By Gina Hsu
While most Princetonians were still cleaning up and recovering from Hurricane Sandy, a group of 22 Princeton High School students were already packing their suitcases for a trip across the Atlantic. The trip is part of a biennial exchange hosted by the high schools of Princeton and its sister city, Colmar, in the Alsace region of France.
Colmarian students make the journey first, staying with families in Princeton, and then Princeton students travel, staying a week in their homes. This year, the Colmarians arrived on Oct. 20, staying until Nov. 6, after which we departed on Nov. 7 and returned on the 18th.
The exchange was certainly not without bumps in the road, most notably Hurricane Sandy. The storm caused the cancellation of the French students’ return flight, though I can’t say anyone was too upset by the unexpected extension of the trip. All the families hosting graciously extended their welcome for another week and a half.
Looking back, we realized that this extra week was a gift and a blessing, and perhaps the most crucial reason that our guests truly became our friends. Without Internet or television, we went back to basics: board games, card games and real interaction.
In the days after the storm, we invaded the homes of the few who had power, watching movies together and crossing our fingers for the next “no school” announcement. Though they thanked us for our extended hospitality, perhaps it is us who should be thanking them for their companionship during that dark week.
Suddenly, or so it seemed, we found ourselves on the day of our own departure. In a flurry of flight cancellations due to the quickly approaching nor’easter, we were worried that we would not be able to leave that day. For the first time in the 17 years of my life, I was not ecstatic at the sight of the first snow.
Moved from flight to flight throughout the day, it wasn’t until we rose above the storm clouds in Newark that I could finally breathe.
Arriving in Paris, I was quick to conclude that the city was every bit as amazing as the movies make it seem, and almost every stereotype about it is true, from the quaint sidewalk cafés to the ubiquitous smokers.
Croissants, baguettes and crêpes were the mainstays of our diet. However beautiful the “City of Light” was, we couldn’t wait to get to Colmar, where we would reunite with our French friends. Those four days without them seemed like a month, and we were glad to finally be together again.
We spent a week alternating between taking day trips to nearby cities such as Strasbourg and Freiburg in Germany, and shadowing them throughout the day. It was an interesting inversion, going from being the host to being the guest. I picked up on minute details, some small cultural differences that I would find fascinating, and wondered if they did the same with us while they were with us. It was a fantastic week: we ate well, slept well and spent a lot of time together as a group.
Like all good things, it had to come to an end. It was finally time to say goodbye to our friends — and for much, much longer than four days this time. The farewell was long, teary and bittersweet. While we were devastated to leave, it was incredible to take in how strong our bonds became in the short span of a month.
We speak different languages. We grew up reading different books, watching different movies and listening to different music. We live on opposite sides of a vast ocean, on two different continents, and 3,912 miles apart (give or take a few). And yet, for one month of our lives, we came together and connected, as individuals and as a group. Our differences never hindered us; rather they sparked curiosity produced an endless stream of conversation topics.
I will never forget the sight of the Arc de Triomphe as we emerged from the metro station on our first night in Paris, or watching the lights begin to flicker on across the city from the top of the Eiffel Tower.
But what I will look back on most fondly in a few years are the nights in Princeton playing monopoly together by candlelight, bundled in blankets, or standing on a sidewalk in Colmar, being smothered in hugs and tears as we boarded the bus and headed back home. In those moments, I felt truly lucky to have been a part of this experience.
Gina Hsu is a junior at Princeton High School.
