I immediately knew what I wanted to attempt to capture when I read this assignment. This is not my first experience living in France, nor specifically the south of France for that matter, so I didn't have much of a "first impression" when I showed up in Perigueux - it seemed more or less how I had remembered/imagined it would be. What did strike me, though, was the high school I am working in and the incredibly different experience I had as a high school student compared to these French students.
My first few weeks were spent visiting most of the English classes in the high school just to introduce myself. The students were often allowed to ask me questions. One of the first questions I was ever asked came from a group of students about the age of American Sophomores: "Do you smoke?" It wasn't so much the question that made this moment memorable, but rather the reaction of the students when I told them that I did not and had never smoked a single cigarette. You would think I had told them I was from the moon.
Another day in one of my classes with 14-15 year old students, we were taking turns introducing ourselves and describing some of our interests and hobbies. One student gave the following introduction (with slight paraphrasing): "My name is _______, I am fifteen years old. I like rugby, I like to eat, and I like beer." Nobody in the class reacted in a way that would indicate this is an inappropriate thing to do or say. I don't completely understand the laws about alcohol consumption in France, but I don't think a fifteen year old should be drinking. In my Mormon-dominated high school in Utah, if a fifteen year old student did somehow find/taste/enjoy alcohol (which is probably pretty unlikely in the first place), he would DEFINITELY not announce it to his class for fear of legal/peer reproaches.
An hour after that class, one of the students who had seemed particularly interested in America during that same class came back to visit me because I had a break between classes and he had ten minutes until his next class in the room next door. He told me that he hadn't been in his previous class because he had been in the school nurse's office. I asked him if he was sick. He told me he was not sick, but just needed to have blood drawn. He then went on to explain that, "My girlfriend's mom is making me get tested... there is no risk though, I am alright." Again this experience opened my eyes to the new world I am living in. Sexual relations in high school are definitely frowned upon in Utah. Parents would do anything in their power to prevent them from happening. This student's girlfriend's mother basically just gave them permission to do whatever they want as long as he isn't infected. He is only fifteen. Perhaps this conversation wouldn't have been as influential to me if the student had seemed at all awkward about sharing this information with me, but it was as normal for him to tell me he was getting tested for AIDS as it was to tell me his name or where he is from.
So with this photo, taken at the entrance of the high school where nearly all the students gather to smoke right outside the gate (since it is forbidden to smoke on the school grounds), this puddle full of cigarette butts illustrates the difference between our two worlds. One where anything goes and no one cares compared to my world of strict values and serious consequences for any action that doesn't conform to the accepted standard, even for the students that don't share a belief in that standard.
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