Aspen Sister Cities welcomes students from France

For eighth graders Andrew Dubé and Basile Magnin, the Aspen Sister Cities program is about much more than just learning new cultures, it’s about making new friends.

Magnin is from Chamonix, the fourth largest commune in France. He arrived last Friday along with a handful of his classmates as part of the Aspen Sister Cities exchange program.

He said that aside from finding a new friend in Dubé, who is of Snowmass Village, he has very much enjoyed learning the history of Aspen and experiencing the surroundings of the valley. For Dubé, he said he’s appreciated experiencing what it’s like to have a brother, if only temporarily.

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“It’s all great, but I really just like having a friend to play games with and this stuff because I’m an only child, and it’s really fun to play board games with Basile,” he said.

The Chamonix Middle school students are set to return home next Wednesday, with Aspen students then scheduled to leave for Chamonix shortly thereafter from March 18 to 30. Dubé will be one of the several students from Aspen Middle School to embark on the two-week long journey.

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“I’m really looking forward to the little town because Aspen’s kind of like a big town and there’s a lot more corporate businesses,” he said. “Chamonix is more like mom-and-pop shops, and it’s more dense. I like the European-style of homes, so I’m really excited for the culture there and just the vibe of it.” 

Sarah Graber is a student exchange coordinator with Sister Cities, as well as a teacher with Aspen Middle School. She said that while the trip is nearing its end, they’ve managed to fit a lot in with much more planned for the following week. 

So far, the students have visited the various schools of their hosting students, attended exhibit tours and workshops at the Aspen Art Museum, as well as stopping by the Aspen Center for Environmental Studies for a snowshoeing tour and birds of prey demonstration. But perhaps best of all, they enjoyed a ski day at Snowmass Ski Resort on Friday, making the kids of a world-renowned ski resort like Chamonix feel right at home.

Chamonix-Mont-Blanc, more commonly known as Chamonix, is a commune in the Haute-Savoie département in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in south-eastern France with a population of around 8,900. In addition to being the home of the first Winter Olympics in 1924, it is also the birthplace of alpinism and enjoys a rich history of high-mountain climbing and guiding. Aspen and Chamonix have been sister cities since 1987.

Aspen Sister Cities is a non-profit organization run by a board of directors with the mission of sharing ideas and cultures through the international exchange of students and community members from Aspen and the greater Roaring Fork Valley.

“A program like this is great because it’s a way for students to learn about other places and other students; but also, they learn a lot about themselves,” Graber said. “They’re going through the experience. And what we’ve really found is that it’s a whole experience for families, as well. They get to make connections that some might be short-lived, some might last a lifetime, and just a way to expose students to new things that they may not otherwise get to know.”

To reach Jonson Kuhn, email him at jkuhn@aspentimes.com.