The Advance is teaming up with the Fredericksburg Sister City Association to document their visit.
On Thursday, one dozen high schoolers from Fréjus, France, will arrive in Fredericksburg for a two-week cultural exchange organized by the Fredericksburg Sister City Association—and the Advance is teaming up with them to document their visit.
We’ll be posting daily blogs and photos of their activities as a way to cement the bonds between our two cities and cultures.
The students will be staying with local families and a number of events are planned to allow them to learn the history of this area and experience everyday life during an American summer.
They’ll attend a Fred Nats baseball game on July 13, take a trolley tour of downtown Fredericksburg, take part in water activities on the Rappahannock River, visit Williamsburg, and spend the day at King’s Dominion.
Rep. Abigail Spanberger’s office has organized a tour of the Capitol building for the students and at the end of their two-week visit, they’ll take an Amtrak train to New York City.
The entire community is invited to celebrate with the exchange students at the annual free Bastille Day celebration on Sunday, July 14, at Hurkamp Park, from 5 to 8 p.m.
Bastille Day is the French National Holiday, the equivalent of America’s Fourth of July. The local celebration will feature Premiere, a Richmond-based dance band, as well as food, wine, a marché aux puces (flea market), and a raffle to raise funds for the Fredericksburg Sister City Association.
The raffle prize is a $600 gift card to the Prospect Hill Inn in Louisa for a two-night get-away with a chauffeured tour of local wineries; tickets are $20 each.
The Fredericksburg Sister City Association was established in 1980 and Fréjus, a city of 53,000 people in Provence, in the south of France, became Fredericksburg’s first sister city.
Since then, the association has hosted an annual student exchange. In even-numbered years, students from Fréjus visit Fredericksburg and in odd-numbered years, students from Fredericksburg visit Fréjus and are hosted by French families.
The association also organizes art and music exchanges. Artists from Fréjus have been invited to exhibit their works in local art galleries and vice versa, and local music teachers have taken groups of singers to perform in France.
Local artist Cathy Herndon has also exhibited her work in Fréjus. A member of the Sister City Association since 1988 and a past president, Herndon said the cultural exchange program is life changing both for those hosting and those visiting.
“In all of my experiences as chaperone with American students to Fréjus, I am always happy and proud to see our young students, many of whom have never been abroad or experienced a different culture, adapt so easily and ‘diplomatically’ to French customs and the language,” Herndon said. “And they get to reciprocate with their paired student here! We need more of that every day. I am glad we allow our Fredericksburg youth to experience this. It changed my life many years ago and I hope it will theirs.”
University of Mary Washington professor Ranjit Singh said he is looking forward to hosting Livia, a student from Fréjus for twelve days this summer.
“We’re sure it will be extremely beneficial for all concerned,” he said. “Apart from the usual sights, we have a small family farm in Stafford, and I play fiddle in an Americana folk band. Hopefully, we’ll leave a good impression of the U.S. that will make her want to come back.”
Singh also said he hopes the exchange program will “pique [his sons’] curiosity about France.”
“Due to COVID travel limitations, our two teenage boys haven’t had as much exposure to the outside world as we’d initially planned,” he said. “I think the idea of getting teenagers together is inspired!”
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