Lucy Salinier is an exchange student at Lakeland. She radiates kindness and joy. She has a super funny and genuine personality and I had the pleasure of interviewing her to ask her some questions about France and herself!
Q: First, can you introduce yourself?
A: “My name is Lucy. I’m from France, and I’m 17. I’m a senior here at Lakeland High School.”
Q: What’s Paris like and what made you want to be an exchange student?
A: “I’m from Paris downtown. I love Paris because it’s a really moving city that you can do anything in. If you want to hang out, you don’t need a car or anything and there are just so many things to do. It’s alive and it’s really fun. The school system in France is really hard, so I wanted to experiment with another culture.”
Q: What is the process like to become an exchange student?
A: “There are a lot of papers and you have to pass some tests, like a writing test and an oral test and they ask you questions. You have to go to medical appointments, fill out so many papers and pay a lot too. Once you’ve done all that they send your file to the American organization and if they accept it they can search for a host family for you. I had to do a video to introduce myself in English and everything.”
Q: What are some major differences between America and France both positive and negative?
A: “The food is pretty unhealthy here but it’s good and school is so much easier. It’s a whole different culture.”
Q: I’ve heard that schools in America and France are extremely different so could you tell us more about that?
A: “In France, we go to school from eight to six and some people do more and some have to go to school on Saturday. And we have so much homework. We come home at six and we have to sometimes read a book for the next day or write an essay for the next day. We have to study but the tests here are multiple choice questions and in France that would never be the case. You have to write your answers and it’s like doing an essay. The teachers here are so nice. In France, they really don’t care and there is a lot of pressure. Here they always find a way to catch you up if you have a bad grade and that’s so nice.”
Q: Can you tell me a bit about you? What are some things that make you?
A: “I love listening to music I couldn’t live without it. I listen to everything, I like a lot of different styles. Also, I’m always up to doing something, I want to try everything I can. I love to move and I love to do sports and hang out with my friends.”
Q: Can you tell me about your family back in France?
A: “I have two older sisters and I get along with them very well so I miss them a lot. But, I feel like being here makes me closer to them in a way because we talk a lot and call and everything. I’m really grateful for my parents because they allowed me to do this and I know my mom was really sad for me to come here but she knows that it makes me happy.”
Q: What passions do you have?
A: “I love cooking and baking. I also like fashion and I was sewing a lot of things back home so I love that too. And I love sports like I love skiing in the winter and I’m really excited to ski here because it’s supposed to be really good and we don’t have snow in Paris so we usually have to go like 9 hours away.”
Q: Do you have any quotes that really stick out to you?
A: ‘“Treat people with kindness” I just really love that one.”
Q: Have you traveled in your life outside of coming to America?
A: “Yeah, we travel every year to a different country with my parents and I love that so I’ve been to so many different countries.”
