The French exchange students may have said bon voyage for now, but that is not the last of them.

This April, students involved in the French Club will be traveling to France for fourteen days to visit the students that had stayed with them this fall.

“We’re visiting Saint Etienne first do the ‘home stay’ part of our trip. The kids will stay with their French hosts. That will be nine days- then we’ll spend four days in Paris, visiting the area,” French Club advisor Lauren Osepchuk said.

“We’ll go on field trips to local sight-seeing areas like the French students did when they were here. We’ll also spend a few days with them at school shadowing,” president of the French Club senior Thea Hickey said.

The program is run between the Algonquin French Club and Saint Paul’s private high school in Saint Etienne. Saint Etienne is located near one of the largest cities in France, Lyon, near the French Alps.

The goal of the program is to allow students to immerse in different culture and practice language skills in real life situations rather than the traditional classroom setting.

“We go to Paris to do some tourist things like [seeing], of course, the Eiffel Tower and touring Versailles,” said Hickey.

“Besides our stay in Saint Etienne, we will be in Paris to tour major sites including various museums like the Louvre,” member of the French Club junior Alyssa Brady said.

The opportunity presents itself to connect to a variety of students and establish global connections

“We are all so excited; a lot of us have a lot of friends who live in the area from last year’s exchange program, so there will be a lot of reunions,” member of the French Club junior Nicolette San Clemente said.

“This has been very hard to pull together. This is the most meaningful thing for me to have my students live the language and get a chance to see the world and gain more perspective. Hopefully they’ll get to know each other and remain friends afterwards- it’s the whole idea of having a relationship year after year,” said Ospechuk.

Not only is the trip an experience to become more of a global citizen, but it also allows for students to engage in French customs.

“Another really cool thing is that we’ll be there for Easter, so we’ll get to see how they celebrate the holiday,” said Hickey.

We’ll be spending Good Friday through Easter in France. It’s a time to get together with families. It’s the spirit of Lent for these holidays and these meaningful experiences to be grateful for what we have,” said Osepchuk.

As this is the first full year of doing the French exchange program, the French Club is welcoming anyone, French speaking or not, to join.

To go to France students are recommended to learn a minimal amount of French. The cost for the trip is $2,900 but will decrease if more students sign up. Payment plans are available. Everyone is welcome.

For more information, the club meets one to two times a month on Wednesdays in D117 after school.