My experience in the Olds-Montreal French language exchange was great. In January, I received a form telling me about my exchange partner, and I was so excited. I was matched perfectly with my twin, MÈlodie ñ we started to text and we got along amazingly.
RELATED: Read our related story about the French-English exchange program: French-English exchange program comes to Olds
My experience in the Olds-Montreal French language exchange was great. In January, I received a form telling me about my exchange partner, and I was so excited. I was matched perfectly with my twin, MÈlodie – we started to text and we got along amazingly.
I was nervous about seeing her for the first time – learning French, and having it be your first language are two very different things. For me, it was a bigger concern, because I had less experience in a French immersion class. As it turns out, I had nothing to worry about. Yes, it did take concentration, but when I couldn't understand something, my twin was right there to help.
The first night we arrived in Montreal last February, we had a welcome dinner. After that, the daily activities began. We toured Old Montreal, went to the Montreal Science Centre, a museum, an indoor zoo, escape rooms and so much more. My favourite thing that we did was on the weekend: MÈlodie and I went ice skating with her friend and another Olds student. The week ended too quickly, with lots of tears from everybody.
When we got back to Alberta, I realized how much my French had improved. I was able to pronounce things more naturally, and was more comfortable with speaking. Most importantly, my comprehension was so much better. Usually if we watched a video, I had to walk myself through it to understand, and that took a little bit of time. Now it's more automatic. I would absolutely recommend immersing yourself in an environment that speaks the language that you are trying to learn – it will help a lot with your studies.
Time seemed to slow down waiting for the Montreal students to come to Olds. It felt a lot longer than four-and-a-half months. By June 20, when our twins were supposed to arrive, I didn't think I could stand to wait any of the three school periods, before going to meet them at the pool.
I hugged MÈlodie so hard and jumped into conversation. I was so excited to show her around and give her the true Alberta experience – of course, that meant taking her to a rodeo on the weekend. During the week, we went to Banff, toured a dairy farm, did the Red Lodge ropes course, saw RCMP dogs, walked through the Royal Tyrrell Museum, and did a lot of sightseeing.
When we reached the end of the week, no one wanted to leave. All the girls were crying, and the boys were taking selfies. I cried for a good half an hour. I miss my twin a lot, but we still keep in touch and have many good memories together. I really hope the school continues giving kids opportunities like this, because I am so happy I got to do this.
Rebecca McIntyre is going into the Grade 9 French immersion program at Olds High School this September.
"When we reached the end of the week, no one wanted to leave. All the girls were crying, and the boys were taking selfies."
