It’s the end of week one, 11 000 miles away from Montreal, in Ballarat, Victoria. The weather has been great, the family amazingly friendly, and my short time at Ballarat Grammar School has been fun.

So far I have spent a week at school followed by a great weekend in Melbourne approximately an hour and a half away from Ballarat. The school, Ballarat Grammar School has been interesting. I have made good friends, experienced new and different things, such as “footy,” or Australian Rules Football–a great combination of various sports which is an action packed and highly skilled game. During the weekend, we went to a professional footy game in Melbourne to see some real “blokes” play a fun nail-biter of a game. On Saturday we spent the day in the city, taking in the view from the Eureka Tower, the tallest tower in the southern hemisphere. At the top of the world, we witnessed an aerobatics show. We spent the rest of the day walking around a beautiful and multi-ethnic city.

Ballarat Grammar School is presently on an end of term holiday. Awaiting us is a couple of days at the beach, to catch the surf followed by a week in Sydney. — Nick Lighter ’12