Audrey Hu

Junior Gabriel Bobaord is an exchange student from France. He has enjoyed meeting different people in Portland, and hopes to play basketball for Lincoln.

Junior Gabriel Bobaord is from France and is excited to start new adventures in Portland and at Lincoln.

Lincoln is hosting exchange students from France, Denmark, Italy, and China this year. Bobaord says Portland is different from his hometown. 

“I’m from a little town in the westside part [of France], right next to Britain,” said Bobaord.

Compared to his classes back in France, Bobaord said there are more elective options here. The curriculum at Lincoln also differs from his school back in France, requiring less core subjects compared to the selection in France.

“In France, it’s more strict and here you have more fun classes, like construction. In France, we don’t have that,” said Bobaord. 

Bobaord also said that in France the sports are selective and schools don’t offer team sports associated with the school. 

“[At Lincoln] there are a lot of school sports teams like a soccer team and a basketball team and in France, we don’t have that,” said Bobaord. 

Bobaord said he plays basketball and is looking forward to the upcoming basketball season starting in December. He said he plays for a club team back in France. 

“I play basketball and I hopefully will play for the school. Back in France, I play in the first [top] division,” said Bobaord. 

He has also enjoyed some fun activities outside of school such as exploring Portland and has enjoyed learning new things every day since coming to Portland. 

“The first thing I did when I got here was work on my English because I only knew a little bit of it. I also enjoyed meeting different people from different cultures because I come from a tiny city [in France] … I also have enjoyed downtown [Portland],” said Bobaord. 

While he has enjoyed all his classes, Bobaord has pointed out one that stuck out and has quickly become his favorite. 

“My favorite class is strength and conditioning with Mr. Hockett.”