Christine CarrilloA somber au revoir was said...

Christine Carrillo

A somber au revoir was said at Corona del Mar High School Friday

afternoon when six exchange students from Antibes, France headed back

to their homeland.

After bringing a bit of France to Newport Beach and getting a

taste of America to take back with them, the hardest thing they had

to do was leave their new friends behind.

Unable to push back the tears, the six students from Lycee

Audiberti, a high school in Antibes, and their six high school hosts

embraced and assured one another that they’d be reunited very soon --

April 5, to be exact.

As part of the Newport Beach Sister Cities Assn., six Newport

Beach students, all of whom just happened to be girls, got to

participate in the organization’s student exchange program. Although

Antibes has been Newport’s sister city for about 20 years, the

student exchange program, which is for freshmen and sophomores only,

wasn’t established until 2000.

“It’s been great, and it’s amazing the bonding that has developed

here,” said Sidney Stokes, president of the association.

And the bonding will continue when the six Corona del Mar students

head to Antibes on April 5 for a two-week crash course on life in

France.

“I think I learned I could speak a lot more French than I thought

I could,” 16-year-old Maggie Nelson said. “I’m very excited to go and

I’m looking forward to meeting the people. ... It’s just such an

unbelievable opportunity.”

And her fellow Corona del Mar students agreed. They seem to be

more excited about meeting the French boys, which their new friends

assured them they would arrange.

Aside from getting to know different people, the students got to

know just how different their two countries are.

“It provides a better understanding of people and other

countries,” said Marie Atkins, director of the Antibes Committee.

For the students from France, the biggest differences they noticed

about the two cities and even the two countries were the size of the

vehicles and the hours of school. It seems Americans have bigger cars

and shorter school days -- something the American students were glad

to hear.

“It’s just been such an experience,” 15-year-old Samantha Price

said. “I’ve learned a lot.”

And those words are very pleasing for the association and school

to hear, since learning is the entire purpose of the program.

“It all went very well,” said Olga Stepanovic, an English teacher

at Lycee Audiberti who traveled with her students. “It’s great

because they got to know young people from another country.”