11/19/2001

Teen-ager Studying Abroad

Q: I am a sophomore in high school and have been thinking about spending my junior year abroad. My parents aren't too sure it's a good idea, because of the stories they have heard about kids not liking their host families. What is your opinion?

A: Perhaps the best way to answer your question is through some letters I have been receiving from Julie, a 15-year-old studying in France this year. She has agreed to share her experiences with SNET readers and will try to answer questions from teens who are considering study-abroad programs. If she doesn't answer right away, please be patient. Julie is extremely busy, plus she doesn't have constant Internet access.

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30 septembre 01

Bonjour a tout le monde! I have been getting used to the swing of things here in France and I am becoming plus en plus francaise. It is absolutely wonderful here. It is safe but not boring, which is a very good combination.

Now for the details:

In the morning, I meet Haley at the bus station at 7:25 to take the 7:30 bus to Rennes. I get to school at eight, and begin my classes at 8:10. I then have all my classes taught in French, which last until 11:50, at which time I go to the local Lycee for lunch. The high-schoolers who go there were not very open at first, but now they are very nice to us; I had plans to go to the new ice-skating rink today with une jeune Francaise named Salima, and although our plans fell through because my French family and I had other plans, it was still a breakthrough for us.

After lunch, sometimes (it depends on the day), I do not have classes until three pm, so I wander around Rennes with my friends John and Nicole or I search for cats in the school's jardin.

After my long break I have Math and English (taught in English, luckily for my math grades). My English teacher is absolutely incredible. He decided this year to get to know us through our writing and then make us separate reading lists with our input. At the beginning of each class, he invites each student to put one word that they choose on the board. He says that frequently we will spend the whole class discussing these words. It looks like I'll have a lot of "scope for my imagination" in that class.

At the end of the day, I take the bus with my friend Xue (pronounced Shoe-ah) and walk home from the arret de bus (bus stop). I am usually greeted by my smiling host mother and a bunch of joyous children (Geoffroy, almost 10, Marie Alienor, Isaure, 6, and Baudoin, 2). They leave me with kissed cheeks so that I can do my homework, and then we play board games after the children eat. At about eight pm, I eat with my host parents while the children fall asleep; then we talk about history or civilization homework or music.

I have made a lot of friends already, and I have not yet found anyone whom I don't like! That's pretty rare in a group of sixty teens! Some of my friends include Xue, a junior who comes from Michigan and Velina, another junior from Indonesia. We always eat lunch together, although we don't have classes together.

Yesterday, I went with the deBoisboissels (host family) on an expedition par velo. We went into the forest de Jautauderies (I don't yet know what it means). My parents and I, and five children (including a friend, Domitille, age three, who stayed for the weekend) took our bikes and a snack and rode in the forest to search for mushrooms and chestnuts. Unfortunately we didn't find very many, but we had a great time anyway.

Today after going to church we drove to Vitré, and went to the incredibly gorgeous chateau there. Parts of it were built in 1060!! It is enormous and completely made of age-old stone. It gave me a lot of inspiration for writing my story.

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9-01

It's Tuesday night. Late. I'm hacking away at the homework I should have done earlier. It has just hit me that I won't see my family or friends for at least eight months. I won't see my 14-year-old sister's bubbling grin upon returning from her first college biology class, or hear her reciting Shakespeare while listening to "Josie and the Pussycats" and walking backward on the makeshift balance beam in our front yard. I missed her fourteenth birthday.

I will not sing at the piano with my father or hear him mumble "Richard III" lines when he's annoyed with our nine cats. I will not see my mother's enormous grin when she's proud of something I've done or huddle under a blanket with her while watching my sister perform outdoors in "Othello." Like wise, they will not see me turn 16 or congratulate or comfort me on acing or flunking a test.

So why did I leave?

"Because I want to learn French," would be the common answer.

But, wishing to be a nonconformist, I will not respond that way.

I left because eventually I will have to leave for good. It is not particularly common in this era for teen-agers to think of their parents as other than chauffeurs and personal ATM machines. My parents chose to keep us out of schools for that reason. Homeschooling allowed my family to establish a symbiotic relationship. It's hard to be separated. But that's why I came.

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10-08-01

Bonjour tout le monde!!

I have been having a great time so far. Several people have expressed interest in my classes, so that is what I'll describe briefly in this email.

I'll start with AP French Language: I have la langue with Madame Emmanuelli who right now is teaching us vocabulary for use in daily life and helping us with troublesome verb tenses. She is very funny and was understanding when I forgot to set my alarm and missed the bus, which made me late to class.

My literature teacher, Mme. Andre-Doumond, speaks very fast and is a little heavy on the homework, so that class is much harder than the others. Right now we are reading lots of Victor Hugo, who is an excellent writer. I especially like his short essay-type-thing called "un livre est quelqu'un" (a book is someone).

My math teacher, Jean, is very cool. Today he helped me save a kitten. I found a tiny kitten of about 7 weeks who was under a car in the pouring rain, and he helped me find a comfy box for the kitten, and he put him back in an apartment building we found him close to.

It was very sad to have to do, but Mr. Austin said that because he was clean and well fed he probably was someone's pet. Apparently he was, because when we went back to check on him someone had taken the box with the kitten in it!

My history teacher is difficult to understand but I'm sure that it will be easier after I know the language better. The history of the kings is very interesting, and today we watched excerpts from a very good French movie called "le roi qui danse."

Civilisation is a very cool course about French culture, geography, administration and other stuff like that. My teacher, Pascal, is also my advisor and is very funny in a wry sort of way.

Art history is a much different course than I expected, mostly because of our teacher, J-P (Jean-Phillipe Lemee who is traditionally called J-P). He is one of the funniest people I have ever met, but he doesn't try to be, which is why he is.

English, strangely enough considering my location, is by far my favorite class. Mr. McGraw is a homeschooling father who loves to write poems and has thirteen pets that he and his children left behind in the states. I wrote a story about missing my family and he read it out loud to his daughter because it was so similar to what she was feeling! It is an excellent class with not much structure but a wonderful atmosphere and wonderful poems.

As far as socialization is going, I have made scads of friends. The entire school is on hugging terms. My best friends so far are Xue, Haley and Adrianna. I went out on Saturday night with Haley and two other friends. We had dinner and wandered around Rennes, then took the late bus back at 11.

P.S.: I heard about the bombing and was frightened ... we prayed for 2 hours last night. I was crying the whole evening. I was talking softly because I had a very sore throat (still do) and couldn't really talk at all.

P.P.S.: I still haven't gotten the packages or any letters. I love getting emails from you but I have so little time. Don't stop writing! p.p.p.s. Maelle cut my hair today. It is short and curly right now from the humidity...

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22 octobre 2001

Bonjour tout le monde!!

This has been a very exciting week for me ... I have spent the night in my French grandparents' castle, received a "B" on a difficult history test (the highest grade that he gave) and had lunch with my English teacher and his wife and three homeschooled kids.

I'll start with the castle. Pelem belongs to my host father's parents, and it is about 1h30 from our house. As soon as I entered the grounds I felt as though I had stumbled upon some sort of time warp. It was absolutely incredible, with its circular stone steps and tapestries from the 1500s. We had our "gouter" (snack) in the enormous stone kitchen about half the size of our entire downstairs at home. Then we raked leaves and climbed the huge pine trees in the front yard until our friends Sigolene, Frederic, Berengere (8), and twins Antoine and Philipine (2-3-4) arrived.

Then we toured the "vieux Pelem" (as if the other one built in 1661 weren't old) built in the 1400s. It is slightly unnerving to be told "just step around" the holes in the hay-covered floor, but I did, and it was definitely worth it. After we got across to the lower stone guard tower, I felt a lot more secure. The small room is about big enough for two people to fit comfortably, and there are really cool arrow slits (called archeres from the inside and meurtrieres from the outside...) and (deliberate) holes in the floor for bathrooms. There used to be a moat!

We spent an incredible weekend walking through "Merlin's woods" and wading in the stream. By Sunday morning I had 7 kids all wanting to hold my hand or climb the trees with me.

Today I had a wonderful lunch of ham sandwiches on baguettes and pan fried noodles with my English teacher Mr. McGraw and his wife Celeste and their three intelligent and homeschooled children. Molly, the oldest, is trying to decide whether to homeschool or attend school next year, which was part of the reason he invited me over. We discussed everything from baseball to math and music and writing. It actually made me really homesick because they reminded me so much of me, mama and papa and Tory (my sister). The little girl, Annie (9), had her face buried in a book when I came, just like at home. I miss my family incredibly -- a fact manifested by the sight of such a happy and close homeschooling, word-oriented American family. But I'm having tons of fun and being very good and proper and all that stuff. [There actually are some nice, good-looking guys here.]

I guess I must leave you because I have to finish my homework (it's already 10 pm). Thanks to all who have sent packages and letters. It is so nice to get mail!

Love,
Julie

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Note from Julie's parents about finding a host family: Julie is in France through the School Year Abroad Program (www.SYA.org). Kids from public and private schools throughout the United States go abroad through this organization. They found a family for her by reading her letters and application, which told about her preferences. She wanted nonsmokers and definitely "siblings" of whatever ages. She had written on the application about some of her experiences and aspirations. The applicant's parents are also asked to fill out extensive questionnaires that describe their family structure and their son or daughter's strengths, weaknesses and general character.

The match between Julie and her host family has turned out to be an excellent one.

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Please send questions or comments to bbruno@snet.net.