A Reflection on my Experience on the French Exchange

5 January 2011

This morning, I returned from France while on the French exchange.  I had been there for about three and a half weeks, and I must say, it was a very interesting experience.  Before leaving for France, I had never been out of the United States before.  It was a very cool experience to be completely immersed in an entirely different culture.  I stayed with a boy named Martin Dupont.  Martin lives in Paris, France with his parents, and his two sisters, Amelie and Andree.  They live in a pretty big apartment in Paris.  It was very nice.  He and his family were very nice and showed me around France.  We went to the Louvre, where we saw the Mona Lisa, Liberty Leading the People, and The Raft of the Medusa (three famous paintings at the Louvre) , the Eiffel Tower, and the Notre Dame Cathedral.  After our sightseeing, Martin's family took me to a fancy French restaurant, where I had Basil Salmon Terrine, or "Terrine de Saumon au Basilic" as they say in France.  This trip was a lot of fun, as I was exposed to true French society, art and architecture, as well as the French people themselves.  Martin is 15 years old, and attends secondary school (the French equivalent to American high school).  Martin also attends private school, which, like most other French private schools, is Roman Catholic.  One day, while in school with Martin, his teacher, who was French but also a fluent English speaker, was talking to me about the United States.  She asked me questions such as: "How is living in the United States?", "What is school like in the United States?", as well as some other things.  I explained to her what life was life in America, and she gave me some pretty interesting facts.  She said that the French consume 50.68 percent less oil and 44.08 percent less electricity than Americans.  Also, in France, you live about 2.85 years longer than in America.  In terms of career and money, the French have a 4.3 percent greater chance of being unemployed than Americans, and make about 29.31 percent less money than the average American.  I thought it was intriguing to find out these sort of statistics of another country other than my own.  It was also nice to talk with a non-United States citizen about my country.  Being able to talk about that with someone who really cannot relate was a great experience.  At Martin's home, the rooms were generously sized, similar to the size of the rooms at my own home.  Martin told me that many homes are sized as his is in France.  France is a well-developed nation, so, many of its people enjoy these types of homes and schools.  Spending this time in France was a wonderful and enriching experience and I hope I get to go back someday!


**Below are some pictures from my trip!**

Above is a picture of Martin's house.  Many apartment buildings in France look like this.

Above is Martin's kitchen.

Martin's mother made this for dinner one night.  It is called Basil Salmon Terrane.