Rotary exchange student Liza Biard shared her thoughts and impressions of her past year living in Weyburn, and gave a presentation about her home country of France, at a special supper meeting for the Weyburn Rotary Club on Thursday evening.
Liza is from the town of Lorient in the province of Brittany on the northwest coast of France, and is ending her year as a student at the Weyburn Comprehensive School, with the goal of returning home by mid-July.
In talking about France, she shared some of the places that have been special to her over the years, such as a number of destinations she and her family have visited on vacation, other than Paris.
One such destination was Mont Saint Michel in Normandy, about a four-hour drive from her town. This is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, with buildings constructed in the eighth century on the top of rocks and surrounded by soft sand, which helped provide some protection to the inhabitants, including their high elevation.
Le Lac D’Annessy, known for the extremely clean quality of water, and the medieval town of Carcasonne in the south of France, were two other favourite destinations, with the latter town built in the Middle Ages, with streets, bridges and buildings of stone, and vineyards around it.
“It’s a really neat place, I just love it,” she said.
Liza declined to talk about France’s politics or their new president, saying, “I’m not ready to be that serious to talk about politics.”
She explained about how the school system in Lorient differs from the school she has been attending in Weyburn for the past year. She noted that in junior high, students reach a point where they have to decide if they’re going to pursue a technical or academic education, and this determines which courses they go on to have in senior high school.
For herself, she chose a literature-centred education along with languages like Spanish, English and Latin. Her class days started early and she was usually at school until late in the afternoon, plus she had music lessons on Wednesdays. A typical school day started with English, then French, followed by two hours of Phys. Ed, English again, science, biology and physics, then Spanish and Latin.
“That’s how every day is,” said Liza. “If you want sports, you can’t take it during school, you have to do it after school.”
Noting that on Wednesdays, she usually didn’t get home until after 7:30 p.m., and commented, “In our culture, family time is not as important as it is here. Last year, it was school school school, that’s all I was thinking about. We felt a lot of pressure from the teachers. They would tell us, if you don’t do well, you won’t go on to university or get a job.”
Liza noted she very much loved the opportunities for students to participate in sports and the arts in Weyburn. She took part in the pom squad in the cheerleading group, and sang in choir and in the spring musical, which she very much enjoyed.
The tradeoff to the long school days in France is that she was able to enjoy more school holidays than here, noting that after her Grade 10 year, she had three months off for summer.
Teacher Leah Fornwald observed that for many students at the Comp, it’s important for them to be comfortable, and Liza responded, “I would say it’s more important for me to be confident,” noting she usually made the effort to dress nicely, put on makeup and wear heels.
Some Rotary members noted that her English sometimes had an almost British accent to it, particularly when she first arrived, and Liza noted that they mostly learned British English in school, supplemented with YouTube videos by such celebrities as James Corden and Ellen DeGeneres.
She also confessed to not always understanding Canadian humour, when asked if she’s always funny when she speaks.
“I never really thought about it,” said Liza. “I find sometimes I’m just saying stuff and you guys are laughing. I don’t always try to be funny. Sometimes you make jokes that I don’t understand.”
In terms of food, she noted she ate a lot more fish than here, and she drank tea when she was at home, and now she drinks black coffee.
“I like bread back at home, and I had the best barbecue of my life here. I like food in general,” said Liza, adding she discovered a dessert she absolutely loves, a cinnamon bun-oreo combination.
Asked for her highlights of the past year, Liza said she wanted to comment first of all that she’s found Canadians to be very friendly. She recalled a trip she made to New York City with her family when she was 15, and described how “nasty and mean” the customs people were on that trip, and said it’s been the absolute opposite during her year in Canada.
“I arrived in Toronto (on her way here to Weyburn), and I was so scared, but the people are so friendly. That’s the main thing I want people to know,” said Liza.
During her past year, the trip with other exchange students to Churchill, Man., was a major highlight, “when I got to see polar bears. That was majestic, and seeing the Northern Lights, and seeing there are actually people living up there.”
She also had a trip to Vancouver Island with Rotary members Bob and Brenda King, enabling her to see the Pacific Ocean for the first time, and one of the biggest highlights of the entire year was a Western Canadian trip with other exchange students. This trip was organized by Doug Loden, her counselor from the Weyburn Rotary Club.
“It was one of the most beautiful trips of my life where I was with beautiful people, and we went to see beautiful places, all things I experienced for the first time,” said Liza.
The seed for her to be an exchange student was planted 18 years ago by her cousin, who was an exchange student, and stories of her experiences were shared in the family, leading to her parents to suggest applying to take part in the program with Rotary.
As for her future, Liza noted she had earlier thought about going on to be an actress, but she said she’s been rethinking her future, and acknowledged her original goals for being an exchange student have been put aside as she has learned so much more than she imagined she ever would.
“My goal was to be fluent in English — but it’s definitely not what this is all about,” said Liza. “Now I want to travel and meet new people, and I feel there so much stuff we need to do to help other people.”
