No, They Don't Hate Us: ARHS Student Heads to France to School

Eileen McNicholas learned quite a few things while she was in France; among them, the French do think Americans are religious, ignorant and arrogant, and also, the French don't usually say the word "whatever."

It would be nice to say you spent part of the summer in the south of France. McNicholas did just that, spending three weeks in Nice.

The senior, through the EF School, lived with a French family and six other girls from all over the world while studying there. McNicholas' French teacher, Madame Osepchuk, has taken students for many years to France, and inspired McNicholas to want to go.

"I had a few hours of French lessons at the school each day," said McNicholas, who is currently enrolled in AP French, "and the rest was left for the beach, shopping or clubs. I made some great friends."

All Americans want to know: do the French really hate us? 

McNicholas said her perception was that no, they do not, but generally think Americans are very religious, arrogant and ignorant (especially about geography).  

"Europeans generally are very genial people who love to meet Americans," she said, "and as soon as they see you are not the stereotype, they will accept you. Though the French are rather more snobbish than in other European countries, they do not hate Americans. 

"Most Europeans, at least those whom I have met, think the English language and americans are cool. However the same may not be true of their parents, who have different bias."

In fact, she liked it so much that she's going back and will attend school there for a year after graduation. Through the Rotary International Exchange Program, she'll be sponsored by the living with a French family while receiving an allowance from the Rotary to pay basic expenses. She'll be attending a French public high school and living in the south of France, in the midi-Pyrenees region. 

"I will be studying normal high school courses but of course in French," said McNicholas. "It will be very similar to the experience of the foreign exchange students who come here." 

McNicholas is the only student from Algonquin headed to France for school next year, and said she chose to go because "people rush into college, and majors and jobs without really exploring first."

"You are only young once," she said. "As many have told me, it is much easier to learn a language when you are young and immersed in it. That is one of the biggest reasons I am doing this—to give me a productive year before college, where I can focus on becoming fluent in french and learning a new culture, and simply learn in general and attend school and live without the pressures of the American system." 

McNicholas plans to attend a university in Canada in 2013-2014, and plans to pursue something in the biology and/or medical field. 

"Though, again, I have many interests in literature, economics, and psychology/sociology and thus am not yet sure, and I am fine with that," said McNicholas "I would like to explore for a little while longer."

And that, she will do.