Paris: 15 years later

Outside College Gambetta


How the exchange program came about I do not know. But in 1994, teachers at Broadview Public School in Ottawa and College Gambetta in Paris decided their students should be brought together to foster language skills and cultural understanding.

For my family in Canada and the VH family in France, the exchange began a 15 year relationship which continues to this day. It was odd for a girl and a boy to be matched together for such a program, but J and I have always shared many interests and sense of humour.

During our time in Paris staying at J's apartment, the VH family invited Josh and I for dinner one evening. We gathered around a table under the portico to reminisce about my first visit and all the intervening years. There was champagne and faded photos of me with braces and J with a full head of hair. Monsieur VH and Josh established a profound kinship over rare vinyl, first-press albums.

I keenly recall listening to Ace of Base on my tapedeck at their house. Seeing a plate of rare horse meat for the first time and thinking of Black Beauty. Smelling ripe cheeses. Discovering nutella and thinking any country which permitted chocolate spread for breakfast must have many other fabulous customs.

15 days in Paris at 13 changed the course of my life. Staying with the VH family shaped my dreams of travel and adventure. It opened my eyes to places and people I could not fathom or conjure without first-hand experience.

Their house stands on a leafy cul de sac and as much as I thought it was an oasis from an unrelenting cityscape of noise and activity at 13, I appreciate what it offers and represents now more than ever.


2009 - me and the VH family



1994 - VH family



A King Crimson first-press album, one of the many wonders at the VH house

On the drive home, Monsieur VH cranked the stereo and we all belted out our own renditions of Hotel California.