By Zoe Robinson
For most of this year’s fall semester, there was someone missing from the sophomore class. Ansley O’Brien had left us for a semester away at Notre Dame International High School about 30 minutes outside of Paris. She returned to Lovett in January, though she did have to pop back over there for two weeks in January to take her final exams.
The idea of studying abroad wasn’t actually her own. After her sister went to a college semester away at the American University of Paris, her mom was curious to see what high school opportunities could await her younger daughter.
Initially, she didn’t realize the school wasn’t in Paris, so Ansley was surprised to see that her home for the semester would be in the town of Rosny-sur-Seine. “It’s very secluded,” she told me, saying that it’s about a 30-minute train ride from Paris, and has a much smaller population.
The school’s campus was “a chateau, which is like a castle,” she explained. However, she didn’t get to live out her royal dreams, because dorms were in the “regular” building. The house rules were also much stricter than what she was used to with her parents.
Fortunately, however, she was able to live out her American girl in Paris dream on the weekends. “I met a girl at school who was from Chicago, and we rented an apartment in Paris together,” she told me. They lived there on the weekends along with the other girl’s grandfather. Together the three of them made a small family, with one of their favorite activities being making “huge dinners” completely from scratch.
Ansley described herself as a picky eater, but said overall eating in France was pretty good, and the food was much healthier and less processed than food here. When she went to the grocery store, she was able to see a letter-grade health ranking from A-E on each product, so she was able to see what she was actually buying. Ansley even said the difference was noticeable just by taste, and that she actually felt healthier just by eating those things for an extended period of time. When it came to food at the school canteen, she said you just have to suck it up and eat.
NDIHS was also different from many exchange programs because it wasn’t just for American students. There were only four American kids there, and the rest came from 21 different countries around the world. It was the perfect combo: she was able to make great friends with people she could share similarities with, and befriend great people she normally wouldn’t get a chance to.
The students also had multiple class trips across France, including “excursions to Paris.” Ansley, who dreams of living in Paris, was equally excited to go to other cities and sites as well. “I wanted to have more than Paris, because I feel like it’s a very touristy city… especially over holidays, like Christmas.”
The French daily student schedule was also quite different from what she was used to here at Lovett, beginning around 8:30 and ending at 4. The class periods and breakdown were also different; Ansley would have fewer than our 5 classes per day but the periods would be over an hour long and she had a much shorter lunch break. The grading system was also different; French kids receive points out of 20 instead of 100, and teachers are much tougher graders. “11/20 is really good, and a 16/20 is considered exceptional.”
NDHIS’s school breaks were also routine: they had six straight weeks of school, and then would get a weeklong break. Ansley described these breaks as “making it really clear in our brains” by being so methodical. They were also helpful to her, because she was able to come home just in the nick of time to experience fun times with her friends, like PDC and Halloween.
Though she was expecting to be significantly homesick, Ansley actually found herself thriving while living away from home. She “barely spoke” to her parents during her time away, and often found herself so busy with other things at school that it barely fazed her.
That doesn’t mean she didn’t sometimes feel culture shock, often over “the little things you don’t think about”. Going from hearing English all the time to it being a rarity was a bigger factor than she’d originally thought. The American dishes and snacks she was used to also weren’t as common for her, and she recounted a time that she rushed to the grocery store to get hamburger buns because they didn’t have bagels.
As far as the rumors about French animosity towards Americans go, Ansley didn’t find that it was a problem for her. “Kids realize you’re American and think it’s really cool, and they wanna talk to you in English,” she explained. The hype around the cool American kid made her an interesting figure to non-American students and made it easier to attract friends.
When it came time for her return to Lovett, Ansley was excited to come back, but she also found it difficult to say goodbye. The school held a special party for semester students who were leaving, where she got to say goodbye to the home she’d had for the past few months and the friends she’d made along the way. It was a great experience overall and she bid a bittersweet au revoir to NDIHS.
