Travelling is something that I am really passionate about and enjoy doing. I love learning how to speak different languages and exploring a culture that is totally different from Canada. I am fortunate to have been given the opportunity to be a part of an exchange to France with the Canadian Educational Exchange Foundation (CEEF). With the exchange, you submit an application about yourself and then they pair you up with someone in the country you are visiting. Your partner lives with your family for 3 months - from August to November - so they can learn English. Then in February, you get to live with your exchange family until the end of April. I got matched with an awesome and lovely girl named Margaux Vottero. She stayed with our family and attended Westdale Secondary School. Then I attended Le Lycée de Diois - Margaux’s school - for 3 months. Having Margaux stay with my family was amazing. We went to so many interesting places and I was able to see her perspective on Canada.
I’m so happy to have been given the opportunity to have this exchange experience. Margaux brought so much joy into our lives. She’s friendly, kind, enthusiastic and outgoing. As a Canadian citizen, I love and am proud of my country. We have a vibrant art scene, an interesting history, culture, diverse society, beautiful nature and wildlife. I was honoured to have been able to get that chance to show Margaux around my favourite parts of Canada. We went to Ottawa, Montreal, Kingston, my family’s cottage, Toronto and around Hamilton. I’m so excited to go to France. I’m excited to try different things and learn so much. I would totally recommend this exchange to anyone that was interested. You get the chance to learn a new language, culture and make an amazing new friend.
Going to France was an amazing experience. I lived in a town called Die with 5,000 people. I wasn't used to this considering I have lived in Hamilton my entire life. I had the chance to attend school while I was there. School in France was a little different than Canada. For starters school in France starts at 8 in the morning and normally ends at 5pm. This was a hard adjustment, especially since I am very much not a morning person. In France, they are not semestered. Instead, the schedule changes every day. You are put in a class and go to all your classes together. Also, the classes go on for much longer than classes in Canada. For example, my French class was 2 hours long. Unlike Canadian schools, in France, the classes you have to take are mandatory courses. You have to take French, English, Earth and Space Sciences, Physics, Chemistry, Gym, History, Geography and Mathematics. You can also take language courses like Latin, Spanish, Italian or Germany, but I did not because I had no experience with these languages. Wednesday was a special day. I got to take an optional literature and society course. We had a half-day on Wednesday of school, this meant school ended at 12. However, I got the chance to take an art class. The class was 3 hours Wednesday afternoon. The courses in France were quite harder than in Canada. It was a bit of a learning curve for me. Luckily none of my marks counted for my classes in France.
Also in France, there’s a lot of rules you must abide by that are different from Canadian schools. When the teacher walks in at the start of class you have to stand up. The teacher waits until everyone is standing. Then they tell you to sit down. In school, you aren't allowed to use your phone at all times. You can’t eat in class, socialize or use the bathroom.
The teachers aren't like the teachers in Canada. They care about their students, but they are less warm than Canadian teachers. They are there to teach you, but they are less adaptive like Canadian teachers. This is because the courses in France aren't academically streamed into Academic, Applied etc. In France, the teachers are quite strict. They are there to teach, but they aren't like how teachers in Canada are willing to talk with students about the problems they face. The teachers were really nice to me and were very understanding considering I wasn't used to the school there.
I was the first student from outside of Europe to ever go to their school. It was quite the honour. For the first time in my life, this made me quite popular, it was a nice feeling. Everyone wanted to know things about Canada. People thought that since I wasn't from Quebec that was French was really good. My Gym teacher thought I was from Italy and my art teacher thought I was from Germany. I thought it would be cool to play along and live a double life.
In France, we had a mandatory assignment where we calculated our household’s carbon footprint. It was interesting to see how just one family’s actions could affect the environment so much. I also attended my first climate change protest in Die. This helped me to learn more about climate justice and was the start of my passion for climate activism. I learned that no one is too young to make a change.
While I was in France I got to ski in the Alps. I ate lots of excellent cheese. I went to Paris and was grateful to visit Notre-Dame before it burned down. I visited the sea for one of our holidays. I learned how they make salt and swam in the Mediterranean Sea in April like a crazy person. I also got to see a play in Grenoble.
Overall going on exchange was an amazing experience. It helped me to grow as a person and to improve my French skills. It has had a positive impact on my life. I got to make lots of friends and meet interesting people. If you love adventure, trying new things, learning about a new culture and language, and going out of your comfort zone, I firmly recommend going on an exchange.
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