Parlez vous Francais?

By Aaron Storms
GCN Editor

Getting to know our French guest

1/13/2005 - It’s not every day that we are allowed the privilege of having our very own local ambassador from another country. Thanks to the efforts of the Peak-to-Peak and Nancy Rotary Clubs in their International Youth Exchange program, Gilpin County is currently hosting Maria Henner, a 17 year old high school senior from Nancy, France.

  This bright young lady was chosen from fifty of her classmates to represent her town abroad, and has worked hard to improve her English so that she could understand and relate better to her classmates here in the Senior Class at Gilpin High School.

  The way the Rotary-sponsored student exchange program works, is for the student to stay with three local host homes over the nine month school period. Henner stayed with Gail Maxwell for the first of the three terms, and is now staying with Jon & Terreye Lovett in Missouri Lakes for the second term, and will move to her third host family for the final portion of the school year before returning home in June.

  As with any family, things are done differently with each host family home, but the “Four D” rules apply across the board. These are No Drinking, No Drugs, No Dating, and No Driving. While a couple of these may seem a bit harsh for a teenager trying to have fun with friends, the Rotary Clubs have these rules in place to protect the student from any harm. Should these rules not be followed, the local Rotary club has an open-ended plane ticket for the student that can be enacted immediately.

  You can imagine that the language can be a barrier to fitting in well, which has proven to be the case somewhat. Maria was having difficulty keeping up with the fast conversational English at first, so kept fairly quiet and often was considered aloof as she couldn’t enter into the conversation easily. After five months here though, her English has improved tremendously and she easily carries on a conversation with her peers and adults, though the pronunciation often is a bit different.

  When first arriving in Gilpin, she was introduced at the County Fair and was amazed at many things not present in her home town. One impression was that everything is so big, and that cars are needed to get around, unlike her home town of Nancy where you can walk to nearly everything, or at least have public transportation access to within a block of wherever you want to go. The entire country of France is about the size of Texas, so the north eastern area of Lorraine in the state of Meurthe et Moselle where Nancy is located, is relatively small and not terribly unlike the Gilpin area. The Lorraine area was once well known for its metal mining and agriculture. The mining has been played out now for sometime, due to the wars and German control to supply their war efforts, and now farming provides for over half of the areas product, mostly cereal grains. Factories were plentiful in the early part of the century, but as the metal ores played out, the factories were closed. The once well-paid factory workers were left with no jobs and little income, so many are now on state assistance and the younger generation is supporting them through deductions from their own paying jobs.

  Housing in the towns are apartments or patio homes, where patio walls border the home property. Low patio walls are out front, and high walls are out back for privacy.

  Another “big” impression is that food portions are huge here in America, with all you can eat buffets and every possible food available. This might lead one to believe that this is how all Americans always eat, but of course is not typical of most suburban, rural, and smaller communities.

  Sales for every occasion is another Americanism that she likes, as the stores in France only have sales twice a year – in January and in July, and the stores are more specialized and not all encompassing. On Sundays, everything is closed, so people have a chance to get together socially away from work and school settings.

  Having school only four days a week as they do in Gilpin is wonderful in Maria’s eyes, as they attend school six days a week. On Thursdays and Saturdays they only attend morning classes however. Students start pre-school when they are only two years old. When in high school, they have to decide on one of two curriculums. One is a professional studies approach directed towards going to a specific trade or technical school and then quickly into a career. The other is a more academic approach, where students focus on three areas; Literature, Science & Math, and Economics. If the student chooses the general or latter path, they are required to attend college, so most don’t graduate until 24 or 25. The school drop out rate is around 25% says Henner.

  Maria says she has an average of five hours of homework each evening, but the teenagers there do not have jobs as her peers do here. In France, the jobs are few and they would be competing with college graduates. Their classrooms are structured similarly to the way elementary classrooms are set up here, with the same 35 kids per class attending all the various classes as a group. Her school has about 1,200 students in the 15-19 age range, and about 300 in her class and age group. Their school is in a historic old building, which is similar to most of the architecture and buildings in her town.

  There are no school team sports, and no professional sports like football, basketball, and baseball other than soccer, or “footeball.”

  Approximately 70 percent of the population have computers in their households with internet and e-mail access.

  Clothes and music trends are similar to those here in the States.

  Some of the teens favorite television shows are “Friends,” “Sex in the City,” and “The 70’s Show.” A few of Maria’s favorite movies are “The Truman Show,” “Eternal Sunshine,” and “Gattica.” They seem to get all the same shows available here in the States, but many have French voice-overs dubbed in. A favorite game among the teens is to try and identify the various voice-over talent on different shows. It was somewhat different for Maria to get used to the actual American actor’s real voice over here.

  Graduation is made up of checking the graduation list posted on the bulletin board on graduation day, and if they pass, they scream and immediately call home to inform their mothers. That night, the kids all go out to nightclubs to celebrate, as they don’t have graduation ceremonies, gifts, or parties. The drinking age there starts at 16 for beer, and 18 for hard alcohol. There are no commercial aspects related to graduation, such as the t-shirts and rings that are common here.

  Cars and all the related expenses are too much for anyone but the rich and working adults, with gas in the $5-6 per gallon range. Walking, biking, and mass transit is the most common mode of transportation. Teens can get their driving permits at age 16 with a parent along, and their adult license at age 18.

  If you would like to contact Maria to chat or ask some questions, you may contact her via e-mail at mariaho4@nye5450.org.