By Nicholas A., 5th grade French Immersion program student.
In October 2011, I went on a super fun trip to Blérancourt in France. My host family was very nice and I became friends with their son, Sylvain. I felt so grateful that I wanted to host a kid from Blérancourt this spring to see what it would be like.
On Sunday, April 29, we picked up our exchange student, Thibault, from the airport. At first, I was barely talking to him. It felt awkward because I didn’t know him yet. But when we got home, we went to the park so I could teach him how to throw and catch a baseball. I thought he wouldn’t be interested at all in baseball but he was having tons of fun and we quickly bonded.
I loved driving in the car with him, because we would play music and everyone, including Thibault, would sing along. My brother also loved playing with him. For example, when I had choir rehearsal they were playing the whole time. They pretended that Marc’s SF Giants souvenir baseball bat was a “sucette géante” (giant lollipop).
There were many surprising things about this experience. Thibault loved playing baseball and was really interested in it. I was also kind of surprised when I heard him singing LMFAO and he knew all of my favorite songs. The biggest surprise and the best thing about this trip was that I made new friend, a really good friend.
*In 2020, the International School of the Peninsula (ISTP) formally changed its name to Silicon Valley International School (INTL) to better reflect its bilingual programs, location, and international values.
