Cyrille

In the spring of Emma’s sophomore year we hosted a French exchange student. Emma was so excited to be a student host. She asked us if it would be okay if we did it and when we said it would, she revealed that she had already signed us up. There was, of course, other paperwork to be signed and the process would never have moved forward if we weren’t fully on board. But it was clear from Emma’s perspective that the answer just had to be yes.

We were assigned a young and very shy French high school student named Cyrille. Cyrille was very quiet and we think quite home sick when he first arrived. He ate almost nothing at the first meal we served, which worried us. We went Dairy Queen after dinner to see if we could tempt him to eat some ice cream at least. It was at Dairy Queen that first night that he discovered the only food he consistently ate for the remainder of his visit – a brownie hot fudge sundae.  He ate one every single day while he stayed was us.

Emma was a wonderful hostess. She gave up her bedroom and spent the week sleeping on the trundle in Sarah’s room. She made a big effort to speak to him in French so that he would feel more comfortable to open up and she helped him communicate with us. She so wanted him to have a good time.

The school had planned a busy weeklong schedule for the visiting students. We really had just the first weekend to show Cyrille a little of Connecticut, so we planned a couple of outings. We went to the aquarium and Cyrille seemed to really enjoy exploring the sea life in all the various tanks. This made Emma happy, both because he relaxed a bit and because it was a common interest. It probably would have been wise to quit while we were ahead, but we didn’t. The Rolling Stones concert movie was playing in 3D at the aquarium’s IMAX theater and we foolishly decided to take Cyrille to see it. He absolutely hated it. If we hadn’t been boxed into our row, and a little dizzy from the 3D, I think we would have left. Instead Cyrille suffered through it. I think the only thing he enjoyed were the 3D glasses.

We vowed that the next day would be better, but Cyrille gave us no clues about what he would enjoy doing. We decided to take him to a Bluefish game and invited my teenage nephew to join us so that Cyrille would have a little male company. It was a beautiful day, but I don’t think Cyrille enjoyed this outing anymore than the last. The only saving grace was that they served brownie hot fudge sundaes at the stadium. Pheww!

As the week progressed, though, Cyrille began to open up. He was a sweet, sensitive soul who we felt we were only beginning to get to know when it was time for him to head home. Cyrille and his mother both invited Emma to come visit them, a trip she hoped to make in her senior year.

It was hard for me to hear about friends and classmates traveling to France this year. I so wanted Emma to be able to go there. She would have loved it and felt so at home.

Just one of many dreams that was not to be.