By Abby Bien

Times Square, the Magnificent Mile, and Bruno’s are all popular destinations to visit in different cities throughout the U.S.A.

Starting in mid-March, twelve French students along with their English teacher, Monsieur Kellenberger, went on a three-city trip of America,

stopping at New York City, Chicago, and our hometown, West Lafayette.

They spent a week in New York City, which student Fiona, whose host student is Junior Kimberly Rivera, describes as “big and interesting.”

Most of the students agreed that West Lafayette is a better place to live, while New York is great for vacationing. “I liked shopping the most,” says Freshman Kate French’s French student Geoffray who, along with many of his friends, sported a recent baseball cap purchase throughout his West Lafayette visit.

While in West Lafayette, the group has been busy with activities. They went to Chicago on March 24th and spent their time visiting the Art Institute and traveling to the top of the John Hancock Building. Although the view was foggy so high up, Monsieur Ohlhaut said the mini road trip was fun for everyone.

This past week the students and their host families have been getting together for fun and laughs nearly every night after school. They participated in the annual Shoot For Life tournament, went bowling, and ate at multiple local eateries. Fiona said her favorite parts of West Lafayette have been “hanging out with [her host] Kimberly.”

The exchange program started around four years ago when M. Ohlhaut’s studentsand M.Kellenberger’s became pen pals and wrote multiple letters to each other throughout the year. Because that was successful, M.Ohlhaut visited M. Kellenberger’s class during his spring break in 2009 to make sure becoming host families for them was a good idea. After M.Kellenberger’s visit to our school in the fall of 2009, the two teachers decided our schools were a good match. The students have been coming _from France for two years now and M.Ohlhaut commented that “we will definitely

continue having them come and stay with us in the future.”