By Lindsey Rowland
lrowland@wbcowqel.com
Five years ago, Charlotte Bocquillon left her home in France to come and spend a year with Dave and Marianne Williamson in New Washington. Back then, she had come hoping to learn more English and to gain a new experience. Now, she finds herself back in the Williamson household, this time with her boyfriend, Victor.
The occasion that called for her return was her house brother’s wedding, and Charlotte wanted to use her stay, which lasts from June 13 to August 6, as another learning opportunity.
Charlotte comes from a small farming town in the north of France, and she and Victor attend university in Paris. While there, Victor studies business and hopes to take back a more working knowledge of English, as it is important to the modern marketplace. Charlotte studies communications and public relations, dealing a lot with media, which led her to seeking out some experience in her field at the Telegraph-Forum and with WBCO/WQEL and CrawfordCountyNow.com.
In those venues, she has gotten to opportunity to both write articles and work on photography. She says that her time here is helping her to understand what to expect from her future.
“It’s a great experience,” Charlotte says. “I can see how people do it here. The people are different, but the work is the same.”
The town that Charlotte calls home is quite similar to Crawford County and the surrounding area; she even grew up on a farm. Because of this, Charlotte really appreciates the emphasis on “local” that our area boasts.
For example, a fair in Charlotte’s hometown is more about people coming out to witness only the engineering of the tractors on display. Of the Crawford County Fair last week, Charlotte said that it was cool to see all of the kids so involved and showing their animals.
“I would rather bring things home than give any advice,” Charlotte states.
“I am happy to go home with new experiences,” Charlotte says, going on to state that she likes doing something new somewhere else. “This is all new and all good.”