For me our stay in Normandy was not only about the history of the war; it was also a personal return. On the Tuesday evening when we arrived in Normandy, we were joined by several guests who mean a lot to me. My travels abroad, and thus my interest in European history, languages, and culture really began when I was a 16-year-old high school exchange student in Normandy. It was a sister city exchange between my home town of Lexington, Kentucky and Deauville, France, a city in Normandy jus a short distance up the English Channel from our study tour hotel in Caen. From the very beginning, as Gail Rosenthal and I began to organize the study tour, I was determined to see my old host family again. It has been 39 years since I lived with the Rollet family while attending the lycée (high school) in Deauville. I had last paid them a visit in 1982, when I was a college student studying in Berlin, Germany – 35 years ago!
It was therefore a great pleasure that my former host parents, Monique and Lucien (“Lulu”) and my host sister, Catherine were able to join us. Catherine’s partner Reynaud and their 13-year-old daughter Lucie accompanied them. My former host brother, Pascal, could not join us because he is now a professor of French in Wisconsin, and my other host sister, Caroline, lives too far from Caen. Monique stressed that she is still my mère française (French mother), and Lucie, whom I was meeting for the first time, played us some tunes on the piano. Sharing this wonderful reunion with my study tour “family” made the evening doubly meaningful for me.
It's great to see that this trip really had a personal meaning to you. It is so great to reconnect with people that you had an experience with years ago. It really shows that this experience has a more personal touch. I can only imagine the feeling of being able to catch up and have this reunion with your tour family.
ReplyDeleteWow! It's so great that you got to reunite with people that gave you comfort in an unknown city. It's great that you got to go on a learning experience and a reunion experience all in one! Can't go wrong. I would love to visit Normandy one day as well.
ReplyDeleteThis is a great story! How fantastic to be able to reunit with your host family after all these years. Amazing how education brought you there twice. Glad you had that experience.
ReplyDeleteMichael,
ReplyDeleteHow nice is must be to be back with your host family after all of these years! Learning and traveling seem to go hand in hand, and how fortunate you were able to do so much traveling. From being a sixteen year old, to a college student and now (assuming) leading other college students to the same place to experience all you have!
It was so nice to hear about your host family and how you were able to reunite with them! I'm glad you decided to share such a special moment in this blog post! This was such a heart warming story, and more importantly such a personal topic for you to discuss, which I really admire!
ReplyDeleteIt is truly amazing to see this was a learning and personal experience for you. This opportunity was once in a lifetime and it seems to have had a huge impact! I think this is so important when you continuously are life long learning through experiences.
ReplyDeleteWow!!! To be able to go back is awesome this is a great blog about a piece of your life. I love that no matter how long you were away that they still welcomed you with open arms and accept you as their family. Thank you for sharing.
ReplyDeleteMichael, thank you for sharing this! I'm sure your visit was even more meaningful and special since you have a personal connection to France. After 35 years i'm sure it was a lovely reunion, how great that you could see them again, this was such a heart warming post!
ReplyDeleteIt's wonderful that you were able to meet up with your host family again! I have stayed with a host family before on my travels so its great to see that they welcomed you back. Such a great personal experience as well as an educational one . Thank you for sharing this journey!
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