It’s not the French food that Pierre Perez misses while on his year-long stay in the United States, so much as the ritual that surrounds it.

“Really, the food here is fine,” says the 17 year-old Rotary exchange student. It’s just not given quite the same respect that it is at his home in Lille, one of the largest cities in France.

At home, every meal is still a sit-down affair with his parents and younger brother Paul, and “in school, we take one hour to eat.” Pierre continues wistfully, “we have plates, knives, forks, glasses, a bottle of water on the table, bread – French bread of course, and dessert.” The 30-minute lunch periods at Mount Si High School just don’t compare.

Pierre is attending Mount Si for his senior year of high school, and living in Snoqualmie with Brad and Jill Toft and their two children, Wilson and Lauren. He will stay with another Rotary family for part of the year, too.

The Tofts were excited to welcome Pierre into their family, especially after talking with other families who have hosted exchange students.

“They’ve formed these lifelong relationships with these people in other countries, and become an integral part of their lives,” Brad said. “I would like our kids to be able to … have that experience.”

Wilson, 12, has played host, tour guide to Pierre, taking him to various sporting events – Pierre plays soccer and lacrosse. At only a year younger than Pierre’s brother Paul, he’s also been a bit of a little brother, notably when it comes to teasing.

“Most of the time it’s been fun, even though I lost my front seat in the car!” said Wilson, grinning.

An indignant Lauren, 10, joins the joke, saying “And I never even had the front seat!”

Every member of the family went through a little adjustment when Pierre arrived in August, starting with an introduction to the concept of jet lag.

Jill, anxious to show Pierre the beauty of the area, confessed that she overdid it at first. “I had him hike Mount Si,” she said, embarrassed. “I grossly underestimated the length of that hike!”

“It was like his second day here!” added Lauren.

The language barrier was quickly overcome on both sides, though, and Jill told Pierre that she’s seen great improvement in his overall comprehension of English lately.

Learning English is one advantage that Mount Si does have over Pierre’s school at home, and it’s the main reason that Pierre wanted to have an exchange year through Rotary, and why his father, a businessman, encouraged him to go. Ultimately, he hopes to become a doctor, and fluency in English would serve him well, there, as well as in any other career he might choose, if he can’t get into the medical school he wants.

“English is the language of business,” he said. “If you want to do economics, or history, you can’t speak French. Nobody else in the world speaks French.”

Pierre also likes the seven-hour school days at Mount Si, much shorter than the 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. days he spends at home, and he marvels at how cultural differences can affect what students are taught. In France, for example, World War II started in 1939, two years earlier than American textbooks state, and Napoleon Bonaparte, represented as a dictator and failed military leader in the U.S., is more of a hero in France.

He laughed when someone asked him if they have Facebook in France. Of course they do, he said. How else could he stay in touch with his friends back home?

“There is not a big difference here, but a lot of, lot of small differences,” he said.

Most of the time, Brad said, Pierre handles all the change pretty well, but he does get homesick, and loves to talk with his family via Skype, when he can. The technology helps him reconnect to home.

“It’s good. My mother can see me, see that I’m healthy, getting enough to eat” he said. “I’m not sure I could do this without the technology that we have today.”