On Sunday, February 21, nine French students and one teacher arrived in Los Angeles and met their Poly host families. They were only here for two weeks and left on Saturday, March 5. In past years, the students left later during the second weekend they spent in America, but this year, their flight was scheduled on Saturday morning.
The students did not only visit Poly; there were other French students in other schools around the area. The kids came to classes and lived with students’ families to improve their English and learn what life is like as an American teen. They were accompanied by a teacher who stayed with Silvia Battigalli, the Poly French teacher, and checked in with them every day at school.
The program organized two trips with all of the visiting French students. On the first Thursday, they went on a day trip to San Diego, and on the second Thursday they went to Downtown LA for the morning and early afternoon. Since there were only two organized trips, the students relied on their host families to show them around Southern California and what the area has to offer.
Senior Erin Osman took her student Pauline LaBurthe to Manhattan Beach, Newport Beach, the Getty, and the Getty Villa. LaBurthe has visited Poly every year for the last three years. LaBurthe attended all of Osman’s classes with her, went to orchestra rehearsals, and played the flute with the Symphony. Her favorite thing from her three years here was the backlot tour of Universal Studios.
LaBurthe returned to Poly three times and there have been many things she loved about it: “The sun, the food, playing with the orchestra, and getting to see another way of life.”
Senior Sarah Passage took her student Hugo Dubreuil to Venice, Santa Monica, Hollywood, a twelve-hour shopping trip, indoor go-karts, a skate park, and surfing. Dubreuil’s favorite thing about America was In-n-Out, a West Coast favorite.
Hugo said the only thing he disliked about the trip was that there were “too many things to see and not the time to see [it all].”
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