When Provence meets North Carolina…

Once upon a time…no that’s not a good way to start !

Let’s try another way…let me see…

When Education, Cultural interest, Discovery, Curiosity and above all Friendship mix together and when there is a strong will on both sides to organize a students exchange... then, your life does really change…

That’s the wonderful experience 28 French students and 3 chaperons from Villeneuve-les-Avignon – France - lived during 10 extraordinary days !

A Student’s exchange with North Carolina !

The trip started in Marseille where they flew to Paris and then to Washington DC.

That’s really where the fabulous trip started : Washington, DC…300 years of American History !

The Capitol, Washington Monument, Thomas Jefferson’s Memorial, Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial, Lincoln Memorial, World War Memorial, The White House…

Isn’t it a great way to dive into American’s History ?

I think it is and the 28 students agreed and could, at last, see these beautiful monuments their teachers used to show them on books.

The Air and Space Museum was also one of the highlights of the visit.

Then the whole group headed down to North Carolina State and more precisely to Durham, a beautiful green and flowered city.

After a 5 hour bus ride they met the families and their pen pals at Durham Academy Middle School Campus. Everyone was warmly greeted and their new life, in the skin of an American student, was about to start.

During 8 full days they lived as real Americans do : they went to school with their pen pals, attended a Baseball Game watching the Durham Bulls play, tried good hot dogs, hamburgers and froze yogurts, taking part in the International Day organized by the Durham Academy High School teachers, spent the week-end in their host families, visited places in NC with them…

They could not believe their eyes during their stay.

The American families were wonderful, the French students were spoiled, and I think I can say that friendship here was the key word.

All the French students and chaperons were delighted with their stay. Everything was so great…the weather was nice and sunny, all the people were extremely kind and generous, Durham is a charming city with a lot to do and see…Well what a success this exchange was… I think there is no word strong enough to tell how great it was.

The day we left, eyes full of tears were all the witness needed to know that new bonds were really created and I can say that this wonderful trip will stay in the hearts of all of us for ever.

A special thanks to Mrs Teresa Engebretsen who worked hard on this trip and made it happen in such a wonderful way…

I do hope that this first trip is just the beginning of a long series of other trips…in France and in the USA.

What a wonderful world…