St. Philip’s College |

My name is Anina and two months ago I arrived at Lower Canada College from Alice Springs, located in the middle of Australia.

LCC is extremely different to St Philip’s College, my school back home, but I am so glad that this is where I got to spend my exchange.

Alice Springs is located in a desert with a population of 27,000 and an average temperature of 35 degrees celsius. Coming to a big city like Montreal was exciting because there is always somewhere new to go and see.

I would like to thank Madame Bradley, Mr. Mckay and all the girls on the midget volleyball team. I really enjoyed playing on a school team because in Alice Springs we play all of our sports at clubs around the town. While I’ve been at LCC I also played tennis. At home I play a lot of tennis but this was my first time playing on clay because we only have hardcourts.

I loved going to watch a Habs and the Montreal Impact soccer team. It was the first time I saw an ice hockey game so it was really exciting. I almost got hit in the face by a puck that flew over the nets but luckily the guy sitting next to me caught it!

One of the biggest differences between my school and LCC was having lunch in a big dining hall everyday. At St Philip’s we bring our own food and sit outside for lunch and recess. All of our classes and locker rooms are in different buildings and the school is very spread out, so to get from class to class we go outside.

I’d like to thank all of my teachers, especially Ms. Shadley, Mr. Neal and Mr. Shannon, for making this exchange possible and helping me to feel welcome at LCC. I’m also really grateful to Emily and Jamie for being the best host family possible, and taking me to so many different places and introducing me to so many new things. I have many special memories that I’ll never forget.

I’d like to thank to Mr. Sigouin for teaching me French. Before I arrived I only knew how to say hello. Now I can say goodbye as well. Au revoir, bonne journée! – Anina Conradie, St. Philip’s College, Alice Springs, Australia

Although it is summer, I am still in school! Even so, I am really happy that I chose to come to St Philip’s College in Alice Springs, Australia. We started off the exchange at a school camp called Mittagundi and I had a great time there. The camp was eight hours out of Melbourne by bus. That part of the trip was horrible because no one wants to be on a bus on a windy road for eight hours straight. Once we arrived at the camp they took all of our electronics and then we were told that the following day we would be going to the snow. The next day we hiked up three hills to finally arrive at snow level very late at night. We had to set up our tents and cook ourselves dinner. We spent two days there and then we hiked back down to the camp. We spent the rest of the week working on the farm. We fed the animals and cooked meals in the kitchen. We had to cook using absolutely no electricity! After a week we returned to Melbourne for the night.

The next morning we flew back to Alice Springs where I met the host family at the airport. We went on a bit of a driving tour and the first thing they showed me was the Todd River. The Todd River is not really a river because most of the year there is no water in it. The only time that there is water is when it rains and it only rains around four times a year! People say that if you see the river flood three times then you can be called a local.

When we arrived at the house we watched a movie and ate Tim Tams. We spent a couple of days off from school but we returned to school on Monday. I met everyone and had a tour of the school. I already knew most people because of the camp except for a few kids who did not attend the camp. I also met the other exchange students. We spent the rest of the week getting used to everything and making sure we liked all of our classes.

Anina, my exchange partner has a job like most of the kids here and had to go to a meeting on Saturday. So I went out with my friend Georgia instead. We walked around the shopping center until Anina was finished. After that we watched friends play netball. When all of our friends were done playing a bunch of them were going to go bowling and so they invited us but Anina had to work so I went alone. At bowling I met another exchange student named Tamsin from South Africa. The next day Anina and her family took me on a day trip to Simpsons Gap and Stanley Chasm so we decided to invite Tamsin to come with us. We traveled to Simpsons Gap, which took about 20 minutes. We then drove 20 more minutes to Stanley Chasm, where we hiked to the center of the Chasm. Then we returned to the cafe where Tamsin and I had our first Australian meat pies! The next day we went back to school and planned our trip to Ares rock. — Emily Bekins ’15

Tag Archives: St. Philip’s College

Australia Exchange Student: Au Revoir LCC!

Australia Exchange: Happy to be in school at St Philip’s College!