Student Exchange Melbourne: A Once In A Lifetime Experience!

22Mar2014_1517

I have now been in Australia for five weeks and I am reaching the very end of my stay. I have had an amazing time in this beautiful country; I have seen so many wonderful things. When I arrived the first thing I noticed was the smell of the ocean.  School also has shorter days and more periods. We are always outside as to get from one class to another you need to actually go outside and walk to the next class. People here eat lunch outside unlike Montreal where we spend most of our time inside during winter.

 

During my stay in Australia I have been to the most beautiful beaches I have ever seen. The water is bright blue and the sand is white. The water is always the perfect temperature. There where many different beaches, so if I felt more active, I could go to one with more waves…if I wanted to relax I could just go to a beach with little or no waves. One thing that I like about Australia is that there are all kinds of climates: there is desert, ocean, and rain forests and in winter there can even be snow at the top of some mountains. I was lucky enough to experience three of those climates. If I could stay here for just a little bit longer, I might have been able to witness some Aussie snow. But I have heard that it’s nowhere as good as Canadian snow!

 

I play a lot of sports such as football, hockey and rugby. Coming to Australia I was looking forward to playing a bit of rugby. When I arrived people told me that rugby was a winter sport and that I wasn’t here for that season. I had to choose a sport to do while I was here, so I decided to start a new sport. I joined a long line of champions in the rowing team at Carey Grammar School.  Rowing is a big thing in Australia, kind of like hockey is in Canada. All the best athletes are in rowing as a summer sport. If you are not rowing you are playing cricket, and I definitely didn’t want to play cricket.

 

My stay in Australia is drawing to a close, I have been here for almost six weeks, I have made many friends and memories and it will be hard to leave them behind. Another thing that I will miss is my great host family. All and all, this was a once in a lifetime experience and I enjoyed it very much. I would strongly recommend it for other students next year. – Zachary-Pierce Pfefferle ’16

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