West Seattle High School recently hosted 16 students from the city's French sister city, Nantes, for a two-week exchange student program.

In turn, twenty students from West Seattle plan to attend Talensac High School in Nantes during spring. This will be the program's third year. Its stateside coordinator is Doug Peterman, West Seattle High School's only French teacher. The French teens in West Seattle were joined by three chaperones, also their English teachers at Talensac Each stayed with a West Seattle host family.

"Our program brings two cultures together," said Peterman, who lived in Lyon, France for four years. "It's much more real than just going on a tour. True friendships are made. The students e-mail each other, and sometimes return for a visit in the summer." He said he notices that the West Seattle exchange students, upon returning from Nantes, are excited about learning French.

"It's a lot more authentic to learn the language being surrounded by French people. The kids who don't go, well ... we try to make the classroom as authentic an experience as possible, but it's not the same."

While West Seattle's French visitors immerse themselves in English, they dive into other aspects of Seattle culture. They ride the "Duck," explore the Space Needle and Pacific Science Center, and, of course, shop downtown.

They are exposed to day-to-day life here via their host family and new friends, to the delight of Axelle Mosellin, a junior at Talensac. He said he preferred the laid-back lifestyle in Seattle.

"Here, when you are at a friend's house they let you get food by taking something from the frig without asking. In France it is more formal, and you ask permission," he said.

"Here we can eat and drink in class," he continued. "Not in France. There, you can't even leave class to go to the toilet."

"I let you go!" interrupted Isabelle Le Corguille, one of the chaperones, and Mosellin's English teacher back home. She added a warning with a laugh, "Just don't expect to come to my home and take any food. The frig is empty."

Chaperone, Marie Noelle Chaillou, broke up the playful fight.

"Axelle, you know you just can't leave the classroom in our school." Once school lets out there, things do loosen up a bit. "People in Nantes are very welcoming toward the Seattle students, as people here are to us," she said.

Quinise Ercolano and Lindsay Anderson are West Seattle High School seniors who have participated in the exchange program.

Ercolano has visited France four times, both during the school year, and returning over the summer to visit friends.

"They can tell I'm American by my shoes," said Ercolano, who likes the French architecture. "We dress more casually here, with sweatshirts with hoods, and gym shoes."

Anderson agreed, "There you see students wear more scarves and nice coats."

She appreciated the culinary aspects of their culture. "I like the French lifestyle - the meals in restaurants. Their menu structure is different, a lot of courses for one standard price, which is more fun. And I like all the little bakeries that are set up everywhere, like Starbucks, but family-owned, not corporate."

Mariette Cassourret, a chaperone and colleague of La Corguille and Chaillou at Talensac, is the president of the sister city association in Nantes that helped arrange this program, and one in Jacksonville, Florida, Nantse's other American sister city. She said that, while Nantes is flat, its weather is similar to Seattle's.

"Our political perspective is similar, too," she said. "We are very interested in sustainability. We encourage using public transportation and riding bicycles instead of driving."

Nantes is France's sixth largest city, with a population slightly less than Seattle. It is situated 30 miles inland from the Atlantic coast, and 225 miles southwest of Paris.

Peterman said his group of West Seattle High School students he accompanies in spring ride the TGV, France's high-speed "bullet train" from Nantes to the French capital for a three-day visit. Said Peterman, "Nantes is nice, but you have to go to Paris if you go to France."

Steve Shay may be reached via steves@robinsonnews.com