Student Exchange Australia: Memories That Will Last a Lifetime

For the last few weeks, I have been attending Carey Baptist Grammar School. Carey is a co-ed private school located in the suburb of Kew. The school runs through prep (k) to grade 12 and there are about 200 students in each grade. The girls’ summer uniform is a yellow dress.

 

School here isn’t much different from LCC, they use laptops and have projector screens but one big difference is that our lockers and corridors are outside and the campus is huge. It took me over a week to find my way around because there are so many buildings but everyone was really nice by helping me find my classes. Something I love about Carey is that they have heaps of electives from total sports to CSI; it’s easy to find a class that suits your interests.

 

Melbourne is about the size of our downtown with the Yarra River running straight through it. The city center is where all of the big buildings and shops are located, with many suburbs surrounding the city.

 

Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve gone to loads of shops and had the wonderful opportunity to try pizza in a cone made out of dough! I’ve also visited a beautiful beach called Inverloch, which is about an hour away from the suburb I’m staying in called Canterbury. I have visited the Queen Victoria Market, the Eureka sky deck and the relaxing hot springs.

 

Time has flown by, tomorrow is Friday when yesterday only felt like Sunday. I’m having an amazing time and making tons of new friends and I can’t imagine ever leaving this place. I’m super excited to continue exploring the different experiences Melbourne has to offer in my last few weeks because these are memories that will last a lifetime. – Aiyana Kaplan ’16

Australia Student Exchange: Whales, Views and Football!

 

Over the weekend my exchange partner, Brandon, and I took a trip down to a small community on the beach called Victor Harbour. There we went to eat at a little German restaurant where I had a delicious and traditional German grill breakfast. After we filled our stomachs, we made our way down to the South Australian Whale Centre, where we learned about whale history, whale anatomy and the use of all these different whale parts in our modern society.

 

Once educated on the wonders of whales, we got in the car and started to make our way back towards the boarding house, only to stop at another small town close by called Port Elliot. There we stopped at the Commodore Reserve with a beautiful view over the incredibly turquoise Horseshoe Bay. After taking in the sights and ripping my shorts on a metal post, we headed back to Adelaide.

 

Now the second part of our day had begun: Brandon’s parents dropped us off at the Richmond Oval, where I was about to witness my very first AFL game. It was a classic showdown between the two rival teams, the Port Adelaide Power and the Adelaide Crows. Although it was just a pre-season game, the intensity was still pretty high and the violence (as always) was over the top.

 

Unfortunately, besides the sheer brutality and incredibly fast-pace aspects of the game, it was pretty boring due to it being a huge blowout. By the end of the first half the Crows were up 76-16. Brandon and I ended up leaving during the 3rd quarter because of this and at this point I had been burnt to a crisp! – Charlie Joy ’14 (LCC exchange student at Westminster School in Adelaide, Australia)

Australia Student Exchange: Nothing Less than Extraordinary

After twenty-two long and strenuous hours, I had finally arrived in Melbourne on Saturday, January 8, 2014, two days after I had departed Montreal. My exchange partner Matthew, and his family live in Ballarat, located an hour out of Melbourne. Ballarat Grammar, the school I will be attending for the next seven weeks is situated in the heart of the city.

 

The past few days have been nothing less than extraordinary. The first day I arrived the weather was blazing hot! This was a shock to me as I left Montreal at a temperature of approximately -20 Celsius. As I disembarked the plane, I immediately felt a sense of freedom and independence. I was excited to experience a new country and yet, ecstatic to finally be exposed to an independent lifestyle for the first time.

 

When I arrived at Ballarat Grammar on Monday, I was greeted with hundreds of happy faces and immediately made friends. Matthew and his family have been so welcoming. I am only seven days into my exchange and it already feels like home.

 

On Tuesday, Matthew’s parents, brother and I attended Matthew’s rowing tournament. I had never watched a rowing regatta before, so this was an entirely new experience for me and I enjoyed it quite a lot. On Wednesday, classes were suspended as the entire school was transported to a large community pool for a swimming sports day full of events ranging from 50 meter backstrokes to water polo.

 

This weekend we are going to explore the Great Ocean Road, a long 91 km route that circles around the coast of Victoria and is known for its scenic views.  All in all, I have had an excellent first week and can’t wait to continue exploring Australia and soaking in all it has to offer. – Ryan Hawa ’16

 

Australian Student Exchange: Adventures I’ll Always Remember

Choosing to visit Australia was definitely one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.  Though I am not even halfway through my stay here, I have already had many new experiences and have made lots of lasting memories.

 

Before I tell you about my amazing experiences here, I would like to say that the main reason my exchange trip has been so amazing is because of my host family. They are lovely and full of Aussie friendliness, and Stella, my exchange partner, is the best friend I could have hoped for! One thing I especially love about my host family is that they’re so caring and laid back. They’re so easygoing that they wouldn’t even mind if I happened to get hungry and made myself waffles in the middle of the night, not that I did that…

 

Here in Australia I have certainly made memories that will last a lifetime. After many long flights and delays I finally arrived in Pomona, Queensland on January 25th. The heat struck me the moment I stepped off the plane; it was definitely a change from Canada!

 

After settling in with my host family they took me on many outings. I’ve been surfing on the beach, saw dolphins at Seaworld and went horseback riding. One of my favorite activities so far was finally getting to meet a kangaroo. I had been looking forward to seeing my first kangaroo and these lovable furry creatures did not disappoint! The kangaroos were very sweet and had soft fur and big doe eyes. I will never forget how much fun it was to get to hug and pet some of the most adorable animals ever!

 

Australia is amazing, everyone is so friendly and welcoming, I wish my stay were longer! – Danova Gardilcic ’16 (LCC exchange student @ St Philip’s College, Australia)

Student Exchange: An Aussie Adventure

After 33 hours of travelling, I finally arrived in Melbourne, Australia on January 20. With a few days rest, the haze of the jet lag had left and the fact that I was halfway around the world had finally sunk in. This was going to be an adventure!

My experience here has so far been one of the most amazing and most adventurous of my life. Travelling around the world alone, exploring a foreign city, seeing some Aussie animals, learning Aussie slang and trying Aussie foods has been part of this amazing past week. I’ve learned some new words, such as; barbie, jumpers, bathers, thongs and bogan, just to name a few. I also went to Healesville Sanctuary where I saw platypus, wombats, Tasmanian devils, kangaroos and koalas.

A new country comes with new accents, foods, animals and vocabulary. It’s strange because even though Melbourne is halfway around the world, there aren’t many differences from Montreal. The biggest change is the climate…I was really excited to be leaving the freezing cold but was not so sure what I was getting myself into. When I stepped outside this afternoon, I felt like I was walking into an oven at 43°C.

Another difference is that people here have clotheslines instead of driers to make use of the scorching hot sun, which can be very useful if the weather was ever accurate. This could be the most important thing I’ve learned here so far, don’t trust the weather reports. One food that I was encouraged to try was vegemite, a salty brown paste that Australian’s like to put on their toast; I thought it was quite disgusting.

Everyone here has been really welcoming and friendly, especially my host family. They have gone out of their way to make me feel at home.  The people I’ve met have been really interested by the fact that it can get so cold in Canada and are perplexed at the thought of coping with such freezing weather because 20°C is cold for them.

Tomorrow is my first day of school; I am really excited to meet some more people. I am so happy to have had such an amazing opportunity of going on an exchange and I am looking forward to the weeks to come. – Aiyana Kaplan ’16