Author: Lily McFeeters

I have been studying abroad in France for over a month now. My French has improved a lot, but it’s still difficult to speak and understand French all the time. And against what I was told by multiple people before I left, I am not thinking in French, nor am I anywhere close to being fluent. But I’m progressing everyday, constantly learning new words and expressions. It’s difficult but I love it.

What I love even more about my high school abroad experience is the culture and everyday lifestyle here. The country and the city exist right next to each other. I love being able to take a bus after school to Nantes and visit the chateau  or go shopping in the millions of stores, and then take the same bus home and walk 45 minutes past grape farms, and fields, and so much open space. You get the best of everything, which is hard to find back at home.

Life here is a lot less stressful for me than in the U.S. In France, high schoolers don’t kill themselves studying and preparing for college tests. School lasts from 8:00- 6:00 but there is a lot of free time during the day and not a lot of homework. Teachers don’t cram information into their lessons. Students seem to really enjoy what they are learning here, whereas in the U.S., students are just working for a grade, for college. They don’t worry about that as much here, they just focus on what they are trying to learn at that moment.

I love the freedom here. In the U.S, high schoolers are constantly preparing for the future, but we are treated like kids. In school, we have to always be with a class, we can’t go outside, and there are a lot of restrictions put on what we can do. In France, once you get to high school your treated like an adult. When we don’t have class we can do what we want, even leave the school. We are expected to come to class on time, with our books, but as long as we do that there isn’t somebody who has to be constantly watching us. I love having the freedom to actually be responsible for myself.

Also, everybody here is really aware of the environment and how they affect it. In grocery stores they don’t waste plastic by bagging everybody’s purchases. At school, they use real plates and silverware, not plastic or Styrofoam. At home, everybody takes very fast showers to use less water. And it’s very common to have a motorcycle here instead of a car to use less gas. Everybody just does the little that they can to help the Earth. Everything is calm and practical, and besides the fact that it’s all in French, it makes sense.

Today was my first day of school in France, and I’m still in shock at how different everything is. I woke up at 6 :00 a.m., and got dressed just like I would at home. I had cereal for breakfast (apparently here it is common to drink hot milk, and hot cocoa from a bowl) and then I walked to the bus stop with my host sister, Julie. It was still SO dark, the school requires students to wear bright yellow traffic vests-very stylish.

Instead of the yellow school bus I was expecting, a public bus took us to school where we were met by groups of students smoking outside the building- something I never would have seen at home. We then went to the office where I was given my schedule. In the United States, you can choose electives and different level classes, but in France, everybody has one of the same four schedules. I was placed in the 1°L which specializes in language. However, when I told them I had not studied German or Spanish before, they crossed the two classes off my schedule saying I was not required to attend them .

My first class of the day was French ; which is easily the most difficult. Other exchange students in the class who don’t understand bring books more their level, and the teacher asked me to do the same. After that I had English, which of course was very easy, and then a free period. In the U.S if you have a free period you are assigned a classroom and required to stay there, but at the lyceè in France you can go absolutely anywhere you want.

I was very surprised at how basic the material the students are learning is. For example, in my math class the teacher had just taught them how to use ven diagrams! However, the students all seem very fluent in multiple languages. They all know a fare amount of English and most also study either German or Spanish ; which is very different from the U.S where everybody just learns English and possibly one other language.

Just the way everybody acts is very different. You meet somebody for the first time and they give you bisous on the cheeks, everybody is very patient and helpful with my language barriers ; I have no idea where the *french snob* stereotype came from. Another major difference that everybody talks about : THE FOOD ! The cantine (cafeteria) is set up like a restaurant buffet with already-prepared dishes ready for you to choose. And unlike most American high schools, French lycèe food is very good ! On top of that, students have a two hour lunch break, while in the U.S we are only given 30 minutes. Although there school day is much longer, there is so much spare time in between classes, it goes by very fast. Absolutely everything is different, and it’s very interesting. I’m having so much fun !