At first glance, it may have appeared to be a typical scene for a day at high school, as students chatted with each other, snapped photos and waited for the beginning of lunch.

But the excited hum of student voices speaking in English and French - and a cake decorated with French and American flags - showed it was a special occasion last Tuesday for the students.

"Bonjour! Hello everybody!" Charlotte Wojcik, an East Lyme High School junior and member of the French Honor Society, said to the room of about 40 students.

Twenty-four students and two teachers from a high school in Fresnes, France, about 11 miles south of Paris, were visiting East Lyme High School, in the second year of the schools' French exchange program.

During their trip from March 9 to March 19, the French students stayed with American families, went sightseeing in New York, Connecticut and Boston, and shadowed the students at East Lyme High School, according to Nathalie Casey, a French teacher at East Lyme High School and one of the organizers of the program.

At a potluck later that evening, the Lycée Frédéric Mistral in Fresnes and East Lyme High School were proclaimed "sister schools."

In April, a group of East Lyme students will travel to France to spend their vacation experiencing the culture of their French counterparts. The trip will include trips to the Eiffel Tower, The Louvre, Versailles, and The Arc de Triomphe, said Casey.

Casey said the French students have learned about the American school system, visited sites such as the Mark Twain House and the Harriet Beecher Stowe Center in Hartford and immersed themselves in life at the high school.

"They see what an American school kid does from 7 o'clock in the morning to 8 o'clock at night," she said.

The East Lyme High School students are also learning from the French students as they exchange culture, spend time together and build friendships, she said.

Members of the French Honor Society told the students the activities they do throughout the year from holidng a French Week to fundraising efforts for school programs and families in Haiti. Later in the day, students made cultural presentations in class.

Morgane Le Pajolec, a 16-year-old from Fresnes, said she enjoyed spending time with Americans and particularly liked a trip to the beach.

She also pointed out that there are differences between the schools. For example, American students leave school in the afternoon, while the French students finish around 5:30 p.m.

"It's very different than our school in France," she said.

Groups of French and American students later went on a scavenger hunt in the high school where they followed clues to locations and found souvenirs. Following the clues to the pool, the students found packages of "Lifesaver" candies there.

Wojcik, the East Lyme High School student, said she took the French student her family hosted rollerblading and to "Grease," the school's play. She said she learned a few new French words and the French student became more comfortable speaking in English.

"You learn a lot from it," she said.

The French students that participate in the program are from an English class, taught by Annette Delbecci, the Fresnes teacher who helped organize the trip. Casey said she recruits students from East Lyme High School's French program.

"I think it's cool they have the opportunity to explore a foreign country," said East Lyme High School student Jack Mountain, 15, about his French counterparts. "They get the experience, and we get the experience of talking to them."

K.DRELICH@THEDAY.COM

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