My French Family
When I don't sing my assigned lyrics of “parle à ma main,”
Côme playfully yells at me and then continues to laugh. Last summer, Violette
and I had bruises from each other's foreheads, but when we emerged from the
lake water we were too busy laughing at our dramatic fall from the tube to
notice them. I vividly remember my parents laughing when they first heard Lena
speak French with a British accent. I can still recall the sound of Côme,
Violette, and Lena’s fathers laugh when I made a joke about his James Bond car,
but messed up my joke by saying the wrong French word. I can no longer eat jam
that has not been made by Madame Touchard, I still feel her kind touch as she
showed me how she makes her unbelievably delicious homemade jam.
After growing close not only to my French family, but many
other correspondents, the fact that Violette was coming to the USA to study in
UK for a year made leaving a little more bearable. She became part of my family
as she traveled with us during school breaks, and joined my friends and I at
prom.
Exactly one year later, Côme was back in America with my
family for one month, officially part of our family. A young lady I grew close
to after the exchange, Alice, was staying with my close friend Olivia for two
weeks. She and Alice joined Côme and I at Lake Cumberland for five days.
When I returned to France, Alice kindly opened her home to
me for a week. The rest of my three weeks in France was spent with my French
family, the Touchards.
Côme, my exchange student is absolutely hilarious. He is
the perfect travel partner, and never fails to make me smile.
Violette, Côme's sister, is a brilliant young woman who I
look up to. She is always up for talking, laughing, or helping me with my
French.
Lena, Côme's oldest sister, is an independent woman who is
always a pleasure to be around. She always has something wise to say, and her
beautiful smile is uplifting.
Côme's father’s want for learning English is inspiring.
When I see him working in their flower shop with a glowing smile on his face, I
can't help but smile back.
Côme's mother is a kind and understanding beautiful woman,
whom I look up to just as I do with my biological mother.
Alice, my friend who hosted me for a week during the summer
of 2017, is an open minded, hardworking, and honest young woman whom I aspire
to be like one day.
In addition to these wonderful people, I grew close to so
many others whom I am still in contact with. Like the Touchards and Alice, I
could describe exactly why I love them, but this essay would never end.
When I first applied to Sister Cities I knew approximately
50 French words, which is not a lot. However, with working 12 hours a day I was
able to survive in France for 3 weeks. I flew into Paris afraid to make
mistakes, but left knowing that that's the only way to learn a language.
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