Weyburn student Olivia Lenferna returned in August after taking part in a year-long Rotary exchange program in France, and she talked about her impressions and experiences on Thursday evening at the Weyburn Rotary Club. The daughter of Dr.
Weyburn student Olivia Lenferna returned in August after taking part in a year-long Rotary exchange program in France, and she talked about her impressions and experiences on Thursday evening at the Weyburn Rotary Club.
The daughter of Dr. Alain and Karen Lenferna, she spent her year in the town of Thionville in the northeast corner of France, located a half-hour drive from Luxembourg.
Olivia described Thionville as a town of 40,000, with several small hamlets and villages adjacent to it, and she attended a school that included the equivalent of junior and senior high schools, from ages 11 to 18.
She left Canada on Aug. 22 a year ago, and soon after arriving, she attended a conference many other Rotary exchange students from around France.
She attended school until May, and for the period from December to April required a 40-minute bus ride plus a 15-minute walk uphill, two to four times a day. Her highlight from this daily journey was her favourite bakery between her house and her bus stop, and confessed with a grin to loving the cookies from there, averaging three cookies a day.
Olivia also noted she was one of the few Rotary exchange students who lost weight over the course of her stay, dropping about 10 pounds "because I had to walk everywhere," she told members.
Asked by a former Comp teacher, Leah Fornwald, what her classes were, Olivia listed, "I had three different English classes, history, geography, French literature, science, gym once a week, and civil education," she said, explaining the latter course was about the European Union. "I had a small class load."
Asked if she thought and dreamt in French, Olivia said, "Yeah, I just talked to myself in French. It made me fix my accent a bit."
When a Rotary member asked how she has changed, she answered with a grin, "I drink a lot of wine now "
Giving a moment for the laughter to die down, Olivia went on, "I'm a lot more independent now. Before, I relied on my parents a lot more. I'm just more confident in several situations. I was a little but shyer than I am now. I guess I grew up a little bit."
Asked for a highlight of her year, she answered, "All of it. It was a really good year. I can't thank you enough for the opportunity to go there; it made my life a lot better."
A Rotary member wanted to know if the Rotary club in Thionville had women members, and she noted the club initially had around 50 members, as one of five clubs in that town, but then the club went through a "divorce", after which they had 30 members, with about 10 per cent being women.
After a couple more references to this "divorce", member Duane Schultz asked what this was referring to; Olivia explained there were two different groups of members in the club who argued a lot, and it reached the point where one of the groups left the club. She noted she was asked not to attend during this time and so didn't really know what the arguments were about, and afterwards she went once every two weeks, or once a month.
In regard to what foods she enjoyed, Olivia said, "I loved their pastries, cookies, and baguette sandwiches. I could eat those forever I just ate really simply. We didn't get the fancy food like you have here."
Over the course of her year there, she did a lot of travelling around Europe, starting with her first trip during the two-week All Saints holiday at the end of October, which took her to Belgium, Switzerland, Germany and Luxembourg.
At Christmas time, Olivia said the towns in the area seemed obsessed with holding Christmas markets, and noted her area of France had a patron saint after which Santa Claus was modelled.
"He saved the children from getting cut up by the bad guy; that was the children's story at that time of year," said Olivia, adding about Christmas, "you eat all the chocolate you can possibly manage. They just hand out chocolate all the time."
She also recalled a candlelight service at a cathedral at Christmas, with the only lights from lit candles that everyone carried. "It was really cool," she said of that service.
Olivia noted she visited a lot of churches, and went to medieval towns in the area; the major trip of her year was after school was done in May, and she had a two-week "Eurotour" with fellow Rotary exchange students, taking in several countries, including Austria, Germany, Switzerland, Czech Republic, Italy and France.
She also spent some time with teacher Leah Fornwald when she brought a class of Weyburn Comp students to Paris for a couple of weeks.
Just prior to the end of school, at Easter time, there was a huge conference for four days in Paris to which every exchange student in France came.
In July, her town hosted a youth conference where students came from every country in the European Union, and this included a memorial of the First World War and visiting a zoo.
Asked what she will be doing now, Olivia said she will be attending the University of Saskatchewan, where she will take general classes until she figures out what major she wants to concentrate on.
