Last June, AHS junior Melanie Doyle arrived in Nantes, France knowing very little about what her next year would bring, and now after 8 months her time there is coming to an end. Through the Rotary Exchange Program, Doyle has been given the chance to live in France for a year with a host family. Since her arrival, she has been getting first-hand experience with French culture, language, and food while getting to travel in many other European countries.

For Doyle, the highlight of this year abroad has been all the places she has been able to explore. When she first arrived, her host family took her to Brussels, Belgium, Rome and other parts of France. In February she got to travel from France to Barcelona with 45 other exchange students around the world and in June she will spend two weeks traveling through 7 countries with other exchange students.

“I have learned so much here about the world that I would never have learned if I stayed in Aspen,” Doyle said in an email from France. “I’ve met people from all over the world and made friendships that I know will last a long time. I’ve become fluent in a new language. I started living in a country where I knew no one and nothing so it was like I had to start all over. I feel very fortunate that I was able to embark on a journey like this and learn lessons that I would have never learned otherwise.”

While the experience has been a life altering one, many parts of her trip have been a huge culture shock including the school, the food, and the general way of life. In France, the school system is very different from the American system in the way that kids pick a focus earlier on, and how much longer the school day is but Doyle was especially shocked by how the teachers interact with the students.

“Here in France the teacher is above all of the students and there is no relationship made between the students and teachers,” Doyle said.

She was also surprised to see how the classes are structured differently and consist mainly of lectures.

“All students do here is work and there is no creativity or opinions and ideas the students can have,” Doyle said.

Her inability to speak French fluently also made the move difficult and at first she struggled to communicate her ideas, but as time went on she was able to understand more of the language. While his helped to ease the transition, it was still hard to be in such an environment, especially during the holidays.

“During the holidays I missed home a lot, skiing, the snow, being with family and celebrating the holidays like we usually do together,” Doyle said. “It’s the one part of the year when I got homesick, but that’s usually the case for exchange students so I knew it was normal.”

She is not the only one who struggled during the holidays. Her mother, Laurie Doyle, find the holidays and everyday life very different without her daughter.

“What I miss the most about her being gone is that we used to hang out a lot together,” Laurie said. “We would go to the Aspen Club, and out to lunch on the weekends. Also going on our spring break vacation was very sad without Melanie. We had never been on a vacation without her. All of the holidays, were not the same without Melanie there. We’ve never had Christmas without the whole family together.”

It won’t be long before Doyle will be able to do those things again. In early July she will return home from her yearlong trip and yet again adjust to a new life back in Aspen. Even though she has spent all year in school she will still have to redo most of her credits and catch up on the work she missed in order to fulfill the graduation requirements. Leaving France will be challenging but the memories that she has acquired will stick with her for the rest of her life.

“I have taken away so much from this experience, it’s hard to just choose one specific thing,” Doyle said. “I have learned a lot about myself and so much about the world. I think the opportunity of getting to meet other exchange students from all over the world is one of the greatest parts of this exchange. We all come from completely different countries with different languages, cultural, backgrounds, families, traditions, food, etc. But there is something that brings us all together, the need for adventure.”