From October 16 to the 29^th, 18 students from Toulouse, France, visited George Mason, living with their host families, attending classes, shopping at malls, and visiting museums. In March, the French students will return the favor as Masonites will visit Toulouse. Lasso Online reporter and foreign exchange student Camille Christophel, herself from France, accompanied the guests during their exchange and filed this diary of observations. 

By Camille Christophel (November 10, 2003)

The French students took off on Wednesday, October 29th, after being at school with their American hosts, one last day.

On Sunday, the French Students were taken by their hosts to the International Picnic.

They could meet a lot of Americans, and win some prizes in the lottery. Visitors Camille and Marie said, "It was great, we laughed, and we tried to speak in English."

Each day during the week they visited museums like the National Gallery of American Art, American History Museum, Smithsonian Museum, Air and Space Museum, and to finish on Monday with the "most shocking," the Holocaust Museum. Said Sandrine, "It is the one that marked us the most, while shocking us, because it is very close to our history studies in France."

On Friday, the first week ended with the pep rally. Elodie exclaimed, "It was crazy, and we had so much fun. Why don’t we have the same thing at our school? We need fun!"

On Saturday, there was Homecoming. The first part was The football game. Antoine and Herve said, "It was like the movies, with the cheerleaders, the band, the mascot." And later, at 9.00 pm, the dance part.

The "Frenchies" had brought everything to dress up. The dresses for the girls, the suits for the boys. Some girls went to the manicure store with their hosts. Helene said, "We don’t have events like that in France, so we didn’t know what would happen."

"It was great, everyone really loved it." "The Red Carpet (Homecoming Dance) was SENSATIONAL."

They also liked the shopping malls. The girls said, "We needed almost one day to go in every store at Tyson’s Corner!" Visitor Herve said, "The life in the United States isn’t that expensive, but fortunately the end of our trip was coming because nobody had money anymore."

About the families, living for few days with a real American family, our own French exchange student, Camille Christophel said, "They make it easier forthe integration into the country, and with the language." The students enjoyed their time at school. The differences are huge. All the French visitors agreed that, "The American School is nice. The students have freedom, and the teachers trust them! And about the level? Easier than in France!" You really want to learn when you are feeling good in an area."

When I asked them, what did they prefer in their stay, the answers were, "the school bus," "the limousines," "the pep rally," "the cars," "Starbucks Coffee," " the school," "the shopping malls," and "Victoria’s Secret."

On Wednesday, October 29th, about 7.30 pm, at the airport, we could see the tears, the sad faces…
Sadness for both, American and French. But the smiles will come back, because next spring, from March 27th until April 11th, the Americans from George Mason will take the plane, for "le Vieux Continent".

At Dulles, at 9.00 pm, the last silhouette disappeared. And in the distance, we heard a French voice saying, "It was a movie all along the trip"