Fabienne Vigier

Bonjour……….from London!

When we graduated, I was a foreign exchange student in Los Alamos, staying with a wonderful family in White Rock. Two of their children, Kerry and Kevin Reed, were also attending LAHS. 1987/1988 was a gap year for me. I already had done my senior year in France, so this was a time to learn about a new culture and a new continent and enjoy! What a chock! Everything was different: the town, the school, family and religious lives. As a result I learnt a lot on my own country, upbringing and on myself (as I had to make new friends and improve my English). I would recommend travelling abroad (as a tourist, a foreign exchange student or a professional) to anyone: it broadens one's perspective on life, humankind and on the world. I am very grateful to the Reeds who made me feel welcome and shared their culture with me.

I did not want to go home but I did. I studied at La Sorbonne University for 4 years where I met my future husband. Then attended a European business school: one year in Oxford, one in Madrid and one in Paris. I started working in Paris in direct marketing but never really loved my job.

We were delighted when our first son was born in 98! We decided to get married in 2000 (many French couples don't get married although they stay together and have a family) right before we moved to New York. Living in the USA was an amazing experience for all of us. Or son learnt another language, we got to improve our English, we travelled (the US is such a beautiful country. And I got to see the Reeds again) and we had a second baby boy in 2002. It was also an opportunity for me to change careers. I started to teach privately, at 2 colleges and at the Alliance Française for adults. I am still teaching now and I find it very rewarding.

The political situation surrounding the event in NYC and the distance from our country made us want to go home after 5 years. But not quite! We have now been living in London for 3 years and it's a nice compromise. We are close to home, our friends and family, we get to travel to Europe more on vacation and experience another country and culture at the same time. London is lovely to live in with all its parks/commons and its cultural life (museums are free but that's about it). Most of the people we are friends with are mixed couples (French/British or other nationalities). Our children go to a French school and our youngest is in a bilingual class. I still teach French to adults and I review texts (mostly web content) once they have been translated into French.

We miss the US and we might go back at some point. We'll see…

I won't be able to attend the reunion but I'd love to catch up with my LAHS friends: fabmitchell@yahoo.com