NDED • Letter writing helps build lasting relationships In an age when snail mail was becoming a thing ofrhe past, students found new v·tays co communicateacross long distances. Tcxlay's technology made this process more efficient with e-mail, instam messenger, Facebook, MySpace and other blog Web sites. Senior Mandi Kimberly found a way to improve her French grammar in January of2005 when she found a pen pal who lived in France. Little did she know they would one day converse face to face. Kimberly was able to scan profiles of French natives who were also looking [0 correspond with an English speaker through the Web site www.correspondence-fr. org. The site led her to French native Vanessa Sonzogni. "We have a loe in common," Kimberly said. "fn our e-mails wediscussed the same kinds of th ings that you would discuss with an English pen pal: what we like ro do on weekends, o ur unive rsities, the kinds of movies that we like." One yea r later Kimberly attended H arding University in Francef Switzerland, Harding's newest study abroad program. The two made plans to meet in Toulouse, France, Sonzogni's homerown, when Kimberly would be traveling through the area. "We decided on a date ro meet, and we met at Mandi's hotel," Sonwgni said. "We JUSt did some shopping around Toulouse and went to a cafe and talked about family and my life in France and what Mandi had been doing in Geneva." Sonzogni soon became friends with the rest of the H UFfS group, who encouraged Sonzogni ro apply to Harding when there were problems in the university Sonzogni was attending at the time. "Vanessa would sit in on our classes with us and go into town with us, and I was there when she applied [Q Harding," sen ior Kellie Schmalzried said. "It definitely didn't take much convincing since there was a strike at Vanessa's school in Toulo use at the dme." Sonwgni arrived in the United States in late August and spent a week in Kimberly's hometown of Murfreesboro, Tenn., before beginning the school year. Sonzogni planned to stay in the States for at least a year. She, like Kimberly, was planning ro major in international business. Kimberly and Sonzogni planned to stay in contact long after Sonwgni returned ro France. Kimberl y was offered a place [0 stay in France should she ever return. Twenty-three students were the first to attend the HUFfS program. It was the newest study abroad p rogram that traveled ro cities throughout France and Switzerland studying language and culture. AJong with their studies, [he students also went skiing in [he Alps, sat in on a conference interpretation at (he Un ited Nations in Geneva and toured the beaches of Normandy, France. -Katie Dear lying in the snow Feb. 21, sophomore Tyler Fitzgerald makes a snow angel during a ski trip to the French Alps. "From the top of the mountains we could see so much of the countryside; it was so peaceful." junior Amy Wiginton said. -Courtesy of Rosa Colon • hu - france /switzerland 1
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