As the plane started descending, I saw the amazing view of Adelaide. After three plane rides and more than 24 hours of travel, I was very excited to start my adventure in Australia. During the long plane ride, I was anxious and nervous because I didn’t know what to expect and how my experience would be. I had Skyped my exchange, Phoenix, a few times but now I was finally going to meet him.

When I got off the plane, Phoenix and his mom were waiting for me at the airport. I was very pleased that they were so nice and welcoming! We got along right away and I was asking Phoenix a lot of questions. From the airport, my host family and Philip, the exchange coordinator, brought me to visit Westminster School. I was so impressed with how big the campus was! They have a big cricket field, a large indoor pool, and a large auditorium with more than 1,000 seats! They even have a vineyard! At the uniform shop, they gave me my own “green” uniform, which is a pair of shorts and a shirt – no tie. Just like at LCC, Westminster School has a house system, and I was assigned to Carter House, which is Phoenix’s house. I hope that my friends from Woods won’t mind.

The next morning, Phoenix and I went to school, but it was a special day at Westminster. Instead of going to class, a group of professionals spoke to the entire ninth grade about the importance of well-being. We had many workshops on subjects such as health, gratitude and fitness. During the day, I met some of Phoenix’s friends and they were all very nice. I was very pleased and relieved on how well my first day went.

After school, Phoenix had a cricket practice, and I decided to come try it out. I thought it would be like baseball, but it is very different. I was the “bowler” or the person who throws the ball at the “wickets”. At first, I wasn’t able to hit them, but after a few tries, I actually managed to knock down some wickets. I’m glad I tried cricket out!

The next day was a regular class day and I had my first band class. During this class, we played the James Bond theme song, which was really cool. I am also taking a world culture course with all of the other international students. In this class, we had to present a festival that we celebrate in our country, so I spoke about Canada Day. Next was gym class and we got to swim in the pool and do relay races. It was amazing to be able to swim for gym. Next week I will participate in their swimming carnival competition races.

In short, this school has a lot in common with LCC, but there are also some differences in their activities like cricket and swimming.

Although I was a bit scared of being on my own in Australia, after these two days, I feel more comfortable and I am looking forward to the next few weeks. I still miss my family and friends at LCC, but I know that I am very lucky to be on an exchange in Australia.

See ya later mates.

– Anthony Fata ‘18, Exchange Student at Westminster School

I have already spent two weeks at Carey Baptist Grammar School and time has flown. I am currently having a wonderful experience here in Melbourne, Australia with the De Boer family. My weekends in Melbourne have been eventful. Last Saturday, Tom and I played club basketball for the Hawthorn Titans. Unfortunately, we lost, but it was still a lot of fun to be able to compete and play a sport from back home. Then, we went to the Melbourne Zoo where I was able to see some Australian animals for the first time, such as a platypus, wombats, koalas and kangaroos.

This week was fun as well. We went to see Melbourne’s central business district after going to a School Commencement Service. The area was very busy and exciting and I found it to be very similar to Montreal’s downtown. Tomas and I also went to watch the first game of the National Basketball League’s semi finals. The atmosphere there was awesome and New Zealand ended up beating Melbourne United by 15 points. I was surprised how upbeat the players were, always playing hard, supporting each other and never really arguing with the refs, which is very different from the NBA.

School in Melbourne has been very interesting. Although I initially thought that LCC would be very different from Carey, it turns out that it is actually pretty similar in some ways. For instance, most of my friends at my new school like to play madden mobile and basketball just like in Canada. Plus, the classrooms are set up in almost the same way; they enjoy using computers and having class discussions just like us. However, at the same time, like I predicted, Carey also has its differences. Its hallways, basketball courts and lockers are all outside which isn’t like LCC at all. All in all, school has been great here in Australia; I have met new people and made many new friendships.

I am loving my time in Australia and I can’t wait for the weeks to come when we will be going to the great ocean rode, one of the most beautiful places on earth, and to Sydney, where we will be climbing the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

– Terry Xiao ‘18, Exchange Student at Carey Baptist Grammar School