Life in France

**We are SUPER excited to welcome our daughter, Katreina, to the writing staff of the family blog!!!**

Happy Holidays, everyone! As we are coming up on the New Year, I’ve started to reflect back on my time in France. If you don’t know by now, I’m currently taking an exchange year in France for my 10th grade year of high school. I’ve been here for about four months now, and every moment is one that I will cherish forever.

Orientation in Paris included the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, and a cruise on the River Seine!

WHERE DID I GET THE IDEA?

I came up with this idea around the age of 10, when my love for Harry Potter made me dream about living my life in England. As I got older, I told my parents about my desire to spend an exchange year in England, to which they blatantly said no. They explained to me that while it was amazing to have a desire to travel, they wouldn’t send me to another country for an entire year where I already knew the language (which, I mean, fair enough). So, with my want to do an exchange year still high, I started thinking of different countries I could go to. I almost immediately thought of France, as I had spent my 7th grade year learning French in school, and it was up there on the list of countries I wanted to got to. This was just at the beginning of COVID, and with lockdowns and basically sitting around doing nothing, I said “why not?” and started to intensely learn French. 

Flash forward almost two years later, I’m speaking a new language in a new world, surrounded by some of the nicest people I’ve ever met. I live with an entirely different family, and I’m living an entirely different life. To some (or maybe to many), that would scare them to death—and there have been times where all I’ve wanted to do is go back to the U.S.—but I’m loving this journey. I’m learning to be independent, to make my own decisions and to find myself, all while learning a new language. It really is something you’re able to experience only once in a lifetime and everyday I’m grateful that things have worked out well for me.

TRANSPORTATION

I live in Tours, France. It’s a relatively big town, and I live close to its city center. There is a lot of public transportation, so I can go almost anywhere I’d like. It’s a very big change from my remote life on a boat, but I love being able to be very independent when I need to go somewhere. I don’t have to ask for a ride places, I can just look at the bus schedule and leave when I need. 

L' Hôtel de Ville of Tours 

The tram...to school and around town.

SCHOOL

My school schedule is amazing. Most days, I finish by 3 o’clock in the afternoon, which gives me most of the afternoon to do what I want. I have 10 classes (each with varying hours throughout the week): English, French, History & Geography, Math, Physics & Chemistry, Earth & Life Sciences, Technology Sciences, Social & Economical Sciences, Civics, and P.E. I would have 11, but early into the school year, I was removed from Spanish since I had never previously studied it. I have more than an hour and a half to eat lunch everyday (and Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, I go back to my house to eat), so I never feel rushed like I did in the U.S. My grades are on average, and as time moves on here, I’m slowly getting better and better grades. School is definitely more professional than in the U.S. We refer to the teachers with vous (you but when referring to more than one person, someone you don’t know, or someone who is superior to you- in this case, we use vous because teachers are superior to students) and every time a teacher enters the classroom, we stand up and wait to be seated by the teacher. In the U.S., teachers are much more friendly, but here teachers are never ‘friends’ with the students.  It’s definitely different, but it’s nice to experience this type of change. One big difference that even French kids don’t like about high school is the fact that there aren’t school sports, prom, or anything like that. Most of these things are solely in the U.S., so many kids here want to go to the States for one year just to experience it. All in all, though, I really like high school here, even if the classes are a little more challenging.

FREE TIME

After school, and during my free time, I’ve become much more social. I usually like to walk around town with friends or my host sister (who is the same age as me). Sometimes we’ll have a small coffee in town, grab a bite to eat, or browse clothing stores. I also really enjoy going to the movies and just in general talking to the people I know. Their lives contrast greatly to the normal that I know and it’s nice to hear about their experiences. I love hearing and talking about the differences between the States and France because I can learn all the things that I’m missing- and gaining- while I’m living here. 

Croqué Monsieur with friends...dining out around town is a favorite activity.

HOST FAMILY

Most of all, I am very lucky to have a kind and loving host family. In my host family, I have a mom and dad and two sisters—one my age, and one who is six years old. I know several other exchange students who haven’t had as much luck as I have and to have a really great connection with my host family is great. They have been truly nice to me (even buying me Christmas gifts when I couldn’t go back to the Bahamas to spend Christmas with my family) and they make sure that I don’t miss out on any French experiences. They help me with my French when I can’t pronounce a certain word (for the moment it’s the special r sound in horrible), and now I help them with their English. I am truly content to be placed with this family; I would never think about changing families.

Ma famille. Love learning about France with my sisters, Margaux and Romy!

IS IT WORTH IT?

While this is only a sliver of what my life is like in France, I can promise that every second is amazing. There have definitely been tears and homesickness (especially during the holidays) but every day I’m learning how to cope and appreciate living in the moment. I don’t want to go back to the U.S. just yet…I still have so much to experience and so much to learn. And while my French has definitely improved, I don’t think I’m quite ready to call myself bilingual. All of this is a learning experience, so if you ever have the opportunity to do something like it, I would 100% say GO FOR IT!!

~Katreina, 2nd Mate and young nomad extraordinaire