Three summers ago my family and I took part in an exchange program where they sent a boy from Lille, France to our home in Portland, Oregon. My brother hosted him for a month and naturally, my mother became attached to the 15 year old Kevin from France. One summer later our family decided to take a trip to visit Kevin's family in Lille. We heard of a program called a house exchange where we would find a family online who would like to use our house and in return we would use theirs. In what seemed like a marvelous coincidence a family from Lille, (the Leblanc's) wanted a vacation in the great northwest and a relationship was thus created. The Leblanc's and the Einstein's never met however, we just kept in contact giving each other tips on what to do in each of our home lands. For the next year the Leblanc and Einstein mother's kept in touch and created a small friendship between the family's. In the summer of 2011 I hosted a girl from Spain (Sara) for a month and we clicked right away! I wanted to visit her more than anything but it wasn't lining up as we would have hoped. However, Sandrine (The mother of the Leblanc family) contacted my mother (Elana) and asked her where her daughter could come and learn english during the summer of 2012, "She can stay with our family!" and from there my summer 2012 was packed with travels all over the world.

From here me and Sixtine would fly back to France and then I would go to Spain to visit Sara in her home! Thanks to these crazy coincidences mine and Sixtine Leblanc will enjoy a wonderful summer together!

-Adi