'Cyber scrapbook' chronicles a high schooler's 'French lessons' abroad

Hilary, Mandy, Sarah, Ellen and Eric on tour: Max Troyer's high school friends were the subject of his "cyber scrapbook." Troyer, currently an IUB junior majoring in French and secondary education, is studying this semester at Aix-en-Provence, France, and credits the IU Honors Program in Foreign Languages for High School Students for being "THE reason I came to IU." A Fort Wayne native, Troyer works in the summer months for the program's director, Jacqueline Danner. He is in the center of the photo below left, with pals Hilary, Sarah and Mandy.

Brittany, Bastille Day, Gothic cathedral bells

By Susan Voelkel

Enjoy a lively visit to France, accompanying Max Troyer, a former participant in IU's Honors Program in Foreign Languages for High School Students and currently a junior French major on the IUB campus. His Web scrapbook (address is at end of this story) gives you a delightful ride packed with color pictures of what is involved in a typical program. Troyer traveled to Brest to study at Charles de Foucauld High School in 1994.

His cyber scrapbook not only creates a picture of a typical study-abroad experience, but includes commentary of the "crazy things" high school students do. "Gretchen, one of the American students, almost biked her way off a cliff and into the ocean. She ended up in a thornbush. I think she still has scars: one good way to remember the program forever!" Troyer relates. Students in front of fence

When he first arrived at the home where he was to stay: "I thought it was a French chateau. They explained to me that it was a farmhouse with dirt floors before they renovated it. The view from my window was exceptionally cool. Just to the right was a Gothic cathedral whose bells I dearly missed upon my return. I had an excellent view of the garden, full of flowers to fill the house and vegetables for dinner."

Troyer visited relatives of his host family, went sailing with them and celebrated Bastille Day on an island a one-day sail away from Brittany. He also traveled through the country enjoying both cities and the French countryside. It's all at this site, in pictures and words:

http://www.indiana.edu/~iuhpfl/scrpbook.htm

For further information, contact Jacqueline Danner, director, at 812-855 5241 or E-mail:danner@indiana.edu