My name is Alissa Butler. I am adopted and come from India although officially I am half English and half French. I have two brothers and a sister who are also all adopted. Samuel who is 27 years old comes from South Korea and is my sister's (Emily - 22 years old) real half brother. Benjamin, my younger brother is 17 years old and comes from Egypte. My father is English and my mother is French.

I was born in Preston, England on the 10/10/78 but did not stay there long... My father used to work for the British Council and we used to travel a lot. I spent a year in Mali and then we went and lived in North Yemen (or so it was called at the time) in Sana for six years. After that, we moved to Oman (which is just next to Yemen) for five years. Finally, in 1991 we moved to France. My father left the British Council and started up his own company. We moved to Clermont-Ferrand which is a very nice town in the center of France. As soon as my studies are over, I think that I will start travelling again.

I found it very strange in France at first. My main problem was that I found it very cold here at first... in Oman we used to wear sweaters if the temperature got below 25°C and here peaple (the guys!) used to go round topless and complain of the heat! I learned many new things during my first year here but the thing that I remember the most was seeing snow for the first time. I remember seeing the snow flakes and being very surprised because I thought that they would be round balls like I had seen drawn in picture books.

I am now in my second year of Langues Etrangeres Appliquées (Applied Modern Languages) at the Blaise Pascal University in Clermont-Ferrand. I find my studies very interesting as they enable me to travel: Next year I will be studying in Germany for my first term. I will be going with Pascale whom you may know if you have visited her web-site.