Christ's College New Zealand: James Higgins

Few words can describe the experience I had this summer of going to New Zealand's Christ's College. I traveled with John Powell, Alex Floyd, and Clay McLemore to New Zealand, where I had the privilege of staying with the Fowler family, Jonathan and his brothers, Alexander and Sam, and attending Christ's College with Clay. At Christ's College I was able to take the following classes: English, Chemistry, Machine technology, Classics, Economics, and Physical education. The teaching styles for the most part were discussion based, even in Physical ed. which surprised me. Along with the classes we had chapel every Monday, Congers, which is singing practice, every Tuesday, and House Sport on Thursday. I was in the Harper House, one of the day boy houses, and I earned a House Point by playing in a house basketball game that we won. The house is where I spent most of my downtime at school. It creates strong bonds between classmates and is also a very fun environment. The house is an aspect of College that I enjoyed and admired greatly.

While I was in New Zealand, the Fowlers went to a great deal of effort to make sure that I saw as many party of the country as I could. I was fortunate enough to go to an All Blacks verse Ireland Rugby game, a Crusaders verse Highlanders rugby game, swimming with the dolphins at Akaroa, the Antarctic center, and a wildlife reserve. Because of these events, I had one of the most memorable months of my life. I got to share it with pretty good company too.

After my third and final week of school, it was time for a week of holiday. My family and I detoured through Terrace Downs golf resort on our way to Tekapo. Once at Tekapo we went to an observatory, where I was able to see the most stars I had ever seen before in one sky. We also visited the Fowlers's relatives in Tekapo where we hunted rabbits and celebrated American Independence day. The main event of Tekapo, however, was the ski and snowboard hills. I had never snowboarded before, so I was on the bunny slopes, but I still had a great time and kind of got the hang of it by the last day.

I would like to thank the Warner family, Mr. Gioia, and MBA for making this wonderful experience possible. I would like to extend a great deal of thanks to everyone at Christ's College for making me feel welcome, especially the Fowlers. I would not trade this trip for anything and I will never forget it. I hope to return to New Zealand again, sometime soon.