Bonjour! Welcome, Colombe

This year, Palmerton has a new foreign exchange student coming all the way from France. While she is not the first exchange student, she is the only female exchange student this year. Colombe Balle-Barrelle came from the beautiful town of Aix en Provence in the southern part of France. Aix en Provence was even called Aquae sextiae, which means “a hot spring” because of all the natural thermal springs in the vicinity.

Back in Aix en Provence, Colombe swam for her school’s swim team. The team competes against many other schools all around France. While our school doesn’t have a swim team, Colombe is still joining a sport this year. She is waiting for spring to roll around to join Palmerton’s tennis team!

Colombe remarks that one of her most wanted sights to see this year is New York during Christmas time. While Christmas is celebrated nearly the same in France, it is a whole different experience in New York. Colombe has the experience on her U.S. bucket list while she is here this year and really hopes to complete it.

While Colombe has only been here since August, one of her favorite memories so far is our school’s homecoming. Colombe comes from a smaller private school, so this year’s homecoming was a bit of a change for her. Her school at home had never done a homecoming before, so Palmerton’s was a unique, new, and exciting experience for her. She still has plenty of time to make more fun memories at all of the other school functions as well.

Coming across countries to any school in the U.S.A. is a big change, but Palmerton is happy to have Colombe with us. We are all hoping she has the best experiences in America and goes home with a year full of fun and memories!