Alice V

Hello from France,

We are an international family of four (+2 cats) living in a small town overlooking the Alps, not far from the border with Switzerland. Tristan is a lively 12 years old (diabetes since he was 3) and Audrey is 7 years old. Alice (43) grew up in Switzerland and is swiss-french, Roland (44) comes from the Netherlands. In our everyday life you will hear us speak French, Dutch and English. Except for the youngest who is not yet on board with English, we all understand these 3 languages. 

Alice spent a year as an exchange student in New Zealand 25 years ago and had a fabulous time.  We hope that despite diabetes, Tristan will have the opportunity to go on an exchange later, if he wishes so.

At this time, we would be happy to give a young diabetic the opportunity to come to France. "We" have had T1D for nearly 10 years: we count carbs, we pump, we freestyle, we live through highs and lows, in short, we get it.

Maybe we'd be linking with an exchange organisation after initial contact. From experience, the activities and friendships with other exchange students is a lot of fun and makes an exchange extra special.

Our spare time is currently spent on DYI jobs around the new house we just built and will be moving in shortly. The kids do a lot of sports: Tristan plays tennis tournaments and is in a football team. Audrey takes tennis and swimming lessons. In the winter months, they go to skiclub on Saturdays.

An exchange student will become part of our family and is expected to act as such. Our nr 1 rule: "This is a home, not a hotel". This means, that you will not be considered as a "guest", and you will not be an "au pair". We expect you to behave like a big brother/sister towards the little ones, carry around your load around home, and just live your teenager life: go to school, have fun with your friends, but respect our rules. Of course we'll include you in our activities and you will discover our way of life and our beautiful region.

It doesn't really matter where you come from, we're open to sharing this experience with someone from another culture. Helping someone with diabetes go on an adventure, that's bonus. We know everyone benefits from an exchange, why not diabetic teens.

If you have diabetes and you are interested to stay with us, do not hesitate to get in touch.