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Published on 06/22/1998 All articles from this issue

Local youths study in France through exchange program

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By Scott Fernqvist

Town Crier Editorial Intern

Trying escargot, climbing the Eiffel Tower, and seeing the Mona Lisa are all ingredients for a typical trip to France. However, for a few local youths, France will take on a new identity when they spend three weeks with a native family in the city of Albi this summer.

Monday Eva Kaye and Kate Stober of Los Altos and Elizabeth Jordan of Los Altos Hills left for France as part of the mutual exchange program, Palo Alto Neighbors Abroad.

Albi and Palo Alto have been sister cities for four years through Sister Cities International, which is how long this particular exchange has been in existence.

A total of eight girls from the Bay Area are participating this year. In order to go, each was required to write an essay in French, have an interview (partly in French), and submit two letters of teacher recommendation, said Los Altos resident Lee Cullinan, a member of the Albi Committee of Palo Alto Neighbors Abroad and a past chaperone for the trip.

During the first week of the trip, Kaye, Jordan, and Stober will tour Paris and southern France. The remaining weeks will be spent in Albi, a "real and normal" city approximately the size of Palo Alto, located half way between Bordeaux on the Atlantic Ocean and Montpellier on the Mediterranean.

There, the girls will live in a French household with their respective home-stay families.

"The wonderful thing about this program is the immersion ... The main thing is that they are living a real French life," Cullinan said.

Stober, who attends Castilleja School in Palo Alto, is "eager" to improve her French speaking skills by staying with a family that will most likely not know much English, she said.

Each girl has a female French counterpart with whom she will live while in Albi. The French friend will then travel to America with her Los Altos host. Since the exchange is mutual, the only expenses for the participants are airfare and spending money.

Jordan, a Menlo School sophomore, corresponded with her French "sister," with whom she found to have many things in common. Among similarities, they both have mothers who are teachers.

Kaye said what she is most anticipating about her trip is the language. "I'm a French student, so I'm looking forward to speaking the language, eating the food (cheese), and meeting the girl that I will be staying with."

For more information, call Lee Cullinan at 948-3338.