About Myself
I am Parnika Pande, I’m a college student majoring in French. I had attended school at Delhi Public School Greater Faridabad, where in class 12th, I got the chance to live an unforgettable experience of becoming a part of the Indo-French Student Exchange Program, a cultural learning experience offered by Le Frehindi. It was a week-long program and a twenty-student delegation of students from classes 8th to 12th. The visits were organized not only for the cities of France, i.e. – Lille, Paris and Roubaix, but also for the neighboring country- Belgium.
Every Moment Rich In Culture!
The first day was street familiarization where we had a walking tour of Roubaix. We met with a French English teacher- Ms. Mathilde who took us to old Lyon to share insights about its rich history and culture, also, it is the birthplace of the first president of France! We also explored local shops and delicacies. The following day, we went to Lycée Saint-Rémi, Roubaix to meet and interact with the French students, where we gave them an Indian dance and music performance and I presented a PPT about our Indian school and Indian Culture. I was so content to see so many shocked French faces, because my accent was just like theirs!
It was not just France that was covered in this exchange program, but also Belgium! We visited the Grand Palace in Brussels along with our French peers and played a game of treasure hunting. Next, we visited the European Union parliament and had a guided tour with the EU spokesperson. It was a very informative session, which I felt to be especially important for students of our age. In Paris, we visited all the key landmarks that I had previously seen only in books and online- The Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, l’Arc de Triomphe, Champs Elysées, the oldest bridge in Paris- Pont Neuf. The last day was probably the most favorite of all students- which was a visit to Disneyland.
Two cultures, one sentiment
When we first visited the French high school- Lycée Saint-Rémi, Roubaix and met the French students there, I was delighted to see that they were very welcoming and made all of the Indian students feel comfortable. Although conversations were limited because there were only few students who could efficiently speak in English and French, this language distinction posed little barrier because we found one or the other way to understand each other. These simple conversations soon blossomed into wholesome friendships; I still talk to my French friends- Elliot and Sao from time to time. I had so much fun in the saree-draping activity and rangoli making.
All the bus journeys were always accompanied by a lot of Indian and French music, with each one of us teaching the other to learn the classic Bollywood dance steps and pronouncing Hindi and French words of songs. I remember when we had to leave for Paris, some of us cried because we could no longer see our French friends.
Excellent coordination by Le Frehindi Team
The CEO of Le Frehindi- Mr. Haru Mehra orchestrated the entire program and guided the students along with Ms. Shilpa Jain. There was a great amount of independence that was granted to the school students despite being in a foreign land. We were allowed to explore by ourselves different places. The only requirements were that we stay together with our friend group at all times and carry our Le Frehindi ID cards anywhere we go. So, I remember my friends and I would go and try out dishes of different restaurants and we would explore different streets, and malls, all by ourselves. There was a time limit, after which we all had to meet at a common point. Needless to say, the program was very well-coordinated, and we were always in contact with Ms. Shilpa Jain and Mr. Mehra who kept us updated with our schedule and if any change were to take place, it was notified to us timely. Mr. Mehra walked with us and led us to all the destinations which we always reached on time. Ms. Shilpa was always patient with the students and approached situations with calm.
Impact: Learning and Cultural Awareness
Since my passion has always been in the French language, I was looking forward to this exchange program more than the others in my group. For me, there was little importance to clicking pictures every moment of the journey or enjoying Disneyland rides, though surely these were nothing less than memorable, but what I was looking forward to more was the learning component of how spoken French sounds like and testing my own skills of comprehension that I’ve been studying in school since so many years and by myself. Although I was better at conversing in French than the other Indian students, the fact that it was still difficult for me to follow spoken French was a shock to me and felt really unfamiliar. I was also keen to understand how payment, travel and transportation works in France, how bus cards look like, how street signs look like, how everyday interactions with shopkeepers, and cashiers look like in a completely different cultural context, and also how humor and jokes vary from one country to the other. Practical knowledge of this kind isn’t imparted to school students when they are studying French in school. The entire focus is on grammar and formal conversations. So I strongly believe that exchange programs like these are a great initiative and should be organized more often.
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