An Overseas Family

All of the host families here in France welcomed us into their homes and offered us more food than we could ever possibly eat.

My family of four, the Cadignans, live in the “country.” When they first told me this, I expected cows and rolling hills, in reality it was just a twenty minute train ride from the city to a tiny town called Ecommoy.

Throw away your typical idea of French homes being super small; that only exists in Paris. Their four bedroom, two story house has plenty of space, a giant flatscreen and a decent sized kitchen with a view.

My host sister’s name is Oceane, and she is 16 years old. Jean-Louis and Sophie are her amazing parents. She also has a twenty-year-old brother, Aaron. He is an exact replica of Jean-Louis, who is from Martinique.

I was warmly welcomed into their home and have perfected the phrase: “No I am not hungry, yes I am tired, no I am not thirsty.” They worry over me constantly and thankfully find my nervousness amusing.

All exchange students brought gifts for their host-families and the first thing I did after arriving at their house was whip out the gifts. Stuffed into my suitcase was a cookie cutter in the shape of the United States, a cardinals hat and shirt, three boxes of candy and a Hubba Bubba role of gum tape.

It went over very well, American candy is hard to find and expensive in France so Oceane immediately dove into box one of four. While I finished unpacking, Oceane sprinted upstairs to her room and reemerged five minutes later sporting her St. Louis Cardinals gear and exclaimed, “Look I’m American now!” I wholeheartedly agreed.

To my surprise, Jean-Louis is a major fan of Sia, Sam Smith and almost all top American hits. American music is very popular in France. You are more likely to walk into a store and hear Bruno Mars than a French singer.

The first day, they took me to an Italian restaurant and smiled the entire time as I stuttered through explanations on St. Dominic, my family and my hobbies. They were particularly interested that I played golf at school and on the way home, Sophie excitedly pointed out their local golf course.

Dinner is always a three course meal and the entire family sits down to discuss what happened during the day. It is an event and always entertaining to watch their gestures and expressions while they talk at 90 miles per hour.

During my second night, Sophie googled St. Louis to find its population and it turned into an hour long virtual tour of St. Dominic, O’Fallon and the popular St. Louis attractions like the Botanical Gardens and Busch Stadium.

I was asked a variety of questions about American culture and of course about my opinion on President Trump, but my favorite question was: “Do you have burgers bigger than the BigMac in America?” That one stumped me a little.

We had conversations about American holidays as well. My favorite reaction happened after showing my host-family a picture of our fully decorated Christmas tree. My family goes all out with four different kinds of lights and we cover almost every inch of space on the nine foot tree with ornaments.

Oceane is a serious cross-country runner. Le Lycée Notre Dame does not have organized sports teams, which is normal for French schools. So that means no soccer fields, only a couple badminton courts. The most common sports questions I answered revolved around Friday night football games and cheerleaders.

Oceane is, in every sense of the word, bubbly. She has a seemingly endless amount of friends, limitless amounts of patience for my French and constantly wears a smile. I could not have asked for a better person to guide me through these crazy two weeks and I hope to form a life-long relationship.