France Theater, Performance, and Language
Learn more about this Experiment program through the impressions of recent participants.
"Whenever one of the members of my host family left the house for some reason, they always asked me if I would like to come along, and by the end of my homestay I was beginning to feel like I was truly a part of their family. I was having heart-to-heart conversations with my host father (in French), putting my host brother to sleep, helping my host mother make crepes, and walking the dogs every night with my host sister before bed. My host family and I had our own inside jokes, and even now when I talk about them I sometimes slip up and say something like "My mom and I did such and such in France" because I felt so well integrated into their routine. The miraculous thing was that even while I was having the time of my life with my host family, I was learning more about France and the French people without even trying. My French skills and vocabulary obviously improved, but I learned even more than just new words and grammar rules. I learned about how a real French family lives and how they almost never eat out at restaurants, and how they send their children out to do the grocery shopping when just a quick trip to the store to grab one or two things is needed. But most importantly I learned how to become part of the French community, and to live in that community as any other Avignon native would."
-- Katherine Krauss, Greenhills School
