This week all of the exchange students were invited to tea at Mr Reid’s (the headmaster) house. Mr Reid had never really met us before. We all sat in his living room and chatted about ourselves, exchange experiences, homes, and schools. Most Round Square schools, or at least the ones represented here, all have outdoor programs similar to AWE at Athenian (though AWE is by far the longest and in my opinion, the most impressive). It was interesting hearing about all of the expeditions and curriculum that the other Round Square schools do.
Mr Ince also organized a trip to Edinburgh for the exchange students. On Thursday morning we left the school at 5:45 in the morning to catch the train for the four hour ride. Once we got to the city, we walked along the high street and down to the Parliament building. We watched a session of Parliament regarding oil drilling in the North Sea, Scottish economics, and Scottish independence. There is current debate and advocacy for Scotland’s independence from the UK. It was interesting to hear about the two political parties’ reasons why Scotland should become independent and why it should not. After watching the debate, we got to talk to one of the politicians (the representative for the Highlands of Scotland, where Gordonstoun is) and ask him questions. After Parliament, we had a quick lunch and went on a tour of the Edinburgh dungeons. We then had some free time to explore/shop/eat before the train ride home.
On Saturday we had a netball match at The Strathallan School in Perth, which is about 4 hours away. It can be really rough playing in a netball match right after a long bus ride, and unfortunately we didn’t play too well. I played Goal Shoot the whole match and Gracia played Goal Attack. The first half we did really well, scoring 8 points and only down by 5. In the second half we fell apart a bit, and ended up losing 29-10. We stopped at McDonalds on the way back, which seems to happen every time we play an away match.
Today we had inter house table tennis, and Hopeman won AGAIN. It’s been really fun playing in inter house–and it’s a bonus to win all of them.
The Athenian School Exchange Blog 