The Visor

French and American students experience cultural exchange

May 10, 2010

Lindsay Huth

Apparently, the French aren’t rude and Americans aren’t fat after all.

Those are among the numerous lessons that the students who participated in the foreign exchange program learned when 30 French students and four teachers stayed with 27 American host families for nearly ten days.

“[It was] a wonderful trip, with wonderful landscapes, a lot of fun and French and American wonderful friends,” 15-year-old French student Perrine Heinis said.

The French visitors arrived in America on Saturday, April 10, in New York City where they visited sites such as the Statue of Liberty, Central Park and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. On Wednesday, April 14, they took a 45-minute flight and half-hour bus ride to arrive at the castle.

While they were here, they experienced different aspects of American culture. Some events, including Laser Quest and bowling, were organized by the whole group, and field trips to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the University of Akron and Amish Country were taken during the school day. On the weekends, host families did activities on their own such as shopping, going to a baseball game and enjoying ice cream.

Though the French visitors left on Friday, April 23, many of the students, French and American, ended the exchange with a better understanding of other cultures and people.

“It helped expand my cultural knowledge and my understanding of the French language,” Hoban sophomore Rachel Blinka said. “It was a great chance to practice speaking to actual French people. My students became my French tutors.”

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