My exchange in Australia was amazing. The people were so cheerful and welcoming, and I enjoyed their accents immensely. I loved my host family, and they showed me so much of Australia’s culture. I found the kangaroos and koalas fascinating. They are both so soft, and the way the kangaroos bounce is adorable. I did not enjoy the snakes and saw 1 more than I was hoping to see. Some of my favorite times were watching footy (AFL, look it up), hiking Mt. Lofty, exploring the city, and taking a trip to Kangaroo Island. The sand dunes, Admirals’ Arch, and Remarkable Rocks were the highlight of KI. We went sledding on the sand dunes and climbing on the Remarkable Rocks. I also liked Australia’s colorful wildlife and plants. I was pleasantly surprised by parrots flying by me in the wild. The city of Adelaide is beautiful and filled with so many parks and built in a wonderful spot. The multicultural city is amazing and I would love to go back.

Westminster was a new and exciting experience for me. Wearing a uniform and calling the teachers by their last names was new and interesting for me. The classes at Westminster are interesting and styled a little differently with more students and lectors. I enjoyed all my classes and found them all to be somewhere different to where I was in my second semester. They group their science and math classes together into mixed curriculum classes. The social aspect of the school was fun with all the new stories and people.

Over all the exchange was very fun and I would love to go back and say “g’day mate” to my host family. I want to especially thank my host family, Phoenix and his parents for a wonderful experience. When I arrived I was greeted by welcoming strangers and when I left I said good bye to a second family. I would recommend going on exchange to anyone who has the opportunity. Life is short and we should take any opportunity that comes our way. I learned so much and I can’t imagine not going. 

I just got home from Australia a couple of hours ago. I was there for five weeks and made some amazing friends and memories that I will never forget. My Grandpa was born in Australia and moved to America when he was little, however, a branch of the family tree is still there. Over EXEAT, when they kick the boarders out for the weekend, I went into the Adelaide hills and spend the weekend with my Great Grandmother’s sister’s daughter, Michele. Sadly I was sick all night Friday and was unable to do much Saturday. As it turned out, one in three boarders got sick over that weekend, and they even ran test on some of us. The results showed it was a virus that spread through the boarding house. After this doozy of a day, we had to pack two days into one. They live on a farm that has about 150 acres and own a few other plots of land that total around 1000 acres. The hills on their farms are covered in vineyards and they have tons of sheep and cattle. I also had the opportunity to drive their tractors, forklifts and gators. After experiencing farm life, we went into Adelaide and saw my Great Grandma’s sister, which was an amazing experience.

After another good week at school, I flew into Sydney and spent the weekend with Michele’s daughter, Kate. Kate has three kids: Jordan in year 12, Chloe in year 10, and Dior in year 9. Over the weekend we took a ferry from Manly Beach to the Sydney Opera House and Harbor Bridge. It was awesome meeting these relatives that I had not known before.

The lessons at Westminster were quite different to those at Athenian and consisted of mainly lectures and assignments. Some of the classes I took were, Wood Tech, Maths, English, History, Science Plus and PE.

On my final weekend at Westminster, the day known as Intercol was held. Intercol is the day where Westminster and their biggest rival, Pembroke, face off in every sport. Each sports team from year 8 up competes in this huge event. On this day I woke up to the song “We Ready” being blasted over the boarding house speakers at 7:00 am. I then went and watched all the girl’s netball games, which is pretty similar to basketball. After that, I played in the year 10 soccer game, which we won 4-3. The main event was the opens football match at 2:15. All students from both schools circled around the oval and did not stop cheering till the final whistle blew. In the end, Westminster destroyed Pembroke by over ten goals. Afterwards I went to an Intercol after party and spent the night at someone’s house.  The next morning I woke up, headed to the airport, and started my journey home.

My time at Westminster was amazing and I hope to go back soon. Thanks for reading and UP THE GONS.

I really don’t know where to start. These final weeks in Launceston have been a blur. I’ve had my highs and my lows during Exchange. The saying “it will get better with time” applied to my experience at school. I admit I didn’t feel the most comfortable with the friends of my exchange partner Caoilainn, as they were two years older than me and talked about people I didn’t know. During the last few weeks, however, I branched out and found my own friends. Not only did I get to know more people, I have come to realize that talking and initiating conversation has gotten much easier for me.

Unfortunately, during the final few days of Exchange, I ended up getting the worst fever. I stayed home from school on Monday and I ended up having to leave early school on my last day. However, I was always surrounded by the most caring host parents and friends.

Some Highlights:

• Being featured in Launceston’s local newspaper, The Examiner
• Reading and playing with the most precious three-year-olds who were apart of Scotch Oakburn’s early learning program – This was through my Working with Children class. My classmates had to drag me out of the early learning classroom.
• Going to the east coast – My host family took me on an overnight trip to Freycinet National Park. If you simply search ‘Tasmania’ on Google, pictures of the beautiful coast automatically pop up. We hiked up to the gorgeous Wineglass Bay outlook and hit Bicheno Beach.
• Going to the famous MONA art museum in Hobart as an art class excursion – This museum is known to be extremely controversial, as they took on the theme of “Death and Sex.”
• Fun fact: Launceston is in the North of Tasmania and Hobart is in the South. Driving from Launceston to Hobart took two hours, which really shows how small this state is.
• Tasmania is made up of lots of farmland. I first went to a dairy farm with my agriculture class and saw many baby calves. My second trip was with Caoilainn’s rowing team. They hold an annual fundraiser selling sheep poo as fertilizer, so I had the pleasure of shoveling and packing sheep feces for the day.
• Getting the biggest burgers and waffle fries from food trucks at night in the pouring rain
• Dying at Caoilainn’s crossfit sessions
• Local raspberry farm
• Toasties
• Passion fruit
• Going to an official AFL [Australian Football League] game – They only play in Tasmania three times each year.
• Making spontaneous trips after school: grabbing coffee and cake at nearby cafe, walking to a local park, taking the bus to go shop downtown
• Winning Scotch Oakburn’s annual Singing Carnival and War Cry with the Fox House
• I have my host family’s contact forever saved on my phone as “Australian Dad” and “Australian Mom”

Before coming on Exchange, some people asked me, “Why did you pick Australia?” The answer to that is still unknown. Australia and America are known to have similar interests. Furthermore, I was nervous about going to a place where there was less diversity. There were moments where I wanted to go home so bad I cried. I was told that some people might think I was a new Chinese boarder who didn’t speak English. With this in mind, I even felt embarrassed talking to some Chinese students in Mandarin because I didn’t want to be stereotyped. These were the moments where I had to step back and think about what I was doing. At the end, I thought “Who cares? I’m on a once in a lifetime experience and I’m doing my best.” I’ve had my difficulties and I’ve grown through them.

To those thinking about going on Exchange– it won’t be easy for some, but it’s truly an amazing experience. I’m so thankful for the lifelong friendships I have made and for having the opportunity to come.

Yesterday marked the end of my first week in Argentina. I’ve spent these past few days familiarizing myself with new neighborhoods and people, going sightseeing with my exchange family, and trying out common delicacies and customs. Argentina has shown me the utmost kindness through the warmth and welcoming spirit of all the people that I have met. I am so glad that I chose to spend four weeks experiencing this culture.

Before stepping off the plane, I confronted my biggest challenge which would remain an obstacle for my entire exchange experience–the language barrier. I am grateful to have been learning Spanish for the past five years; however there are still little differences that have made my daily interactions with others a little difficult. Argentinians speak a form of Spanish called Castellano, where “ll” is pronounced as “sh” instead of “y” as I have often been taught. The combination of this pronunciation difference and a rapid manner of speaking have made it difficult to understand everything that was being said, and at times anything that was said at all. However, I am extremely thankful to my exchange family and the students at Belgrano. They have been considerate enough to speak with me in both English and Castellano, so that I can understand but also learn more Spanish.

Belgrano Day School and its students have definitely helped to shape my perspective on Argentina’s welcoming culture. I was very surprised to hear that Mayte, my exchange partner, had invited a few friends over so I would get to know people before I started school. They came over for tea, a small meal held about 2 hours before dinner, where we had a variety of sweets such as medialunas, and dulce de leche. They all introduced themselves and told me a lot more about their school, classes they liked and didn’t like, and tried their best to make sure I was part of the conversation. I still felt left out, even when everyone tried to include me, because I felt that I couldn’t contribute to the conversation. After eight days of interacting with May’s friends and other students, I have found that it is okay to feel that way. I have just entered an entirely different community, so it would be hard for me to feel blend in right from the start. Blending in has also proven to be a big challenge for me, an obstacle with an outcome that will always be the same.

There is not one day when there aren’t people staring at me from the moment I leave the house. Argentina has a very small black population, therefore it’s not very common to see black people in this area of Buenos Aires. Everywhere I go, I am usually met with many stares, either confused, amazed, or sometimes nervous. There were times when I was even glared at. At first, this change was quite difficult to get used to because I was very easily singled out, but I believe these circumstances have allowed for me to educate others instead of being ashamed of myself.

I’m hoping that these next three weeks offer some amazing moments, and allow me to connect with others. I also hope that I can completely open myself to this new culture and take it in as it is. I know that there will still be many obstacles for me to overcome and that it won’t be easy, but I plan to make the most of these challenges for the sake of my experience.

My exchange started when I left SFO on July 24^th and landed in Sydney on the 26^th. I then had a two-hour flight to the city of Adelaide in South Australia. I was picked up by my exchange, Luke Charlton, and the exchange coordinator, Mrs Chukuwani. We drove to Westminster School and I settled into my room. The boy’s boarding house is similar to a hotel; however, the girls live in the nearby neighbourhood in small houses. The first thing I noticed about boarding life was how friendly and welcoming everybody was. Although Luke and I get along well, we do not have similar interests and personalities. At my first dinner, the year 10s who would turn out to have similar interests to me asked if I would like to sit with them for the meal. These people have now become some of my closest friends at Westminster and I look forward to spending the next three weeks with them.

Life at Westminster is completely different from life at Athenian. For starters, students are required to wear the school uniform every day and do not call teachers by first name. Also, in lessons students do not have the same respect for their teachers and constantly mess around in class. Sport and competition are essential to the school culture at Westminster, unlike at Athenian where it is solely an extracurricular. Students are divided into separate houses and students from these houses compete in numerous sports during most lunches. Also, they have an entire day called Intercol, which is where every sports team from their rival, Pembroke, plays Westminster. I think the competition between students allows people to make friends and get to know each other better.

My trip to Australia has forced me to try new things and be outgoing. The last time I went to a school where I didn’t know anybody was in Kindergarten. Early in my exchange I realized the only way to make it worthwhile was to be interested in having conversation with other people. I think one of the reasons I am having such a blast on exchange is because I have had the mindset of saying “yes” to everything (as long as it is safe and legal).

A few things that I have done while here are: take the train to Marion (a mall a couple miles away from the school); go karting with the boarders; played with the soccer team against St. Michael’s where I scored the game winner; watched the Canoe Polo house tournament; visited my relatives that live in Adelaide; watched a play in the city; and tried South Australian foods like Farmers Union Iced Coffee, Tim Tams, Marlow, Vegemite and pork schnitzels. So far, my exchange to Australia has been a great experience and allowed me to make friends I hope to stay in contact with for years to come.A

Hello from the land down under. I have been having a wonderful time here, and I am learning lots of new things. I will start out with my first impression of Adelaide – it’s cold. I know this is relative, but considering I just came from a wonderful summer paradise, it is cold to me. Even though I checked the weather, I still could not let go of the thought that Australia is always hot.  I was very wrong. I met my exchange, Phoenix, and his mom (or, as they say, mum), Janet. My first impression of them was that they are very nice and kind—and this has continued to be the case.

My first night in Australia I went to Phoenix’s hockey game–not ice hockey, but field hockey, which is completely different. I have started learning the game, and the coach was nice enough to let me practice with them. That night I slept 12 hours due to my lack of sleep on the flight over. Soon enough I was learning what life in Australia is like. Warning! Some words are different, which can cause some confusion at first. Phoenix’s dad rides a motor bike and we were talking about safety gear and I got a disturbing image implanted in my head. He said, “Some people ride in only a t-shirt and thongs.” Thongs are flip flops. This is probably the worst translation difference due to the disturbing images that pop into my head.

We have not been staying at home much  Instead, thanks to my wonderful host family, we have been going to do things! We went up Mount Lofty.  To us in California it’s a hill, but still a good hike and magnificent view. The landscape is very different, with all sorts of new vegetation, waterfalls, and very colorful birds. The ocean has vast beaches. It seems fairly calm to me, but apparently is extremely rough for this area. We went whale watching, which was not a three-hour boat tour like my previous whale watching experience in California, but looking on from the shore. The whales were right up close, which is astonishing to me. I later got to go through some of the hills on the back of Phoenix’s dad’s motorbike. Because I had never been on the back of a motorbike before, it was an exciting new experience. We also went to the city and walked around one day and ended up in the botanical gardens. Adelaide is a very beautiful city.

Last Sunday we went up into the hills to visit a native animal zoo. I  got to hug a koala. It is the softest thing I have ever touched! They are big and heavy, which surprised me because they are hard to spot in the trees. We also got to pet kangaroos. We watched a mama kangaroo let her baby kangaroo out of its pouch. They are a funky animal, but super cool to see.

Now on to school. Westminster is a huge change for me. ‘Big, formal, and uniformed’ were my first thoughts when I arrived. It is much harder telling people apart when they all wear the same clothes. But it is all fun and exciting being at this new school. The campus is amazing. It has a wonderful library, sports fields, classrooms, theater, and general vibe. The people are all nice and inquisitive about my perspective of Australia. Of course they want to know about Trump, marijuana, and guns too. The classes have been fun and interesting too. The Australian curriculum is very different, but I will hold my judgment until the end. So far it has been easy, but I am half a year ahead of them, so that needs to be considered.

I am playing soccer for the school, which has only hurt my dignity a few times considering I have never played soccer until I came here. But huge props to AJ (my fellow Athenian here at Westminster) for scoring a goal in a soccer game. I have learned that their driving laws are so much harsher than ours with more restrictions. But once they are 18 they can do anything, which mirrors their laid back culture. I am really looking forward to the rest of my exchange and discovering new things. As they say in Australia… Good A mate!

I arrived in Cape Town half a week before school started at Bridge House School. I arrived at night and my exchange, Adam, and his family greeted me as soon as I walked through customs. Right away we went out to Sea Point for dinner and I was already becoming part of their family. I don’t feel like I struggled to adjust to life too much, considering that Stellenbosch and Paarl are a lot like Danville and that Adam and I get along easily. There is one major difference that stood out to me, however, which was how far away everything is. In Danville, to get into town is barely a drive and effortless, but in Paarl Valley, you have to drive 15 to 20 minutes to get into town. Other than this, life is a lot like at home and was very easy to get used to.

Once I started school I realized just how different Bridge House is from Athenian. Athenian is a laid back school with a unique way of life. Everyday life at Bridge House is almost opposite to what I’m used to at Athenian. At home, we call every teacher by their first name (a trait of Athenian that I have become accustomed to), but at Bridge House every teacher is either Sir or Ma’am. Another odd thing is getting used to the uniform. Here the dress code is slacks, dress shoes, either the Bridge House polo or a dress shirt and a Bridge House tie, a sports coat or Bridge House jacket, and being cleanly shaven. I very much prefer Athenian’s lenient dress code, but I am starting to adjust to the uniform here.

Along with the very different way of life, kids here play different sports in their free time. To try and participate in a sport and to immerse myself in the Bridge House way of life, I joined Adam in playing field hockey, which isn’t offered at Athenian. Before coming to South Africa, I was vaguely aware of the sport, but had never seen it played or known any of the rules. Trying to join mid-season has been tough, but very fun.

One major thing that has stood out to me has been the people. I was a bit worried at first, considering I wasn’t from the country and I didn’t know how I would make new friends, but everything worked itself out quickly. By following Adam around, I met lots of kind people and everyone was very friendly. Everyone has been very helpful in showing me how to be a normal student at Bridge House. If I ever have any questions, I know I can ask anyone for help.

After these first two weeks, I have begun to work in all of my classes and start all of their assignments. The class that has been the most interesting has been French. I had never studied French before arriving at Bridge House, but I was immediately added to the class when they realized that I had no clue how to speak Afrikaans. It has been impossible trying to work with the class, so the teacher started me on some grade 8 textbooks. It has been fun to try something that I would never have the opportunity to do at home.

Overall, I am really enjoying Bridge House and I can’t wait for the next couple of weeks to come. I wish I was going to be here longer because of all of the fun I’ve been having.

I arrived in Johannesburg a week before school started and was greeted at the airport by my exchange, Tshepang, and his family. Immediately, we went to get food at a restaurant called Tasha’s, which is pretty popular here in South Africa. A couple of things I noticed about “Joburg” upon my arrival is how “western” the town is and how many Mercedes-Benz’s there are. Tshepang took me to the Nelson Mandela Centre and we toured the rest of the plaza. I would suggest doing research about South Africa’s history before you come, especially Nelson Mandela and apartheid. The history is quite deep and you will most likely talk about it a few times during exchange. You are bound to go to at least one mall while you are in South Africa. I’ve been here for two weeks and I’ve already been to four different malls. I think coming a few days before school started really helped me get acclimated to the culture in South Africa.

I came to Stanford Lake on a Monday evening to move into the boarding house with my exchange. The first night was pretty interesting because they asked all the new students, including the exchanges, to stand on a table and tell about ourselves and either sing a song or tell a few jokes. As far as I know, this is only a tradition for the male boarding house, Founders. I was amazed by the hospitality shown by all of the boys. It was surprising when everyone said “hello sir,” but it didn’t take long to get used to the formalities.

Unlike Athenian, Stanford Lake has a very strict schedule for its boarders. You can only shower between 6:00 to 6:35 am or 5:00 to 5:40 pm. They lock the doors at 7:15 am and you are penalized if you leave late. Starting school at 7:30 am was the hardest thing to adjust to.  The plus side is there are many activities to participate in during the day. The schedule is similar to ours at Athenian in that there are short periods and long periods. The main difference is that you might have a class for a short period in the morning and have another short period of the same class in the afternoon.

Soon after my arrival at Stanford Lake, my exchange started introducing me to people around campus. The people I’m closest to are the three exchanges from Australia, the two other people besides my exchange that I room with, and the other boys in the Founder’s boarding house. Everyone at Stanford Lake is so nice and they treat the exchanges like royalty. They’ve definitely made me feel at home this past week, so the adjustment was a lot easier than it could have been. It can be overwhelming at times, but you get used to it.

While I’ve been here, I’ve been able to take some pretty interesting classes, including business and visual arts. My exchange, another student and I are doing an art project about “white-washing”. The assignment is to do an art project that portrays a contemporary issue in South Africa, their local community, or the school.

I have been able to participate in a couple of the rugby practices and today I played an actual game of cricket for the first time in P.E. Both of these sports are pretty interesting and I enjoyed playing them.

Overall, I am loving Stanford Lake and can’t wait to do more of the school’s activities. I am very thankful for the experience.

When I first stepped through the airport doors in Nelspruit, South Africa to find my host family on the other side, I wasn’t sure what the coming weeks would bring. I was excited to see my host, Daua, again and to experience life in another country. Two weeks later, I’ve had a variety of experiences, full of highs and lows, and I am excited for the next month here.

There were several days before the new term began, so I had time to adjust before being thrown into school as well. We spent the days preparing for the new term and visiting local attractions. My host family is actually Mozambican, and my exchange normally boards at the school. While I’m visiting, they’ve rented a condo in Nelspruit so that I can stay in a house rather than in the dorms. My host mother wanted this for her daughter when she came to Athenian, so she arranged it for me as well. That is one of the kindest things anyone has done for me.

School began a week ago and what hit me first was the complete contrast to Athenian. The day began with chapel, during which the students pray, sing, and listen to short sermons together. As someone who is not religious, this immediately made me draw a comparison to Athenian as I am not used to the conformity of belief here. The school accepts those of all faiths, but all students partake in the Methodist practices of the school.

As the day went on, the differences between Penryn and Athenian kept adding up. The teachers here are very strict; class begins with the students standing until the teacher permits them to sit down. Grades, or marks, are very important here, and the highest scorers (and some of the lower ones) have their marks read aloud to the class. The top ten students in each grade have their grade averages on display. The open nature about scores here is scary to me, as I can only imagine the competition and sadness if this system were implemented at Athenian.

The way the classes are taught is also very different. Some classes consist solely of the students copying notes off a PowerPoint in complete silence. Classes, in general, are taught with the students learning passively. You gain a lot of knowledge, but it is told to you rather than discovered by you. Drama class is the highlight of my day as it reminds me the most of a class that could be taught at Athenian. The class is a much needed time of familiarity during the world of differences outside. The teacher is the friendliest I’ve met so far, and does not yell at us for sitting on top of the desks or for making noise. It’s the class in which I can be most like myself.

Although I seem to be writing about the school kind of negatively, I’ve actually had an amazing time so far. The students are hilarious and are all welcoming and willing to get to know me. Most of Daua’s friends are Mozambican as well, which has made conversations difficult at times because they speak Portuguese in Mozambique. Sometimes they’ll go back and forth in Portuguese for a while before someone says “guys, English!” and they’ll switch to English for my benefit. Their effort to speak English around me is much appreciated, and they are all super nice and try to make sure I’m included in conversations.

My first few days were spent fielding questions about the US. Everyone wants to know about life in America. Do the cheerleaders wear their uniforms to school all day? Are the popular cliques outright cruel to others. Basically, if everything they’ve heard is true. (Turns out, “the movies are all lies!”). Their questions were legitimate, as they have an outside perspective of life here that they’ve gained through our media. After realizing most of what they’d been told wasn’t true, people liked to turn the question on me. What did you think Africa was like before you got here? Did you think we rode giraffes to school? Thankfully, I’ve grown up knowing that’s obviously not true. But their questions made me remember the bubble that so many people in the US do live in, oblivious to the reality of life in other countries and only knowing stereotypes they’re shown in the media.

So far, exchange has been interesting. There have been times I’ve wondered why I ever wanted to go on exchange, times I’ve laughed so hard I almost fell out of my chair, and everything in between. To anyone wanting to apply for exchange, know in advance that it can be hard. You will question yourself and your decisions. There will be situations in which you don’t know how to react, as what is offensive to one person is a normal comment to another. But you will also meet amazing people and have incredible once-in-a-lifetime experiences. Exchange is something unlike any other. It’s something you have one chance to do, to go halfway around the globe at fifteen and be thrown into a whole new world.

Whether my next month here is wonderful or horrible, I know that I won’t regret it.

It hasn’t been long since I’ve arrived in Launceston, but I’ve already fallen into the rhythm of things as living with the O’Loughlins has come naturally to me. Knowing my Exchange, Caoilainn, beforehand has really helped me get rid of any feelings of homesickness. I started my experience off by losing my luggage in Launceston’s tiny airport, which I fortunately got back on the same day. I never realized how small the town was until my host family actually knew and greeted some strangers at the airport. I spent a week in Shanghai before going on exchange, so it was such a stark contrast traveling from humid 100+ degree weather to Tasmania’s cold winter time. Thin tights and thermal undershirts hidden under my uniform have become second skin. The weekend before school began, I got the chance to go a nearby beach, grab coffee with Caoilainn’s friends in the morning, and get my uniform. With this, I wasn’t anxious or nervous about starting school.

A few things about Scotch Oakburn College:

• The school doesn’t take action in gathering the Exchanges. There are ten or more Exchanges here and I haven’t seen or spoken to most of them. For example, I headed straight to Agriculture class and made cheese on my first day, so the Exchange program is very student led.
• As Scotch Oakburn is co-ed, almost every table is scattered with both girls and boys. It’s unusual for there to just be an all-girl friendship group or vice versa.
• School rules: We have to bring our own lunch and we’re not allowed to bring backpacks to class. We have to wear blazers to an assembly and going into town. My scalp hurts from tying my hair up every day.
• Since the school is Pre-K to Year 12, students here have known each other for years.
• Buildings in Launceston get up to less than 3 floors.
• Recess and lunch is spent on drama and gossip.
• Everyone here is a year older than people back home. Caoilainn is in Year 11; according to my age, I’m technically still in Year 10 here. Year 10 and 11 are extremely different as they follow different regimens, but I’m taking classes from both grades.
• A plus about having an older Exchange partner is that we can go into town or to someone’s house after school as everyone here has their own car.
• Everything is a little later here. School starts around 8:45 to 9:00 am. Lunch is at 1:15 pm. School ends at 3:30 pm for everyone.
• I’ve noticed that most of the students here are more independent.

Although I would love to draw more on the similarities and differences between Athenian and Scotch Oakburn College, I also feel compelled to mention how things unraveled mentally and more personally. I’ve definitely relied on some advice given from friends and family that has helped me get through my first week:

• Given that I’m just beginning my second week, I’ve learned to work at my own pace. “Don’t expect to find instant connection and continue meeting new people and take things in, but never disengage.”
• I have wondered why it was so hard connecting to others here as we have no middle ground. There is less diversity than Athenian, so was it my race? Was it because I was too quiet? I admit I have thought that those questions were to blame. However, it all comes down to personality. In my short experience being here so far, being more outgoing and easygoing really helps.
• I know that I can’t expect others to initiate conversation, but it is still hard to join in a conversation where they’re talk about people I don’t know.

As Launceston is such a small town, everyone lives less than ten minutes away from each other. So while it is at times difficult to connect with others at school, meeting new people and going on spontaneous coffee breaks after school is an insane amount of fun. For the next few weeks, we have planned to go to an Australian football (AFL) game, an overnight trip to the east coast, and an excursion to an art museum in Hobart–-all of which I’m super excited for and looking forward to.