It has been a week since I stepped off the plane that took me away from a place I now call home. It seems surreal that I am now back in the Bay Area, back where I started. I spent these last four weeks adapting myself to this new culture and I feel like I have finally adjusted. Now it seems almost wrong for me to leave. I am, and will forever be, grateful to my exchange family as well as the many friends I made on this trip. My daily experiences and interactions have brought me closer to the heart of Argentinian culture and my own. I hope these same relationships and experiences follow me in the journeys ahead.

Last week I gave a presentation about Athenian to the entire secondary school and two grades in primary. Discussing and researching about my school allowed for me to reflect on more differences I had seen between Belgrano Day and Athenian. Additionally, I found a new sense of appreciation for where I come from and the community I’m involved in. It was quite interesting to see the multiple reactions I received after my presentation. I remember being told, “Your school is so beautiful!” and “You guys can choose your own classes?!” Hearing these responses made me realize what I had taken for granted and allowed me to be thankful for the opportunity I have to attend Athenian and go on exchange to the beautiful city of Buenos Aires.

Although I was still met with many stares even in my last few days, they became common greetings instead of hostile gestures. After writing my first blog post, I had the chance to discuss with my exchange family the meaning behind these long stares. I was told that staring is a way of acknowledging a person. Unlike how people tend to avoid staring at others in the U.S. because it is deemed rude, Argentinians use staring as an unspoken way of saying hello to someone they don’t know. After hearing this explanation, I felt a gradual change in my daily interactions. Each time I walked out of the house, I felt myself become less overwhelmed by racist perceptions. Even though I still carried that feeling of discomfort till the end, I have come to understand and respect it as a cultural difference.

Argentina has shown me its best and its worst, teaching me new lessons along the way. I am more than happy to be able to call Argentina my home. I look forward to welcoming May to San Francisco and showing her where I come from. Argentina, its culture, and its people will forever be in my heart.

Ciao Argentina! We will meet again!

Unlike my first exchange blog, this one is a little hard to start because there is not much time left before I leave Australia. One month, 31 days, 744 hours, or 44640 minutes might seem long, but flies by so fast while on exchange. Looking back at my full experience on exchange, I have met a lot of lovely people, made close friends, learnt much more about Australian culture, and, most importantly, had lots of fun and truly enjoyed Alice Springs.

There are a lot of things that I have learned from this trip. The most significant one is that there is a new challenge every day. By overcoming these challenges, you will find yourself becoming a better person. It was these challenges that made my experience in Australia colorful and full of excitement, because you will never know what is going to be the next challenge in your life. After reflecting on my time here, I realized that new challenges help to push a person’s limit, and creates an environment where a person is encouraged to improve him or herself on a daily basis. This is the number one reason why I highly encourage my fellow Athenians to apply for exchange–you’ll find yourself growing up as a more complete person within just a few months.

Friendship is the most precious thing that you can gain from exchange. My best times in Alice Springs are all the times that I’ve spent with my friends, both at school and outside of school. I celebrated three of my friends’ birthdays, spent time chatting during recess, explored this amazing town with my exchange, enjoyed all the trips to amazing places in the Northern Territory, went to footy and netball games, and had fun singing and playing music with friends in music class.

There were so many incredible things that I was lucky enough to experience during my exchange. The most memorable was a three-day road trip to Uluru at the end of my time in Australia. I could not use words to describe the beauty of nature that I discovered in Uluru. Although there was lots of climbing and walking in dirt, it was all worthwhile after standing on top of the mountain and seeing the gorgeous views.  During the trip, I also learnt much more about how the aboriginal people live their lives in the mountains. Their culture is incredible. They are experts at utilizing all the natural resources out there in the mountains and rocks. In fact, the aboriginal people in Australia is one the earliest human civilizations on earth. Their stories warned me to not take nature for granted, and to protect our mother earth and all the ancient cultures that are endangered. The last night of my road trip, we slept in our swags near the camp fire lying under the sky. Until you see it with your own eyes, you will never know the beauty of the sky at night in the wild. The stars on that dark night were like diamonds. They were all positioned at random spots, without a single pattern, but together they were nature’s piece of artwork. The dark night and shinning stars created the best contrast of color. That night was also my first time seeing shooting stars, and you would not believe me if I told you that I saw three shooting stars. The shooting stars flew by so fast, just like how time was gone before I even noticed during my exchange trip. Even so, I still made three wishes within those few seconds. They were the best seconds of my life, yet it felt so long, because thousands of thoughts went through my mind within the blink of an eye. I will never forget that night, the camp fire, and those shooting stars.Now, I am on the airplane writing this exchange blog. A few minutes ago, I finished reading the flag that all my friends signed before I left and a letter from my exchange. I have no words to describe my feelings right now. I knew that this exchange trip was going to end, but not this soon. Reading all the words and sentences on my Australian flag, moments and images went through my mind – they were faces of all my friends at St Philips’ and all the memorable moments that we share. I will forever remember this exchange trip. Even though my time here already has come to an end, the friendships that I’ve gained during this month will long last in my heart. With a last thank you to every single person that I’ve met in Australia, this exchange blog has come to its end. 

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.