After two weeks of immersing themselves in American culture, a group of French exchange students from Lyon, France, concluded their trip to the U.S. – an annual program organized by Arcadia High School’s (AHS) French program. From visiting Universal Studios to listening in on classes at AHS to dressing up for Halloween, these students lived the lives of American students during their trip, making lifelong friendships with their AHS hosts along the way.

Although AHS’s French students may look forward to this once-in-a-lifetime experience each year – both to host a French student as well as to travel to France themselves – this exchange program owes its origins to the annual efforts of AHS French teacher Madame Christina Vaughan and Madame Décombas-Deschamps, an English teacher in Lycée Du Val De Saone, a school in Trévoux near Lyon, and their close friendship of 15 years.

After meeting online, and then in Paris in 2007, Madame Christina Vaughan and Ms. DD, as Madame Décombas-Deschamps is called by her students, switched lives for a year, from teaching each others’ jobs to living in each others’ houses and driving each others’ cars.

“During that year, I lived in France and taught English in a French high school,” she said. “I brought my kids, brought my dog, brought my husband – we swapped lives.”

After establishing a close bond and realizing that conducting an exchange program between their schools was something they were both interested in, Madame Vaughan and Ms. DD put their plans to action beginning in 2011.

Since then, they have continued the program each year (except in 2020 due to the pandemic), with Madame Vaughan coordinating every part of the American side of the exchange program herself year after year, from buying plane tickets, to insurance, to collecting money, to organizing excursions and dining.

Organizing the program has been especially difficult this year, she said, as the most recent group of French students arrived in October, instead of in February, when the exchange program usually occurs. In addition to many of her senior host students working on their college applications, Madame Vaughan herself also finds October a busy time of year, as she and other teachers are still trying to ease their students’ transition into the school year.

“Some of my [students] are still like, ‘What do you mean? I have to conjugate a verb?’” she said, referring to teaching her students the basics of French grammar.

Nonetheless, she still enjoys seeing the work she dedicates towards organizing the exchange program every year – both to host French students as well as bring her students to France – pay off for the invaluable experience she’s able to give her students.

“It’s like a second job,” she said. “And yet I would do it over again in a heartbeat.”

When she takes her students to France, her students stay with their respective host families in Lyon and have the chance to experience a few weeks in the shoes of their French counterparts – riding the French school bus, going to the grocery store to prepare sack lunches, and attending French classes. 

During the day, they also visit numerous tourist attractions, including Roman ruins, cinematography museums, and a music museum. Madame Vaughan especially enjoys visiting the museums, as Arcadia isn’t far from the birthplace of Hollywood, the epicenter of the entertainment industry worldwide.

“The first filmmakers were actually French, not American,” she said. “Since we’re from Hollywood, it’s an appropriate visit.”

By night, AHS exchange students are able to sample French cuisine in the heart of Paris, not just “chicken nuggets and pizza,” as Madame Vaughan humorously described the standard field trip fare.

But even as AHS students are able to spend their Spring Break relaxing overseas, their two-week long excursion in the French countryside is also an educational experience. 

Just as the French exchange students visiting America “discover[ed] American culture, schools, habits at home, home life, foods, and transportation”, AHS students in France are able to put their hard-earned French proficiency to use as they immerse themselves in French culture – an experience that Madame Vaughan finds immensely valuable, regardless of what career path her students choose to pursue in the future.

“Maybe these kids are not going into international relations or politics or diplomacy,” she said. “But they’re going to realize, ‘I actually can travel and use this language. I can actually understand culture and politics better. I can understand the challenges in Paris and France, versus the challenges [of] racism here in the United States.’”

As an educator who wishes to best prepare her students for life past high school, Madame Vaughan finds the exchange program especially rewarding in the context of the current political condition of the country and wider world.

“We have so much fighting and disrespect in our world right now,” she continued. “And when you know another culture, when you know people, you have an easier time understanding their culture, their ways – not judging them for the things that are important to them.”

In addition to gaining a better understanding of another culture, Madame Vaughan also hopes her students will forge close connections with their French hosts and make lifelong friendships, just as she did herself over a decade ago.

And year after year, as she and her host students see the French exchange students off to the airport for the plane back to France, she finds that her hopes come true, as both AHS and French students have difficulty parting ways with their new friends.

“Everybody is crying – the guys are crying, the girls are crying, the French kids are crying, the Americans are crying. They’re all crying,” she said. “It’s one of the best moments of the whole trip, because the tears mean that it worked – that they connected, that it was meaningful.”

With the October exchange a profound experience for both French students and their AHS hosts, Madame Vaughan is excited for what’s to come later in the year. In February, another group of French exchange students will arrive in Arcadia, and in April, Madame Vaughan will bring a group of her own students to Lyon, where they will spend Spring Break.

Photos courtesy of Christina Vaughan