CRESTVIEW — They’ve chatted on Skype, befriended on Facebook and emailed each other.
In less than a week, 22 Crestview High School students will meet face to face with new friends from Noirmoutier, Crestview’s French sister city.
The visiting “college” students — in France, a cross between middle and high school — form most of a 34-person delegation coming to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the two communities’ Sister Cities International relationship.
Local host students and their parents gathered Monday evening in CHS French teacher Chris Lanoue’s classroom, where they reviewed a calendar of activities that Lanoue and Crestview Area Sister City Program members have planned.
SCHEDULED ACTIVITIES
Planned group activities include attending the Baker corn maze; touring Northwest Florida State College and enjoying a rehearsal performance by one of the show choirs; and visiting Eglin Air Force Base and the Seacrest Wolf Preserve.
French Club members, in optional Halloween costumes, will serve as hosts and hostesses at an Oct. 27 “American Autumn feast,” a community Gala Dinner in the French guests’ honor.
Hosts will make their own plans, too.
“We’ll probably go skating, and maybe play some soccer,” Crestview High French Club student Jacob Goode said of his guest, Julien Corbrejaud.
French Club president Haylee Files, a junior, said her guest, Emily Couthouis, wants to improve her English while Haylee hopes to learn more French. “We’ll do whatever she wants in the short time they’re here,” Haylee said.
“I’m excited for her to see what we do in the band, and I want her to see our classes and Crestview,” sophomore Chandler Ory said of her guest, Charlène Sabin.
CULTURE QUESTIONS
Host families had some questions about cultural differences.
“What do they (French people) like to eat?” Chandler said.
She and her parents expressed relief when told Charlène, like the other French students, wants to try whatever is typically served at the family dining table.
“I think it might be a little challenging with the language interpretation,” Jacob’s dad, William Goode, said. “But I think it’ll all be OK.”
“It’s going to be great,” junior Quinn Stegner’s dad, Chris Stegner, said. “My wife was an exchange student when she was in high school, so we kind of know what to expect.”
Mayor David Cadle, who will host the French delegation and their Crestview hosts at an Oct. 17 welcome barbecue, knows one thing to avoid.
“I know they don’t like grits,” he said, adding it was not a popular menu selection during the Noirmoutrins’ 2009 visit. “They’re definitely not going to be on the menu.”
WANT TO GO?
You can meet visitors from Noirmoutier, France at these events:
•Guest Chef Dinner: 6 p.m. Oct. 19, The Baron’s Tea House, 314 Ferdon Blvd. S., Crestview. Local chefs Sherri Williams, Mary Richard and Erica Teets prepare a gourmet meal before guests’ eyes.
Tickets: $50 per person; available at the Crestview News Bulletin office, 638 Ferdon Blvd. N., Crestview.
•Gala Dinner: 6 p.m. Oct. 27, Crestview Community Center, 1446 Commerce Drive. Theme: “An American Autumn Feast,” featuring a fall favorites menu including a fruit-and-nut bar, sweet potato bar, smoked ham and turkey, salad from the Crestview Community Garden and a variety of pies, peach cobbler and pecan pie bars. Featuring entertainment by pianist Dennis Mitchell and jazz singer Sandra Daggs.
Tickets: $25 per person; available at the News Bulletin office.
WANT TO GO?
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Crestview hosts prepare for 22 French sister city visitors