I have been at Wellington College more than two weeks now, and have a few more experiences to add to my traveling adventures. As my exchange goes on, I am starting to realize that my time here is passing all too quickly. This past weekend was a three-day weekend, or what is known in England as a “bank holiday.” A friend of mine, Sascha, was kind enough to host me and show me around London. On Saturday morning, Sascha and I spontaneously decided to go to the London Eye, something that I’ve always dreamed of doing. After buying tickets and packing our favorite British snacks that I have grown to love, we set out to catch our train. The train system in England is far more extensive and efficient than ours in California. We transferred from the train to the tube, where I became familiar with the phrase “mind the gap.”

The London Eye was just as stunning as the pictures. We all shuffled into a glass capsule and began the 30-minute rotation. I was lucky with the weather that day, as it was gorgeous and sunny. Big Ben, the House of Parliament, and Buckingham Palace were all visible. The Thames stretched out below in both directions, with ferryboats puttering up and down the river. The city seemed more compact with all the famous sights laid out right beneath me, but I was shocked at the same time at how far the glistening city spread out in the distance.

After the London Eye, we crossed over the Thames by Big Ben and the House of Parliament. Along the way, there were multiple street performers all playing a gambling game with cups and a ball. There was even one man playing the bagpipes.

After seeing some of the central local sights, Sascha and I hopped on the tube to Camden to meet a friend. Upon our arrival, it was clear that Camden was completely different from London, from people who dressed differently to touristy shops, markets, and tattoo and piercing stores lining the road. Nevertheless, the Camden Market had some of the best food and shopping of the weekend. We went to a restaurant called Wagamama, which doesn’t exist in the United States, but is home to the best curry I have ever had. After shopping in local markets, browsing local crafts and jewelry, and becoming unofficial “coat models,” we headed to the infamous cereal killer café. They had every possible cereal you could imagine, with endless toppings of chocolate “magic stars,” chips of every flavor, fruit, and even whipped cream. As bizarre as it sounds, there were even different flavors of milk, such as caramel or peanut butter. It was so good, and was definitely a highlight of my trip to Camden. I hope they have some in California.

The next day, we did a little bit of shopping and went to Buckingham Palace. We arrived just in time to see the changing of the guard. It looked similar to a parade, with guards in uniform with rifles, flanked by horses and riders. The palace was massive, and complete with bright flowers and a garden next-door.

I have written a bit about my travels, but I thought I should talk a little bit about being a boarding student. At Athenian, I am a day student, so boarding at Wellington has been a new country, school, and lifestyle. The majority of students at Wellington are boarding students. As an exchange, it has been quite helpful to board in order to meet new people. Living with your peers naturally brings you closer. I am in lower sixth form, as I mentioned before, which grants me a few privileges that the underclassmen don’t have. The Upper and Lower sixth form students have a different, more flexible uniform than the lower three grades. In addition, the upperclassmen are allowed to have “breakfast in house.” On the mornings when class starts at 8:40, we all make toast, cereal, bagels, etc. in house and aren’t required to walk up to the dining hall, which makes for a convenient and relaxed morning.

On certain mornings, we have chapel and go to the dining hall. Chapel is a new experience for me, and not something I do in my everyday life at home. We have chapel and assembly in the chapel 2-3 times per week. It has been really interesting to take part in a completely different ceremony than I am used to.

Overall, I have loved being a boarding student and traveling on the weekends. My experience at Wellington is constantly presenting new challenges (for example the showers which really don’t seem to like me…), but I have had so much fun during my stay. I truly can’t believe how fast my time here has passed.

I will end the blog with my new piece of vocab.In the United States, whenever we are tasked with something we don’t feel like doing, we might say, “I don’t want to right now,” or, “I’m just too lazy.” However, in England, people frequently use the phrase, “I just can’t be bothered to…” Since that one isn’t too different, I will also add that the equivalent for “awesome” in England is “pang,” which is used as an adjective.

Hello from Alice Springs, NT, Australia.  It has only been two weeks and I have already learned more than I ever thought I would.  Not only am I learning about Australia and how they call McDonald’s “Maccers,” but I am also getting to experience cultures from around the world with the other exchanges at St. Phillips.  There is a wide variety of people in such a small town that I’m am glad to get to be a part of.  So far my exchange experience has been wonderful, and I hope each day will continue to amaze me.

On my first day in school, I mostly hung out with Gabby, my exchange, and met her friends.  However, by the end of my third day in school, I had my own group of friends to enjoy.  I met people from Alice Springs to Nepal to Germany to Canada and even Texas.  Everyone was so welcoming, it was hard not to have a good time.  I never thought my exchange would be so easy to settle into, but it’s like I’ve been here all year. Everything is different, but there are similarities to California in every person, place, meal, and experience, except for the Kangaroos and Koalas.

Around two weeks into exchange, my host family took me to the peak of a small mountain.  Once we conquered the bumpy ride to the top, we sat for hours taking in all of Alice Springs and the surrounding nature.  I got the chance to really get to know my host family.  I learned about themselves as individuals and who they are as a family.  We watched the sunset and made a campfire to stay warm.  It wasn’t necessarily a traditional camp out, we ate chicken from Red Rooster (fast food) and Doritos.  But I felt welcomed, like a part of a new family.

I have been at Wellington College in Crowthorne, England, for about a week and a half. The school is about 50 miles west of London, situated near Reading, but out of the city and full of expanses of forest and lakes. This school itself is absolutely gorgeous, complete with castles for buildings and endless turf for rugby, rounders, and cricket. Many students at Wellington and local friends had told me it reminded them of Hogwarts, and I can confirm that that was indeed my first impression. Every aspect of Wellington is completely different from Athenian. I really didn’t know what to expect leading up to my exchange, as this is my first trip to England and my first time being a boarding student. I am a student in lower sixth form (junior year) staying in the girl’s dorm The Anglesey. There are around 17 houses at Wellington College, but after meeting the incredible and friendly people in my house, it’s safe to say that the Anglesey is the best one! “House identity” is emphasized far more at Wellington than Athenian, and even includes in-house competitions of all kinds. Although I have only been here for a week and a half, I will talk a little bit about Wellington’s Holi Festival, Scholar’s day, and a few other aspects of my adventure.

Last Friday, Wellington had its first ever Holi Festival, which I was lucky enough to be a part of. It was very different from Athenian’s Holi festival, and seeing as Wellington has around 1000 students, it was much larger. Needless to say, growing up in California, I have grown accustomed to warm, sunny weather for the majority of the year. At the Holi Festival, which was outdoors, it was freezing cold outside and raining. We wore short sleeve white shirts anyway to truly experience Holi in England. The rain only made all the colored powder and mud more exciting. Complete with music, food, and even water balloons, it was so much fun and I’m so lucky I was able to participate.

On my first weekend in England, I had the privilege of meeting a family friend living in Reading. After an amazing lunch, we walked along the Thames through a park, and it was gorgeous and sunny. I have been quite lucky with the weather here so far, and I find it can be quite unpredictable. It snowed a small amount today, along with hail, rain, clouds, and sunshine–all within 12 hours. Nevertheless, everything is always so green and the campus is even more gorgeous with a blue sky overhead.

I recently had the opportunity to participate in “Scholar’s Day” with a select group of academic scholars. Since I am a boarding student, I do not have a host family. However, I shadow a girl name Georgie and go to all her classes. Since Georgie is a scholar, I was able to attend with her. The day consisted of three different guest speakers, all experts in different areas of their fields. Two were professors of humanities or biology, and one woman worked in forensics and psychology. We explored the theme of the day, “what is means to be human,” with small round table discussions after each speaker. In the afternoon, everyone selected two specialty subjects, for example Chemistry and Biology, to learn about being human through a specific lens. I went to Classics and Linguistics. I found the day to be quite interesting and unexpected. It was nice to meet students from multiple grades, since often I only get to know the people in my classes. That night, there was a special “Scholars’ Dinner.” This is one of the highlights of my trip so far. The meal was incredible, complete with three delicious courses and a white/dark chocolate pyramid for dessert. For a chocolate lover like myself, it was a perfect way to end the day.

Continuing on the theme of food, I didn’t know what to expect in terms of the food I was going to eat. I had heard many different accounts of food in England and, unfortunately, a few horror stories. I feel I should set the record straight because the food at Wellington is so good! Not only is the dining hall stocked with an incredible breakfast and new lunches and dinners each day, but there are also multiple stores on campus for food and a full café called the V&A. I should also mention that there is dessert at lunch and dinner.

I will wrap up the blog with new vocab I have learned, and hopefully add a new phrase each time I blog. Although I haven’t yet acquired a complete accent, I have learned many new phrases that simply don’t exist in California. For example, someone in California might respond to a joke or story with “that’s so funny.” In the UK it is common to respond with “that’s so jokes” or simply “jokes.”

I’m looking forward to what adventures my upcoming three-day weekend has to offer!

For the past four weeks I have been living in the lovely and drastically diverse country of India. When I arrived, I was greeted by my exchange, Ishana, and a huge poster of the Taj Mahal that said, “Welcome to India, Camille”.

Throughout my first week-and-a-half in India, many of the students were preparing to take their final board exams. At the beginning of your junior year, students have the option of choosing a stream which they will pursue for their remaining high school career to prepare them for life after high school. There are four streams offered in India: medical, non-med, commerce, and humanities. For example, if a student chose med, also known as sciences, they will be taking classes like Physics, Chemistry, and Biology for the next two years until they apply and are accepted into college.

Since the boards were very important, my exchange spent many days and long nights studying for her exams. Many of my first days were spent with my exchange’s family running errands, watching television, drinking cold coffee, or taking rest. My school, Vivek (pronounced Vih-vay-k ) High, requested that I travel to India early so that I could meet my exchange and her friends, explore the country, and participate in the school’s events that were being held prior to the first day of school.

In my first month I played Holi with my exchange and her friends. We spent the day throwing colorful dye, raw eggs, soft drinks, ketchup, canned foam, and lots and lots of water at each other to participate in this lovely celebration of love and color. The following week, my first exchange Ishana, departed for Athenian to begin her exchange and I went camping with the senior class of my school. Our campsite was in Shimla, a tourist and camping destination in the Himalayan Mountains. There we participated in the campground’s exiting adventure courses like zip-lining, valley crossing, rock rappelling, and rope-and-bridge crossing. Being in the hills, I have never seen the Indian sky so clear, the air so fresh and crisp, or the smell so clean and refreshing. My favorite part about the camping trip was that for the first time in over two weeks I was able to see the moon and find constellations amongst the stars. In India there are very high levels of air pollution mostly from vehicle exhaust, the overpopulation of people in certain cities, and the burning of trash because there is no definite disposal system. These circumstances make it hard to enjoy everyday pleasures that I have at home like watching the beautiful sunrises and sunsets or star gazing under the beautiful night sky.

Once I returned from Shimla, I connected with my second exchange, Rashi. She went on exchange to Germany a few months ago. In the week that I spent with Rashi and her family we took a road trip to Amritsar, 145 miles north of Chandigarh in the state of Punjab. In Amritsar we visited a Jain (pronounced Gen) temple. The Jain religion’s main principle is non-violence towards anything with a soul. This means they have a strict vegan diet which evem excludes certain root plants like onions and garlic. After my host family prayed and paid homage to their god, my host family drove to the Golden Temple. This temple is made completely of gold and houses Guru Granth Sahib Ji, the holy scripture of the Sikh religion. The temple is on an island surrounded by a pool of holy water in which some believers bathe to be cleansed from their sins. It was a very eye-opening experience.

This brings me to week four. This week I served as a delegate from the Athenian School in the Regional Round Square Conference 2016. Students from all over India convened at Vivek High to talk and brainstorm about mindfulness. Mindfulness is the act of being aware of your surroundings, your actions, and your well-being by honing one’s focus and applying it to your everyday life through meditation and measured breathing. I’ve spent the past five days reinforcing my knowledge of this practice with Buddhist monk, Lama Yeshe. I participated in group discussions with other delegates, ice breaker challenges, and even went camping in the Himalayan Mountains to practice mindfulness in nature.

School does not start until late April. Since I have been here I have already gotten to meet my classmates at Vivek by playing Holi, attending the camping trip, and participating as a delegate in the Round Square Conference. I am so incredibly glad that I have this opportunity to be in India and I cannot wait for the next month full of adventure!

I’m currently attending the Bridge House School in South Africa and living with my exchange, Ella. I’ve been here for about two weeks, and here is a little overview of my adventure so far.

My first two weeks in South Africa have been filled with gorgeous African sunsets, lots of local slang, and an obsessive amount of pictures. Originally I thought I would be incredibly nervous during the beginning of my journey, but as I’ve slowly gotten used to using celsius and converting the local currency to US Dollars, living here has actually been quite comforting. I’m living in a small town about an hour away from Cape Town, called Franschhoek. It’s basically like Napa Valley, but with giant African mountains and these things called “townships”. These townships are the definition of culture shock for many tourists like myself. Townships are underdeveloped communities that are hard to miss, and are definitely a daily reminder that I am no longer in California. Being in Franschhoek Valley makes it very easy to forget that I’m living on an entirely different continent, but every time I drive past the townships or learn more about the history of the apartheid government here in South Africa, I am reminded of the privileges I have from living in the Bay Area.

While I still can’t quite grasp that I’m literally living in Africa and that I’m thousands of miles away from my friends and family, so far exchange has been an amazing experience. I’m living on Ella’s farm, where her family has made efforts to preserve the history of the area. I’ve explored the small town of Franschhoek, visited the local college town of Stellenbosch, and driven down to the main city of Cape Town. We’ve walked all around the city, exploring vintage stores and cute little cafes. This past weekend we even visited Table Mountain, which was incredibly surreal and probably one of the prettiest views I will ever see. During the week I’ve attempted to play netball, an interesting version of basketball, and I even tried learning one of the eleven languages of South Africa called Afrikaans. All of the activities I’ve done have been incredible and have given me the chance to immerse myself in my new South African world, but my favorite part of my adventure so far has been getting to spend time with my exchange and her family and friends.

Living in this new environment has allowed me to learn about myself and others in a way I didn’t think was possible in such a short amount of time. Of course I still can’t pronounce all of the local slang, and I probably will never fully learn how to play netball, but I am so excited for the next couple of weeks ahead me.

I honestly had no idea what to expect when I was told that I would be going on exchange to Denmark, to some school I could hardly pronounce the name of, Herlufsholm. When I had filled out my form I wrote “someplace where English is spoken.” In fact, I had no Idea that there was a Round Square school in Denmark. In addition to this, I was also going without another Athenian student as a partner as many other exchanges do. The only real comfort I had was that Lindsay Virgilio had been there two years previously and seemingly had had a blast. I was also worried about the school atmosphere. The campus appeared rather old and a bit like a museum.  The school required students to wear a uniform and the only experience I had with uniforms was a brief, but emotionally scarring, stint at an uptight Upper East Side elementary school in Manhattan. All of these things came together to make me begin to doubt how my exchange could possibly be fun.  Boy was I wrong.

Many people talk about how they become more and more stressed as the timer ticks down to when they leave on exchange, but I actually found myself in a kind of zen, accepting the inevitability of my departure. However, all my doubts came crashing down when I woke up on the day after my arrival. Fortunately, my host family are quite possibly the nicest people that I have ever met.  They helped make my first day in a completely different country and culture relatively stress-free.  They took me around the town and helped me acclimate to my surroundings by encouraging me to leave the house. I think that this experience helped ease and expedite my integration into Danish society.

Two days after arriving I had my first day of class. I was expecting a school full of repressed stiffs but this expectation couldn’t have been farther from the truth. The people that I met make even the most socially adept Athenian students look like they never get out. Everyone here has also been extremely nice and outgoing, gladly helping me and introducing themselves.

My experience overall has been far better than I could have possibly imagined. I almost feel that I have found a home away from home.

For two months I will be an exchange student at the Daly College in Indore, Madhya Pradesh, India. A border, sharing a room with an exchange (Carl) from the Louisenlund school in Germany, he and I have a room in Ashok House. Our room is the only room on the ground floor, and the only room with its own bathroom. Our room also has a camera mounted on the wall. Daly College is a Round Square school with a 200-acre campus. It was founded in 1870. While in India I am supposed to keep up with my work in two classes:  Dante’s Divine Comedy and Advanced Biology.

***

I had slight trouble reading The Divine Comedy until the sections with the Opportunists were reached. Then the visual descriptions allowed me to become more invested in the story because I could visualize Dante’s progress.  Though the descriptions became less graphic, they still allowed for a good grasp on the story.

When my plane first landed in Indore, there was a very thick yellowish fog that coated the small landing strip, obscuring any sign of my surroundings. Once I got my baggage and got into the car of the man who recognized me as the only non-Indian in the airport, I was immediately bombarded by an obscene amount of honking. If I were basing the frequency and aggression of the sounds on what I was familiar with in America, I would have assumed that I was in the process of contributing to a seven-car pileup, but here that is just how people drive. I guess the theory behind it is to always have everyone aware that you are there so they will avoid hitting you, though that does not seem to influence any of the other drivers who wildly swerve to-and-fro on either side of the road.

To accompany this stressful journey to the school, there was common scenery of starving cows, dead dogs, dilapidated buildings, and tremendous amounts of trash decorating the sides of the road. When I arrived at the school, I was surprised with the fortifications that were focused inwards, such as bent razor wire, spiked gates, armed guards, and tall walls. Across the road from the main entrance was another compound with similar fortifications, which I later found out to be the state’s largest prison. For breakfast I had some small yellow fragments with ketchup. I originally thought it to be some form of potato, but it turns out that it is smashed rice called poha.

I found the Ancient Giant really interesting as it was so detailed for such a passing reference.

***

They are not having me go to any classes because according to them I am too old. I am two years older than every other student, but I am not really sure why that prohibits me from learning with them. They did mention they may have me teach biology because I mentioned I am taking advanced bio currently. I continued my reading of Dante today, and I have decided I will read a minimum of three Cantos a day, which will hopefully keep me caught up with the class.

***

A few days in and I am beginning to realize that Wi-Fi is going to be a larger issue than I had originally anticipated. The one area where I am allowed to use Wi-Fi is in the library, and the connection there is limited to around 7kb/s down, which unfortunately has made it impossible to log into Microsoft OneNote and this is where all of the biology work that I am required to do is kept. Besides the limitation of speed, the library closes every day at 11 am, which severely affects my daily productiveness.

This is only the beginning of Theo’s journal about his experience in India.  Go to his page in the exchange blog to read all of what he wrote.

Here is the link to a video of Athenian students sharing their tips for “How to Have a Great Exchange“

As my stay in South Africa has come to an end, I can proudly say that those six weeks were something I will never forget! It was such a great experience and very eye-opening. Before this trip I never knew what Afrikaans sounded like, what a township looked like, how delicious biltong (a better version of jerky) was, and how easily two people from completely different sides of the world could become friends so easily. Thanks to this exchange, I’ve been exposed to and learned lots of new things. I learned a lot about myself too. Not knowing what to expect, I figured that while on exchange I was going to be very quiet and keep to myself a lot, but it was the exact opposite. Because I was in an environment where I didn’t know anyone, I found myself being more energetic and open to new things than ever before.

If anyone is thinking about going on exchange in the future… I definitely recommend it! It’s such a great opportunity to learn and experience new things and meet new people. You may not realize it now, but this is an opportunity of a lifetime. Don’t pass it up!

Well, I’m back. After six incredible weeks in Peru, I am writing this blog entry from the comfort of my own backyard. I got back last week, after narrowly missing Tropical Storm Erika during my layover in Miami. Looking back on the events that occurred starting July 15^th until now, it’s impossible to summarize my entire trip in a single blog. The places I went, the people I met, and the wide range of emotions I felt during those six weeks can’t be bundled up into a couple paragraphs of writing. Instead, I want to focus on the most prominent truths that I have brought back with me from my exchange.

• Unlike many people, my exchange was not a life changing experience for me. I won’t look back in fifty years and think of how that trip I took to Peru shaped the decisions I made in life to a significant extent. My exchange did, however, change who I am. Leaving home to live with another family I barely knew in a foreign country was not an easy task for me, and to be perfectly honest I was completely homesick for my first three days in Peru. But living without the assurance that my parents were there to help me if I needed help, and realizing that I needed to take care of myself and become independent for six weeks, changed me a lot. I became a lot more responsible, learning how to keep myself on schedule without a parent hovering over me. I found myself not letting my emotions get the better of me. Feeling sad because I was lonely wouldn’t do me any good. I couldn’t run home just because I was homesick. I had to be mature enough to keep myself together and to stay positive. This new outlook helped me be a lot more open to the many new experiences that I had in Peru.

• Despite the fact that we Athenians are so used to the strange little niche we have created at Athenian, we can thrive in other environments as well. Going to Markham was a huge eye-opener in this way, because in many ways the school is a polar opposite of Athenian. It is a large school (2,200 students in 7 grades), and the culture itself in the student body is very different. The overall atmosphere of the school is a competitive one: competition is imbued in almost every aspect of the school. Many classes are very focused on grades. Some teachers give project grades out loud to the entire class, so students become very competitive over grades. This is similar to Athenian in a way, yet Athenian is much more subtle. During the school’s culture festival that was happening the week after I had to leave, every student council was hosting a race of some sort. Or whenever there was a test or quiz, there always seemed to be an aura of competition in the room. I actually found that I enjoyed this competitiveness in some ways, and I was able to adjust to many of the other differences that Markham had compared to Athenian.

• In many ways, the people I met on exchange impacted me on more than the exchange itself. The wonderful people of Lima were by far the highlight of my trip to Peru. My host family, the Casteñedas, were by far and away the best hosts I could have ever asked for. They took me in as a part of their family, brought me to family dinners, took me all around Lima. They were so receptive to any requests I had (usually around the lines of “please can we have that awesome pasta dish from last week for dinner tonight?), and were all extremely gracious hosts. One of the boys even gave up his room so I could have some privacy! The friends I made also were highlights. Joaquin Malo, whose last name ended up as the butt of many of my bad puns. Canziani, who invited me over to his house for sushi. Nicolás Vargas, who enthralled me with stories about the crazy things that happened at Markham. These people, along with many others that I don’t have time to mention, made me feel very welcome in a new school, in a new country. I am so grateful for all that they did for me.

To summarize, exchange was more than just a vacation for me. It has become a defining experience in my new identity, a part of me that will never leave me. I may lose the fluency in Spanish that I gained or the memories of what I did every day, but I will never forget how incredible it was to live in Peru and Peru will always stay in my heart, a part of me I will never let go. Gracias, Peru. Te amo.