CRESTVIEW — Thirty-four visitors, including 22 students, from Noirmoutier, Crestview’s French sister city, are experiencing Northwest Florida and American culture.
Click here or see photos from the event.
The Frenchmen arrived Friday night at Destin-Fort Walton Beach Airport, exhausted after more than 26 hours in transit.
Saturday afternoon, Mayor David Cadle, City Clerk Betsy Roy and Councilman JB Whitten hosted the Mayor’s Welcome Picnic in Twin Hills Park. There, Lucas Charier's host mother, Jenny Stegner, brought forth a birthday cake for his 16th birthday, while more than 100 hosts and visitors sang “Happy Birthday.”
After lunch, the Crestview Police Department’s K-9 unit performed a demonstration as officers Sonic and Kody took down a “bad guy” — actually Officer Josh Ellison, dressed in a padded protective suit — under their partners, Officers Jerad Mullinnix and Shane Kriser's, direction.
Macedonia Baptist Church’s Rev. Dwight Baggett and his congregation welcomed visitors to a Sunday gospel worship service. In addition, host families prepared a picnic on the beach.
Noirmoutrin Mattis Durand, who shot a bow and arrow for the first time, said, “I liked it,” adding that Crestview’s rural setting was nothing like the tall urban buildings he’d seen on TV programs.
Through their host families, Zoe Charbonnier, Danielle and Alain Marquet discovered the fun of self-serve yogurt — with all its toppings and sauces — at Chill. “We have never seen anything like this,” Alain Marquet said. “Perhaps in Paris, maybe, but not in Noirmoutier.”
Monday morning, most of the visiting students experienced something they’d been anticipating: a ride on an American school bus, as they spent a day at Crestview High School with their hosts.
For most of the students’ hosts, it was their first time welcoming a foreign student into their homes.
“It’s going great,” Quinn Stegner said. “He’s a great guy,” he said of Lucas.
Hosts are already hoping to visit their new friends in Noirmoutier one day. “I really want to go there,” Lukas Voight, Mattis’ host, said.
“My house is open to you,” Mattis said.
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: 34 French visitors spread out, experience Crestview culture (PHOTOS, VIDEO)