LWTF - Introduction

The Diary Of A Foreign Exchange Student06/02/2025
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LWTF / Simon Jepps

"To the Chasseigne family,
Who showed me what life was all about."

Living With The French is the childhood diary I kept when living with a French family for two weeks on The Bristol ~ Bordeaux Exchange, back in the year 1993.

Whilst somewhat the length of a short story, I have always regarded it in a special category of its own - something I call a Diary Story ~ that is a short work based on the true events of an original diary.

The diary was by no means a 'literary masterpiece' since it was only written by a young boy, but still, following a recent and thorough editorial by myself, this new revision which remains true to the events of the time, will no doubt keep you entertained until the very end.

The revision does sadly condense the fortnight into a period of only eleven days, since some days there really was not enough material events recorded to make book worthy. However as miracles would go, the recorded events and passion of true diary-keeping bring this story into a dimension of longevity, whereby the reader will feel the period portrayed as being much longer.

Originally self published on the Lulu platform, purely as a literary experiment, I decided whilst it is not really worthy as "sales" material, it is nevertheless a very entertaining read from the innocent mind of a young adventurer.

I have decided therefore to publish the chapters here at Jeppsquare as a series of blog posts.

Indeed this true story is perhaps more special to myself than it would be to any reader, but at least in confidence I can say, the experiences described and the story to be told, bring a warm leaf to one's shoulder.

I was about fourteen years of age at the time and so the whole experience was simply amazing for me. The diary portrays how, amidst all my anxiety, confusion, nervousness, fears and all the other feelings one would expect to have when venturing into a foreign country alone for the first time, I came to find the French people and their country to be the most beautiful in all the world.

Long live the French.

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