Found in translation: Une aventure épique
Lianny Camilo '25 feeds her appetite for adventure with a term in France.
Late-day sunshine pours into the second-floor lobby of the Goel Center, belying the bite of the February breeze outside. Lianny Camilo ’25 has spent a lot of time in the Academy’s sublime theater and dance building during her four years at Exeter. She was the lead in last year’s production of Lost Girl and plans to audition for the spring play as well.
She missed the show her senior fall term, however. She was an ocean away, immersed in a term-abroad program in Grenoble, France, as part of the Global Initiatives offerings.
Camilo jumps in, both feet, when it comes to new experiences. A Bronx, New York native, she applied to and enrolled at Exeter without ever visiting. She bonded instantly with her McConnell Hall dormmates and landed a part in the ensemble of a theater production her prep fall. She quickly found her place here, she says.
“I like to consider myself an extroverted person just because I like interactions,” she says, “but I don’t know, I’ve always felt welcomed here at Exeter in every space, in every aspect.”
That ability to fit in served her well in September, when she and three other Exeter students traded the New Hampshire seacoast for the French Alps. Each year through the Academy’s Global Initiatives office, more than 450 students and 70 instructors embark on travel and learning opportunities. Recent term-abroad deployments have included France, England, Italy, Japan, Germany, Spain and the Bahamas.
Camilo took a few minutes recently to share highlights of her experience in “the capital of the Alps.”
When did you start to think about the Global Initiatives program and spending a term abroad?
Almost immediately. I remember I was speaking to one of the seniors from theater during my prep year, and she was telling me about the [Stratford-on-Avon] program for Shakespeare. I started doing my research and I realized that, if I’m taking French, I can go to France. Then pretty much immediately I was like, this is what I want to do. I was just waiting for the moment I could apply.
You’re fluent in Spanish. Where did French come in?
I didn’t want to take Spanish because for me, Spanish is more of a familiar thing. I speak it with my family. It reminds me of my culture and home, and I just wanted to kind of get out of my comfort zone. And so I took French. My mom always told me that they’re pretty similar and she took French in college. I really like it. I mean, I think it’s a really pretty language. I’ve always wanted to know how to speak it. I love French. I plan to continue studying it, hopefully.
What were your first impressions when you arrived in France?
It was beautiful. I mean, we were in the Paris airport lounge for a while, and I was just looking around and I was like, oh my gosh, we are in Paris. And then we landed in Lyon and took a bus to Grenoble, and then that’s when I met my host sister and my host mom. I immediately was like, oh, I’m going to get along with them. My host mom just looked so hip, so cool. And my host sister was my age and she looked like someone I would be friends with. So I was just like, this is amazing. And we got lunch and it was so amazing, and my first impression was, I’m going to have fun.
It’s such a big transition, but you had already made a big transition coming to Exeter, right?
The only difference I would say was the language barrier was a little bit difficult for me because they spoke fluent French and I was like, I’ve only used it in classrooms. But other than that, the transition from New York to Exeter and then Exeter to Grenoble paralleled in a way, and I felt prepared. I feel like that was why I was so willing to go. It was a great experience and I’m happy with how easily I was able to incorporate myself into this new world.
Did they speak any English?
No.
Your host family did not speak any English?!
None. It was funny, because the other Exeter kids who went to Grenoble, they had families who spoke some English. So, if there was a word that they didn’t know, it was easier to translate. But my host mom, she’s very French. And my host sister, she isn’t that good at English. She doesn’t do spectacular in her English classes. And so she’s like, I’m sorry, I can’t help you there. But that made my experience so much more fulfilling because I was able to find ways to communicate with them or I had to really sharpen up my French. It was hard at times, but they really appreciated me trying, which is something that I think was a common theme throughout my experience. They just appreciated an American girl who was trying. And so, yeah, it was hard, but it was fun. And my French has been at its best because of that experience.
What did you do when you weren’t in school? Did you guys travel a lot?
My host mom loves food. She would take us to restaurants. She loves shopping. She was the ideal host mom for a teenage girl. And so she took us, me and my host sister, we would go to the mall, we would go to restaurants, we would hang out with the family, have dinners. We made pizza one night, and it was just things like that. And then there was one weekend where we literally went to Italy, we went to Milan, and I was like, this is insane. I was so grateful. I’m eternally grateful to them for that experience. Aside from my host family, I also had a friend group from the school, which was really nice because then I got to hang out with them. Sometimes we’d go out into the city. There was a small little part of Grenoble that everyone hung out in. It was just the downtown area. And we would go there and we would just get Cokes and just talk about life. And I would just sit there and I wouldn’t say much, but just hearing them talk was like, oh my gosh, I’m in France.
Would you recommend to your school mates to think about a term abroad?
Oh yeah! I’ve already been promoting it so much. I’ve been going around to dorm members, to people in my advisory, to people in my French classes urging them to apply to Grenoble. It was the best experience of my life. You need to go, even if you’re uncomfortable and you feel like you won’t fit in because you’re an American or you don’t speak good French or that you don’t know how to speak French to that capacity, you’ll find a way. I found a way to incorporate myself into that community, and it was the best decision that I’ve ever made.