SYA in France

Hello, again! This week, I wanted to talk about differences I’ve noticed as a student living in France versus in America. I know that School Year Abroad (SYA) isn’t the same as a French high school, and that Exeter is a boarding school, which isn’t the case for all schools in America, so I tried to use examples that I thought applied to most high school students in each country while speaking from my own experiences.

Dinner:

When I’m at Exeter, I like eating dinner at 5 PM. I love early dinner.  (However, as my friend likes to remind me, 5 PM is usually a time for an elderly crowd.) In France, dinner is much later and much more important in a daily routine. I now eat dinner with my host family at 8 or 8:30 PM, and it always lasts for over an hour. Part of this comes, I think, from the fact that the French still loosely hold onto courses (so my family has the main dish, salad, cheese and dessert), but it’s also seen as an extremely important time to see and interact with members of your family. Mealtimes are social in America, but I’ve found that in France, they’re a much more important daily event. Also, dinner ends the day here. After dinner, my host family clears the table, watches a bit of TV, and goes to bed. I’ll usually watch a bit of TV with them and do any leftover homework, but anything I do after dinner feels like tying up loose ends. As I said before, 5 PM is my preferred dinner time, so I thought late dinners would be one of the most challenging adjustments in coming here.  Yet, I’ve found that a good meal and interesting conversation with people you care about has been a really great way to end the day.

Clubs:

Club are important parts of any American high school. Most schools offer many extracurricular opportunities either run by faculty or run by students with faculty advisors. When preparing for France, I knew that SYA had some clubs like Model United Nations (MUN) and a literary magazine, but I didn’t know what to expect beyond that. During the first week, SYA handed out a magazine with lists of cooking classes, art classes, music lessons and sports options.  We have the option of joining one or two. I was surprised that the school expected us to find and do extracurriculars in the city, but I knew that the SYA France school was pretty small (only 60 students).  Although I miss the American clubs, I’ve enjoyed my weekly art class, and I like doing something outside of campus with people I don’t know.

Those were the two things that have stood out to me the most so far (three weeks in!). Again, if you have any questions about SYA that you’d like to be answered in this column, just email me at my Exeter email, pehrgood@exeter.edu. I hope you enjoyed learning a little more about France!