Eleven Belgian students and two teachers traveled, on Friday, October 25, over 4,000 miles from Barvaux, Belgium to Chicago to spend the week with Parker students. For all of the Belgian students in the program, this was their first time in Chicago, and, for many, it was their first time in the United States.

Barvaux, Belgium is a small village in Belgium, with a total population of just under 12,000 people, a fraction of Chicago’s population. 

 Parker has been participating in this exchange with the Institut du Sacré Coeur, in Barvaux, since 2009. When the program began ten years ago, Parker students traveled to Belgium to stay and study with students from the Institut du Sacré Coeur, but recently, the exchange has been one way, with Parker students hosting the Belgians. Based on the logistics of the program, the students from Belgium come to Parker every other year to stay with hosts. 

The exchange is organized by the Language and Cultural Studies Department Co-Chair Cynthia Marker. Marker teaches French in the Upper School and has found the program to have had a great deal of success in the past. “They really are a great group,” Marker said in reference to the Belgian students. “It was an especially nice group this year, and I think people really connected with them, so that was fun.”

This year a variety of upper school students hosted the Belgian students. Although the opportunity to host was open to anyone in the high school, students taking French were encouraged to have a student stay with them. While the students were in Chicago they attended Parker for two days, toured the city three of them, and spent time with their host families for the rest of the time.

Senior Max Antoniou hosted a student named Luca. Antoniou takes Spanish at Parker but was eager to host a Belgian student based on past experiences he has had hosting foreign exchange students in his own home. Antoniou attempted to host a Belgian student when they came in the 2017-2018 school year but was unable to do so as he was out of town during their stay. “It was a really good experience hosting Luca,” Antoniou said. “I learned a lot about where they come from, how their schools are different, and I loved seeing the reaction on his face when he saw how different Parker is compared to the school he goes to.”

Sophomore Julia Ashworth was also among the students who hosted Belgians. Ashworth opened her home to three different Belgian girls for the ten days that they were in Chicago. Ashworth takes French at Parker and is interested in studying abroad next year, and believed that hosting a Belgian student would be a good way to improve her language skills and get a feel for living with someone new. While the students were here, Ashworth did a variety of activities with them, showing them around Chicago. 

“They were such amazing people that I would not have gotten the chance to know if they had not stayed at my house,” Ashworth said. “It was a week full of happiness, friendship, and laughter. It was just really fun.” While they were here Ashworth took them to Navy Pier, introduced them to Mexican food and deep-dish pizza, and celebrated their first American Halloween with them.

Jil Liekendael stayed with Ashworth while she was in Chicago. It was Liekendael’s first time in the United States. “Chicago is much bigger than where we live and we have never been to America before,” Liekendael said. “We have been all over Chicago and it’s been incredible. We have loved everything we have been to and all the people we have met.” 

Marker hopes to soon be able to travel to Barvaux, Belgium, and stay with the students who visited Chicago. Marker believes that if enough students are interested in going to Belgium, making the trip as a group could be possible in the near future, making the exchange more meaningful for all students involved.