Find out what is beyond your own school, community, and country! As one of the oldest and largest international student exchange organizations, ASSE is able to offer the most comprehensive programs with the lowest possible fees.
When my high school French teacher announced to my class she was organizing a twoweek trip to France over the summer, Parisian accordions set the beat to my sudden fantasies about castles, French boys, and mouth-watering cuisine. Then she revealed the cost, totally killing my vibe. At dinner that night I mentioned the over-priced trip to my parents, triggering my super mom to begin weeks of CIA-esque research on study abroad programs. We finally settled on ASSE, completed the application process and on August Ist was on my way to France for a year!
PIE, the French program partnered with ASSE, warmly received roughly around 80 exchange students from around the world for an exciting orientation week in Paris. During orientation I became really good friends with other ASSE exchange students, did lots of sightseeing, and received a very useful debriefing on how to blend seamlessly into French culture.
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After orientation week, one of the awesome PIE employees helped me get on a direct train from Paris to Tours, where my host family awaited me. Travel light guys, don't attempt to haul two 60 pound duffel bags through the Paris metro system like I did. I wouldn’t wish that on anybody.
I arrived at the Tours train station welcomed by Bertrand, my hilarious host dad. Then I met my 15 year old host brother Florian, my 17 year old host sister Julie, and my host mom Catherine. Although living with my host family was at times challenging, I will forever treasure how they welcomed me into their lives. Nothing is more awkward than being caught in the middle of a full‐fledged family feud, especially if half the words they’re yelling sound like absolute gibberish to you. Just remember, your host families have volunteered to open up their homes and private lives to you, I strongly recommend you treat this degree of vulnerability with your upmost respect. My host mom is one of the strongest entrepreneurs and most caring mothers I have ever met. My host sister and I honestly couldn’t have been more different. She could guess the cologne someone was wearing off the top of her head. I didn’t even own cologne. When I jokingly begged her to teach me how to put make‐up on she pulled out 6 pages of hand‐written instructions and asked me if I had my pen and paper ready to take notes. Slowly, she became one of my closest friends and I miss the daylights out of her.
I personally didn’t find it very challenging to adapt to French culture. Granted, I had a pretty solid support system back home and was surrounded by really kind students in my French high school. Although I was a Senior in the U.S. I was placed with Juniors in my new high school. In French high schools you have to pick an area of interest in which you take specific courses. I was placed in L, or the literature, writing, reading, and foreign language intensive area.
My first days of school exceeded my expectations. Some of my classmates recall laughing that they could tell I was foreign as soon as I said my name for the teacher. I went up to my teachers individually after class to explain to them in broken French that I couldn’t actually speak their language. Most of them were really kind, and we got along just fine throughout the whole year. A couple of my classmates came up to me right after the first day of class and offered to show me around Tours that afternoon. I got along with most of the people in my class just fine. I got the impression that French high schoolers tend to be a little cliquey so although I did become really good friends with a few of my classmates I went out of my way to get to know everyone else in my class. Generally both the faculty and students were unbelievably friendly and made me feel like a queen, no joke. It was pretty great.
The friendships I made with both French students and exchange students were definitely the highlight of my time there. Learn to be open to differing priorities and perspectives. The French not only communicate with a different language than my own but as a culture share a unique mentality. Talking to my French friends and other exchange students who could care less about GPAs, ACT scores, or college acceptance letters was incredibly refreshing. I feel so fortunate to have been able to live abroad as an exchange student. You can learn a lot about yourself and the world when talking about life goals, fears, and stories with people who lead distinct existences. Don’t think twice about questioning why you consider some aspects of your existence meaningful and other meaningless. Don’t assume you know about other people's cultures, countries, languages. Think critically about your prejudices before judging others. Learn to find comfort in solitude. Be kind. Be safe. Have fun!yourself and the world when talking about life goals, fears, and stories with people who lead distinct existences. Don’t think twice about questioning why you consider some aspects of your existence meaningful and other meaningless. Don’t assume you know about other people's cultures, countries, languages. Think critically about your prejudices before judging others. Learn to find comfort in solitude. Be kind. Be safe. Have fun!
