For the first time, Penn Manor High School students who study French traveled to France through an exchange arranged by teacher Maureen Klingaman and Brigitte Siran, principal at Ensemble Scholaire Catholique Rochois Sainte-Marie/Sainte-Famille's school in La Roche-sur-Foron, France.

In October 2009, 25 students from a school in La Roche-sur-Foron were chosen to travel to Lancaster to stay with host families for 14 days.

During these two weeks, French students visited New York City, Gettysburg, Philadelphia, Hershey, Harrisburg and Lancaster.

Penn Manor hosts were then given the opportunity to become the guests this past July.

Traveling to France for 10 days, these local students experienced French culture and visited Paris, Lyon, Annecy and Chamonix-Mont-Blanc in France and Geneva, Switzerland.

Though the French students stayed with their American hosts every night, Penn Manor's traveling students only stayed in their French hosts' homes a few days due to an extensive itinerary that involved a lot of traveling. When not staying with their hosts, hostels and hotels were their temporary homes.

Fashion, culture and cuisine differences were noticed by Penn Manor's students as they observed a life that contrasted with their own.

Paris is one of the fashion capitols of the world. While Americans don't mind going out wearing sweatpants or pajamas, the French would never commit this fashion faux pas.

"American men have a more laid-back style and wear sporty clothes, but in France, men dress in their best Calvin Kleins," Jennifer Stumpf, a recent Penn Manor graduate, said.

"The clothing stores in France are all classy, chic, and have everything a girl wants," Jennifer said.

And while the French have high standards when it comes to fashion, their standards for food are even higher.

Florie Achard, one of the French students involved in the exchange, thinks that the price you pay equals the quality of the food.

France doesn't have much fast food. France does have McDonald's, but the inside is like a café and the quality of the food surpasses the cheap eats that can be found in the United States.

There are more organic shops in France, but they are also more expensive.

At a restaurant in France, there are many small courses. At a restaurant in America, there is usually an appetizer followed by a large meal.

The length of time it takes to eat also varies. Both Americans and the French eat breakfast quickly in order to arrive at work on time. Lunch is different because some students in France have enough time to go home to eat their mid-day meal.

American students have about 40 minutes and are required to eat in the cafeteria. Dinner is also different. French families eat for an hour or more.

"(The French) make time for eating; it's a priority," Robin Green observed. "If they dine out, dinner could take three or four hours. If the French have guests over for dinner, it could also take a few hours."

"France is the country of cooking," Achard said. "There are many sorts of different cooking, and we eat many specialties from our European neighbors such as Spain, Italy or Germany."

Etiquette at meals is stressed in France.

Transportation is very different in France than America because the French are very conscientious about fuel-efficient and eco-friendly cars.

Almost all of the cars in France are small cars that get good gas mileage. Many of the cars are high-end names with a manual transmission.

Gone are the gas-guzzling SUVs that dominate American roadways. In fact, sometimes cars are done away with altogether. In big cities such as Paris, residents try to take the Metro or bus. A lot of people in France drive motorcycles or mopeds.

While on the road, motorcycles and mopeds are allowed to weave between cars and create their own lanes and, therefore, are much quicker than cars.

Bikes are also very common in France. Trains are more popular in France to get from one end of the country to another.

Apart from experiencing the cultural diversities of food, fashion and transportation, local students were also able to observe the French methods of holiday celebrations.

Penn Manor student Sam Hershey stayed with Cyndi Rossi in France and was able to attend a pirate birthday party.

Curious as to why there was a theme, Hershey asked Rossi and she replied, "ever since we came to America, we have theme parties to have fun and to change a little."

Sam was also in France for their independence day, known as Bastille Day. She went to Lake Annecy to watch the fireworks.

Sam said that it was very similar to America's Fourth of July because "they both have great food, and awesome fireworks!"

In the past, Penn Manor students had hosted through a group known as ECI who don't participate in an exchange, just a hosting experience.

This year, Klingaman and Siran planned everything and their students. Siran was interested in the Lancaster area and found Klingaman through the Penn Manor School District website.

Penn Manor's Taylor Breidenbaugh has taken four years of French, her French host, Amélie Roch, has taken eight years of English. Amélie's parents spoke very little English, but Breidenbaugh was able to converse and "figure it out eventually, sometimes through hand motions."

The biggest difference Katie Maisel found was the way French people greet friends, family and strangers — with a kiss on each cheek. These kisses, known as "bisoux," are used for family, friends and strangers. She found French people to be more outgoing than Americans because every time she met a new friend of her host "everyone was kind and gave me kisses and told me their names."

The Penn Manor teens loved the charm of France because it is old and has many years of history behind it. The French teens loved America because it is modern and new.

"It was cool to see another culture, and I feel that staying with a real French family, as opposed to a hotel, helped with that experience. I was able to see how an actual French family lives and compare it to the life of an average American family," Taylor said.

"Although there are many differences between France and America, I think that the people are still similar," Katie said. "Teenagers from France aren't much different from teens in America. We all tell jokes and hang out with our friends. We try to help our families, learn from each other, have fun and succeed in every way we can. We're all humans."