On Jan. 30, thirty students from the Grade 9 and 10 French classes at NACI traveled to Trois-Rivières, Québec as part of their reciprocal home-stay exchange. Their week-long trip, sponsored by the Society for Educational Visits and Exchanges in Canada (SEVEC) and Canadian Heritage, was the first of a two-part exchange process in which the students from Trois-Rivières hosted the students from NACI for a week of educational and recreational activities. Some of these activities included: being guided through an old prison in Trois-Rivières, checking out crime scene investigations from the area, touring Old Quebec, enjoying the sights and sounds of North America’s largest winter carnival in Quebec City, tubing, snowshoeing, hiking, visiting the port at Trois-Rivières, dancing and eating maple syrup-covered tortière and crêpes in a Cabane à Sucre.
SEVEC exchanges are incredible opportunities for students to learn more about themselves and other parts of Canada. Our students were able to experience the Quebec culture first-hand by staying in a host family where not only was the language different, but daily life was different as well. In this way, students could appreciate more what they may normally take for granted at home. Our students are now looking forward to hosting their Trois-Rivières counterparts at the end of May. We will be showing the students our hospitality through a variety of local attractions as well as attractions in and around Winnipeg. “The trip to Quebec was a lot of fun! Living with a different family for a week was a very enjoyable experience,” Anthony Eu, Robyn Birch and Danielle Hanke said after returning home from the trip. “It was very difficult at first adapting to the different accent that the people of Trois-Rivières have, but it got easier as the week went on. Most of the people there were bilingual as well, so they were very understanding and helped us out whenever we had trouble. “The families were all very welcoming, and they made everyone feel at home. It was interesting getting to tour the area around Trois-Rivières (including Quebec City). “We all learned lots about the history of Quebec, and improved our language skills. It was nice that we got to be with our friends as well, along with our twins from Quebec. “Being in a group made everyone feel more at ease, rather than being alone with new people and surroundings. The overall experience was very fun, and we all really enjoyed our trip!”