enjoyed a walking tour highlighting Paris’ most notable sights, including Tuileries Gardens, the Louvre, the Champs Elysees and the Notre Dame Cathedral. “My favorite part, hands down, was Paris,” enthused senior Kelly Larson. “I swear I have never seen anything like it—the Cathedral was breathtaking.” She wasn’t the only one impressed. Junior Shelley Brunkan agreed, “It’s so beautiful and there is so much history there. Despite the fact that it was a lot of walking, it was totally worthwhile.”

The next few days involved a short flight to Montpellier, a city in the south of France, to meet up with host families from the exchange program. There, participants got a chance to spend a few days enjoying the remainder of the French students’ vacation and experiencing some Old World hospitality. The “French people hate Americans” assumption? Myth. Participants had nothing but glowing reviews of their welcome and acceptance into strangers’ homes. “My host family really connected with me, and they celebrated my eighteenth birthday!” Larson reminisced. “The grandma bought me a napkin ring holder that matched the family’s and it had my name engraved in it and everything. They were so kind to me and generous, it was unbelievable.” Brunkan had a similar experience—“They even embroidered my name onto towels!” After two days spent touring Avignon, where the papacy was once seated, and the ancient Roman city of Glanum in St. Remy de Provence, students got to spend the weekend with their hosts exploring.

Like our French visitors this past February, the Pres students also attended a few days of school at Lycée La Merci. Larson, for one, noticed some differences in the student-teacher relationship. “The students over there felt so comfortable in a class room that they would talk in a normal volume to other kids, while the teacher was talking,” she said. “They would have full-length conversations and the teacher would not even tell them to stop talking!”

Upon the conclusion of the trip on April 24, participants returned home with two weeks of stories and experiences to share. And Ms. Harris couldn’t have been happier with the results. “I think the students this year made true friendships that will last a long time,” Harris explained. “I think many of them gained a sense of self-confidence and a sense that the French language does have a presence in the world. I think they gained a greater understanding and appreciation for French. They learned tiny cultural details that cannot be explained in a textbook.” For the students, too, missing Spring Break was all worth it—after all, “The croissants were to die for,” concluded Brunkan.