Raphael Evrard and Simon Arcache were riding their bikes through downtown Hillsborough on Wednesday afternoon when they saw a woman from nearby Village Diner who recognized them and shouted a greeting. If they had to sum up their experience the last month in America, that’s what they think of: quickly becoming a part of a close-knit community.

Raphael and Simon come from Toulouse, France to intern with Music Maker for nine months; their university requires that students intern or study abroad in their third year, and when Simon found Music Maker on the Internet, he thought it would be a perfect fit.  “The spirit and the music — the mission is very beautiful. We are not social guys, but if we can help in a way we like with musicians and music and the blues. ”

Since last month they have been working on digitizing the photo and audio archives, general office duties and starting and maintaining a French-language blog, which they hope to update at least once a day with their experiences, interesting tracks or photos they find and reflections on Blues music: https://musicmakernew.staging.wpengine.com/bleublancblues.