by Geoffrey Wertime, The Packet Group
ALLENTOWN — A tack in the map clearly marked the location of the town in the north of France where the visitors go to school.
Despite that distance, the 20 French students and their 20 American host students at Allentown High School showed an impressive melding of cultures Friday as they huddled together in groups, chatting like old friends after just days together.
Messages of “thank you” and “merci” covered the classroom’s white board next to Allentown French teacher Barbara Lehman, who cooked crepes as a goodbye treat just hours before a plane was to return the visitors to France.
”Just to see these (messages) makes it all worthwhile,” Ms. Lehman said. “It’s been a very hard week organizing event after event, but it’s so gratifying.”
Only a week earlier, the French students and their teachers arrived in the country to spend the weekend with their host families. Each French student stayed with an American student. On alternate years, Allentown High students visit Grande-Synthe, near Dunkirk in France, with the same arrangement.
Laurent Dalmasso, an English teacher at the French school, said the situation is ideal because it allows the exchange students to speak English all the time while they’re here.
While the visitors had the chance to visit New York and Washington, D.C., they all said they were most excited by the international friendships they had the chance to make.
Ms. Lehman said the campus was abuzz about the program, and text messages asking about the visitors began circulating within five minutes of their arrival on school grounds March 23.
And the students themselves, all speaking in English, were anything but shy about their enthusiasm for the exchange.
Allentown junior Alexa Chiafullo, 17, said hosting a student “has been the best experience ever.
”I really didn’t know how to react to having a French exchange student at first, but it really changes your perspective on your life,” she said.
Despite not having studied French, Alexa said she picked up enough about the language and culture while hosting junior Helena Serra, and she tremendously enjoyed their shared experiences.
For her part, Helena, who had never been to America before, said she was surprised by the friendliness of Allentown students.
”In the school, other students say ‘hi’ and smile to us,” she said. “I didn’t think the students would be so nice to us.”
Her favorite thing about America, she said, was the plentiful array of cereals, particularly Lucky Charms, which Alexa said had her friend “awestruck” when they visited a Target store.
Helena said she also was impressed by recently inaugurated President Barack Obama.
”I would like him to be the French president,” she said, while describing her dislike of French President Nicholas Sarkozy. “We need a Barack Obama!”
Yorick Martenache, a classmate of Helena’s, said he thinks the new president gives the country a better image.
”George Bush made a bad impression,” he said.
Yorick expressed a passion for American cars, which he said are “more big and more beautiful” than French models. He had been to America before on a trip to Las Vegas three years ago, but said he still was surprised by certain cultural differences such as how students here greet each other with a nod or a wave.
In France, students generally begin giving the customary greetings of shaking hands or kissing cheeks in middle school.
French senior Cyriac Lemaire, 17, said he had no particular expectations of how people would be before arriving and was very happy with how things turned out.
Cyriac’s host was 17-year-old American Connor Ross, a junior in Allentown. Connor said the exchange was “the best thing that ever happened” to him, and he didn’t want to give his host brother up.
Sara Counds, a senior at Allentown, was one of those who participated in the program last year, too.
”There were a lot of culture differences, and I’m sure (the French students) are experiencing the same thing,” she said.
She and many other students described the French school as considerably stricter than AHS.
Pauline Mehuys, a 17-year-old senior in France, said she was surprised by the freedom of American students, who are sometimes allowed to eat in class, speak more freely and even leave campus, all which are not allowed at her school.
”I just wanted to discover the American way of life and compare it to France,” she said. “It’s very different.”
One of many French teens who met the AHS students in France last year, she said she was surprised to find Americans snack between meals and didn’t find the average diet very balanced.
Celine Colliez, Pauline’s classmate, agreed, saying she prefers French food, but enjoyed Allentown High.
”I think the lessons are cooler,” she said. “The teachers are friendlier to students.”
Ms. Lehman, who has taught French at the school for 26 years, smiled as the students milled about. She started the exchange program in 1988 and said she considers it “the unsung jewel of Allentown.
”You see the bonds that are here,” she said. “Those bonds never break.”

