In October, a group of French exchange students came from their country to visit the United States. This was sponsored by John Carroll, but two North Harford students also hosted people.
Senior Aiden Jablon hosted two girls his age for a week. He said, “My experience was fun, and I got to learn a lot about French culture. While most of the time was fun, it was also hard because of the language barrier.”
Jablon explained they had a lot of similarities because “they were his age.” Although they could connect, there were issues because of the translation between two languages. The student shared, “There were issues with food, because one of the girls was vegetarian so we had to communicate to work that out.”
The most interesting thing he learned about French culture was the difference in fashion. Jablon claimed, “in the United States, it is much more relaxed, but in France they are very stylish and they dress up even just for school.”
The funniest moment the senior remembered was when the French students tried to teach him “how to say the word ‘blanket’ in French.”
His favorite thing they did was hiking with the other host families. He said, “having more people in my house wasn’t anything different, because I am already used to having a lot of people in my house with my big family.”
Along with Jablon, French teacher Mrs. Larissa Arist also hosted two girls and “had a fantastic experience.” This wasn’t her first time hosting; she also hosted students from Japan and Ukraine in the past.
Arist said, “overall, I loved having students in our home to teach them our culture in America and allow them to have experiences they haven’t had before.” She also explained, “their personalities made it so easy and comfortable to get along. The conversations flowed, and being fluent in the language made everything go over smoothly.”
The teacher shared, “one of our girls specifically had a good mastery of English already, so she did just fine everyday communicating and understanding. I saw the other student’s language grow so much even in just a week.”
She said her favorite memory was when she offered them to try a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Arist shared, “their eyes were the widest I had ever seen, and they were very hesitant to try the sandwich. In the end, they were not a fan and ended up having carrots and fruit for lunch.”
Arist hosted students Raphaelle Couly and Marie Havart. Both of them shared that their favorite activity they did throughout the whole week was “doing a bonfire in the backyard.”
Couly explained, “the biggest culture change I saw was the school system being different with every aspect, and also the fact that everything is so big, like houses, food, malls, and more.”
Havart shared, “understanding people varied because sometimes, Americans talk really fast and it is very hard to keep track of what they say.” They both truly enjoyed seeing “the New York City buildings and environment because it was so incredible and different.”
