MATHILDE of Poilly-lez-Gien, France

Mathilde and friend Laura visit the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.

Mathilde, 17, at left in the photo, lives near Orléans, located south of Paris in the central region of France. Her ambition is to be a teacher of French in an English-speaking country. Mathilde is staying with a family of self-described "talkers," so she is getting plenty of practice -- and that's a very good thing! Her American home is located in Palmyra, Lebanon County.

Mathilde's host mother, Karen, sent us these photos and a description of what's been happening:

"Here is a quick review of Mathilde's visit to the USA so far.  A friend and I picked up Mathilde at the airport near Washington and drove straight to the Residence Inn in Bethesda, Maryland. We got stuck in a little traffic jam, but we just cranked up the music on the radio and sang along. Mathilde knew some of the songs, which was great! We arrived at the hotel around 4:15 p.m., and Mathilde went to take a nap, a 17-hour nap. She was more tired than she thought!

With a prehistoric creature!

"On Friday the fifth we all headed to the Metro Station in Grosvenor, Maryland. We passed a few French shoppes on the way. I tried to pronounce them, but it sounded nothing like what Mathilde was saying. 

"Once we got on the Metro, we went into Washington, D.C. and got off at the Foggy Bottom station. We walked down to the Lincoln Memorial, then over to the Korean War Memorial, then over to the World War II Memorial, then we walked past the Washington Memorial on our way to the White House. Mathilde really wanted to see the White House so she was excited when we finally got a glimpse of it through the bushes.

"We then walked over to the Smithsonian Museum of American History, which we all enjoyed, and the Natural History Museum, where Mathilde got to hang out with some Dinosaurs and other creatures.

After a long day of walking, we got back on the Metro and then got into our car for the long car ride home. 

"We stopped at Buffalo Wild Wings and Mathilde found that Buffalo Wings were a bit too hot and spicy for her taste, but she did like the honey bbq wings. 

Mathilde watches as a future racehorse goes for a swim.

"On Saturday we took Mathilde to the Mountain Trail Training Center, where she got to watch some horses swim and enjoyed feeding the young future racehorses some carrots. Mathilde was still feeling a bit tired, so we took it easy the rest of the weekend watching, WWE and TNA wrestling, which is her favorite thing to watch. This is an activity that my husband Jim, Mathilde, and our son Aric enjoyed watching together.

"Monday was Jim's birthday, so Mathilde and I went over to my friend's house and we baked him a lemon cake with chocolate chips and chocolate buttercream frosting. Mathilde had never frosted a cake before, and she enjoyed doing that and getting to lick the spoon!

"Tuesday, Mathilde helped Jim get a few things done around the house because I was not able to do much due to a medical procedure I had that morning. We really appreciated her help!

"Wednesday, Aric took Mathilde to Hersheypark, and although she screamed and found them to be quite scary, Mathilde said the roller coasters were a lot of fun!  

"Thursday, Mathilde and Aric were invited over to our friends' house for their youngest son David's going-away-to-college party. Mathilde enjoyed hanging out with David's friends, and they made her feel welcome." 

Mathilde and Laura view the Washington Monument and the

U.S. Capitol behind it during their walk around Washington, D.C.

The monument was built 1848-1884.

 Here's a visit to the White House, the world's most

famous residence, at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

At Mountain Trail horse training center, closer to home,

Mathilde meets a future race horse then fed the house

some carrots as a treat.

At the end of Mathilde's visit, her host mother Karen updated us on her visit:

"Jim and Mathilde enjoyed watching a lot of WWE and TNA wrestling on TV. Mathilde is a big fan and knew every wrestler by name! As a treat we paid for the Summer Slam Pay-Per-View Event, and both Mathilde and Jim were on the edge of their seats from the excitement.

"Aric took Mathilde and two of his friends, Katy and Sydney, to see the Honda Civic Tour at Hershey Stadium. It is a concert featuring Blink-182, My Chemical Romance and Manchester Orchestra. Mathilde was so very excited because she is a big fan of the bands. She also found out that Sydney had just visited France, so they had a lot to talk about. The next day Jim let Mathilde play his electric guitar and she enjoyed being a rock star.

"We took a few shopping trips, but Mathilde's favorite shopping experience was at Park City Center. They do not have shopping malls like that where she lives. Our feet were hurting by the end of the day, but she loved shopping at the stores, especially Hot Topic, which is an American pop culture store.

 

"One day we drove down to Kitchen Kettle Village in Intercourse, Lancaster County. I showed Mathilde where we used to live when we lived in town there. I pointed out all the Amish farms, and we saw several horse-and-buggies and lots of Amish people. Mathilde was fascinated by the Amish and mentioned that she and a friend had written a paper about the Amish for school, and she found them to be quite different than she imagined. 

"This past Saturday we went back to the Mountain Trail Farm, and Mathilde got to meet the new baby horses and pet them. They were so cute. Mathilde fed them some peppermint candies.

"After we left the farm, we drove through Fort Indiantown Gap and came across a Merci Train car that was on display at the base. The Merci Train was a train of 49 French railroad box cars filled with tens of thousands of gifts of gratitude from at least that many individual French citizens. They were showing their appreciation for the more than 700 American box cars of relief goods sent to them by (primarily) individual Americans in 1948. 

"The Merci Train arrived in New York harbor on February 3rd, 1949, and each of the 48 American states at that time received one of the gift-laden box cars. The 49th box car was shared by Washington D.C. and the Territory of Hawaii. Parades and ceremonies of welcome were conducted in the state capitols and major cities of almost all the states. We were so excited to have come across this train car and sharing the experience with Mathilde! 

"Sunday we joked that we were going to take Mathilde on a trip across North America. We took her to lunch at Fiesta Mexico in Harrisburg, which is decorated inside like a Mexican Village. From there we drove up 322 and showed her the Statue of Liberty in the middle of the Susquehanna River. Mathilde liked that she could visit both Mexico and New York in one day without leaving the Harrisburg area. 

 

"Monday was another shopping day as Aric needed a few items before he headed back to college. Tuesday we shopped again, but Jim and I took Mathilde to Penn National Race Track that evening to watch one of our race horses, Classe Signora, race. Mathilde really loves the horses.

"Today we brought Mathilde back to the LEC drop off point, and we all tried real hard not to tear up, but we were sad to say goodbye. We hope we have made as much a difference in Mathilde's life as she has made in ours. Thank you for allowing us to host this summer. All of the LEC students we have hosted have been wonderful!"

And LEC Capital Region thanks Jim, Karen, and Aric for being a fine host family.