It’s coming to the end of my exchange here at Felsted; I go back to California in a few days. I feel like my departure will be bittersweet. Although I am excited to go back to California, I will still miss the new friends and connections that I have made here… It’s actually now my last day and I’m a lot sadder than I thought it would be. I’m honestly going to miss everyone here. Today, Thorne is having a pizza party for me and they’re going to sign my flag.
We recently had a house feast. It was amazing. Everyone got dressed up and we all had fun. There was dancing, singing, embarrassing videos, and speeches of everyone. I’ll really miss the Thorne girls, Dr. MacGuire (the Housemistress), and Mrs. Donaldson (the Assistant Housemistress).
In the past two weeks, I’ve had two firsts. First, I went to a place called Sky Ropes with another exchange, Meg. When I signed up for this event, it didn’t really register in mind what the name of that place meant. Ropes…in the Sky. When I arrived at the place, I remembered that I’m moderately scared of heights. After looking up, I didn’t want to do it anymore, but Meg persuaded me. Although we had harnesses, I was still super nervous. I looked around and there were little kids doing it like it was nothing, so I thought “okay, I can do this.” After a few trials, I got the hang of it and it was uber fun. The teacher who took us had a little daughter and she became my walking buddy. She loved destroying dandelions 🙂
Secondly, I went to Cambridge with a couple of friends and went punting. Punting is when people sit in the boat and then someone stands on the little platform at the end of the boat. There, they have a long stick they push into the ground of the lake to move the boat along. Being the adventurous teenagers that we are, we decided not to get a chauffeur and have one of the guys do it. Both boys were in year 9, so they decided to switch. The first half Sam did it and we were so scared of the boat moving, but we got used to it. When it came time to switch, the boat was moving so much and we were begging them to stop. Justin finally got on and stayed for literally two meters and they switched again. But 
overall, it was an experience that I wouldn’t change for anything.
For people who are on or will go on exchange, I would like to tell you that at first it may seem like you’re never going to make friends or memories that matter. It most likely will get better, but to be honest, for some it doesn’t happen and that’s okay. Either way, give it a chance. Things didn’t really start happening for me until halfway through. Although it was short, I will cherish the memories that coming here on exchange has given me. Thanks for everything England.
The Athenian School Exchange Blog 