Lindisfarne Exchange Program 2012: Alex Floyd

                This summer, I had the pleasure of visiting the north island of New Zealand with my friend John Powell.  John and I had a bit of displeasure with some air traffic delays, and arrived in New Zealand 24 hours later than we had originally planned. We arrived in Auckland early in the morning with just enough time to eat a quick New Zealand breakfast of steak and egg pie.  We took a small plane to Napier which is town near Hastings where Lindisfarne College is located. On the plane with us was a small Maori dance group that had just recently toured the United States and Canada performing traditional native New Zealand dances. When we landed in Napier, we met our respective host families. I stayed with Sam Kirk, a student whom I had hosted in April of last year when he visited MBA on exchange. It was great to see him again, and because of our preexistence friendship the transition from American to Kiwi was an easy one. I started my journey in NZ by attending one of Sam’s rugby matches. While watching, Sam’s father, Wayne, explained to me the cultural significance of rugby in New Zealand. The sport was considered colloquially “the second religion of New Zealand.”  That night I went to the Lindisfarne ball, which is their equivalent to prom. I hadn’t seen a bed in 52 hours but I had fun all the same meeting  dozens of students and teachers of Lindisfarne.

The next day was Sunday. Sam took advantage of the day off to show me around the beautiful region of Hawkes Bay. The agricultural was articulated with rolling and rocky hills with the ocean to the east. Vineyards and farms were alongside the roads.

The next day I started class. Lindisfarne College is very similar to MBA when it comes to traditions and values. In fact many of the quotes that lined the walls of the buildings were the exact same.

While at Lindisfarne, I took History, Media Studies, Physics, Statistics, and

 English. The uniforms were very strict and everyday, I either had to attend chapel or assembly. The experience was very interesting and illuminating, being at a school with such a religious emphasis having never attended a religious school.  The Media Studies class was especially interesting seeing that at the time they were studying manipulation of American media. The teacher seemed excited to have Americans in the class who could answer some of the more specific questions on the subject. The teacher, Mr. Kidd, took us on a field trip to the capital of New Zealand, Wellington, where we learned about the inner workings of a T.V studio. The city was very young and a cool place to be.

After this trip, my host family took me to Rotorua to see the Maori landmarks.   

We then took the family boat out onto lake Taupo, the largest lake in the southern hemisphere.

We then went to school for another week, where I had to give a presentation on Othello for English, and I attended a rugby game.

 The school is substantially smaller than MBA, but has a great campus and a prestigious academic system.

The final week of school came upon us. It was sad to say goodbye to all the friends I had made. They taught me so much about New Zealand culture. I finished up my trip in New Zealand with a week of holidays where I went hunting for hares in cow paddocks with Sam, and went on a fishing trip on lake with him and his father. The Kirks were fantastic hosts, and I owe them so much for graciously putting up with me for a month. I had an amazing journey where I learned a lot about a distant place as well as  a lot about what it is like being an American overseas. The New Zealand people have a sense of national identity and national pride that is unrivaled in any other nation I have visited. Thank you to Mr. Gioia and Warner family for giving me this incredible opportunity that I will never forget.

An Amazing Time in Michaelhouse, South Africa, with Chris Habermann

We started the trip with the worst part, the flight. We started in BNA, flew to Washington D.C., made a pitstop in Dakar, Senegal, and then finally made it to Johannesburg. After over a day of travel and hardly any sleep, Vince and I were exhausted as we wandered through the Johannesburg airport. At the baggage pick-up, we met our host brother, Gianluca Truda, and his mother, Teresa, who greeted us with warm welcomes and big hugs.

Even though I wanted to fall asleep, I stayed awake in the car to see the city as we went past. The parts I could see in the dark were amazing, but it was hard getting used to driving on the left side of the road. The strangest thing that I noticed on the car ride to their house was that every building had fencing around it. This fencing wasn't your typical picket fence, but was at least 10-feet high with electrified barbwire on top. 

We started off the next day by going to Lion and Rhino Nature Reserve. At the Reserve you were able to drive around in your own car, following a bumpy path that weaved and zig-zagged throughout the area. On the trail we saw dozens of incredible animals, such as lions, water buffalo, zebras, and isboks. The part that struck me as the most amazing was that all of these creatures were native to the area.

The lionesses were hard to find because they were able to blend
in so well with the environment, but once you found
them you couldn't believe that you didn't see them earlier. 

Next we went to Maropeng, the Cradle of Humankind. Maropeng is a museum that displays the evolution of man with on-site fossils, movies, rides, and many fun and interactive exhibits. Along with the exhibits, Maropeng is known for its unique design. The museum is built into a hill and runs underground until it opens up to a beautiful view of the valley below.

On the left is Teresa Truda, our host mother.

On the next day we went to visit Soweto, the biggest Township in Johannesburg and the site of Nelson Mandela's childhood home. The amount of poverty here was truly eye-opening. There were slums as far as the eye could see. Many of the shacks didn't even have electricity; they had to steal it from street lamps that were sometimes hundreds of yards away. As you got closer to 8115 Vilakazi St., Nelson Mandela's house, the houses got nicer and nicer, becoming an upbeat and vibrant area.

The shanties seemed to go on forever.

The next day Gianluca, Vince, and I flew off to Durbin to meet up with our other host brother, Campbell Green. We stayed at his uncle's penthouse suite, which was on top of a building right on the beach. The area was beautiful and the Indian Ocean was surprisingly warm, even though it was winter down there. We spent most of our time in Durbin on the beach or in the mall. The coolest part, however, was that Durbin has monkeys like Nashville has squirrels.

A monkey eating a sandwich it found in the trash.

After two days in Durbin, we made the two hour drive to Michaelhouse. The campus was beautiful! After finding our dorms, Vince and I met all of the other students in MacKenzie, our house. We were put in the A-Block (Senior) dorms, meaning that we were the big-shots on campus. All of the A-Blockers had their own cacks, an E-Blocker (7th Grader) who basically did whatever his cop (the A-Blocker) asked of him. During break, we would sit in the copshop (the Senior Room) watching the Olympics while our cacks made us snackwiches (grilled cheese sandwiches), drinks, and whatever else we asked for.

The front of Michaelhouse.

We did our sport on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons and had matches on the weekend. I picked canoeing as my sport, which was probably a bad choice in the winter since their canoeing was like Olympic Kayaking. The boats were very unsteady, and I flipped almost every other stroke into the freezing cold water.

My dorm, extremely messy after only a few days.

We took our classes with the B-Blockers (11th Graders) and had tons of fun. They had six classes that they would do the whole year like us, but their schedule would be different each day. My favorite class was probably History with Mr. Thomson. The kids in our classes got dates for Vince and me for the B-Block formal, which was like their version of prom, but with the 11th Grade only. The dance was tons of fun, but one of the exchange students from New Zealand stood up his date on accident because he went to the D-Block (8th Grade) dance by mistake.

A picture of the main quad. 

One of the weekends, Mr. Thomson took the exchange students and his C-Block class on a history field trip to the actual site of the Battle of Rorke's Drift, made popular by the movie Zulu. We did plenty of hikes there, following the path of fleeing British soldiers, and played some fire-ball hockey (field hockey played with a flaming wade of socks soaked in gasoline and held together by metal-mesh).

The hospital from the Battle of Rorke's Drift.

Before we left, Vince and I got one of the greatest possible gifts from South Africa, SNOW! Two days before we left it snowed for the first time at Michaelhouse in the past seven years. All of the students skipped class so that they could play. We had huge snowball fights and built giant snowmen. When we left for the airport two days latter, we were caught in traffic caused by hundreds of people driving to the mountains near Michaelhouse to see snow, since that was the place where it stuck.

Michaelhouse students having fun in the snow.

I would like to thank the Warner Family, Mr. Gioia, and MBA for making this opportunity possible for me. I had a blast in South Africa and an experience that I will never forget. I learned so much about the country and the culture and made tons of friends. I would also like to thank the Truda and Green families for hosting me and any Michaelhouse boys who read this. I had a once-in-a-lifetime experience at Michaelhouse and cannot express my gratitude well enough. To anyone wondering about which exchange to apply for, I highly recommend Michaelhouse. It is a beautiful school filled with wonderful people in a breath-taking country.

Christ's College (New Zealand): Clay McLemore

   After spending the night in the Dallas airport, going backwards to Memphis, spending thirteen and a half hours on a plane going to New Zealand and arriving a day late, James Higgins and I had one more flight down to Christchurch on the southern island before we could rest. Coming to the baggage claim, we met our host families, the Scholz’s and the Fowler’s. I would stay with the Scholz’s and James the Fowler’s. Eliot and Mrs. Scholz picked me up, and we then went to get my uniform. Later I met Eliot’s brother, Oliver who is a year 11 and Mr. Scholz. The Scholz’s were incredibly nice and made me feel at home right away. Crossing the street reminded me that kiwis, New Zealanders, drive on the left side of the road after I almost walked into the path of a car.

My two host brothers and I

James and I attended Christ’s College for three weeks. I was a member of the Somes House, one of six day houses at the college. I was able to hang out in the year 12 common room where we would all relax throughout the day. Sadly because of the large earthquakes Christchurch experienced in 2010 and 2011, the main academic building had to be torn down and several other buildings on campus were damaged. There is still construction going on around the campus. Earthquakes are common in New Zealand, as I found out after feeling a few in the first couple of days.
Twice a week during break, the school would meet for a chapel service, and once a week, we would meet in the chapel for “Congers,” a run-through for the church service on Sunday.  For the Classes, James and I both took Chemistry, Economics, Materials Technology (shop class), Classical History, English and PE. PE was different because for a few days a week we would be in the classroom. For the other days, we would kayak in the pool. The classes were discussion based and were never boring, but I could never follow the class schedule because the class times changed every day. After school on my second day, the Christ’s College rugby team lost a tough match against their rivals, the Christchurch Boys’ High School. This rivalry is equivalent to the MBA-Ensworth rivalry. 

For sport after school, I played on one of the rugby teams. The team accepted James and me quickly as we learned the odd rules of the game. I had a blast and enjoyed scrimmaging during practice.

One weekend we attended a rugby match between the Christchurch Crusaders, the local team, and the Wellington Hurricanes with James and the Fowler’s. 

The main quad

Crusader’s Game

After the three weeks of school, we had a week of holidays. During the holidays, the Scholz’s took me to Arthur’s Pass which is a national park in the middle of the mountains. We rode a train up into the mountains and were met with fantastic views during the ride. It had snowed a day or two before we went up, and the mountains were still covered with snow. We sledded and did some hiking while we were there. Since we were already halfway across the island we took a day trip to the Punakaiki Pancake Rocks and Blowholes on the western coast where the tides would make a geyser at high tide. We also went to the zoo in Christchurch and were able to see several kiwi birds among the other indigenous species of New Zealand.

Arthur's Pass

Punakaiki National Park

I would like to thank the Warner Family, Mr. Gioia, and MBA for making this opportunity possible. I would also like to thank all the people at Christ’s College and the Scholz family for hosting me. Going to Christchurch was a once in a life time experience that I will always remember, and I hope to return to New Zealand one day. 

Melbourne Grammar School (Australia): Hayden Deakins

            On July 11^th, around 9:30 A.M. local Melbourne time, Andrew Scott, David Maynard and I stumbled through a domestic arrival gate in Melbourne International Airport after nearly twenty hours of traveling, having only a few hours sleep, to begin one of the most memorable experiences of our lives. Almost immediately after we stepped foot into the terminal, I was surprised with a handshake from my host brother, Adam Barrington and greeted with some genuine Australian charm from his parents, Dick and Robyn Barrington. Despite having only known each other through brief Facebook conversations three weeks prior to the exchange, in the car ride home I immediately felt connected to not only Adam but as well to his kind, generous parents as we chatted broadly about differences in American and Australian culture as well as future plans for my stay in Australia. In this forty-five minute drive from Essendon, a suburb in North Melbourne, to their home in Camberwell in East Melbourne, I knew that I was about to begin one of the most fun and enriching experiences in my life.

            On the day of my arrival, we wasted no time in allowing the jet-lag to pass as I was introduced to various keystone aspects of Australian culture when Adam and I headed to a nearby park to “kick the footy” around. After my brief introduction to Australian Rules Football, Adam and I met up with Andrew and his host brother, Ivo Sdraulig, at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) to watch the Melbourne Demons take on the Richmond Tigers. Although Andrew and I had no earthly clue of what was going on in the massive pitch in front of us, with opposing players furiously tackling each other and beating balls left and right with their fists, we nevertheless enjoyed our beautiful first afternoon in Australia.

            The second day of my stay was also filled with central Australian cultural aspects, beginning with my morning visit to the zoo where I saw kangaroos, wallabies, platypuses, emus, bongos, cockatoos, and an echidna. Later that day, Adam and I met up with Andrew and Ivo as well with some of Adam’s friends and former MGS exchanges to MBA, Jeremy Jones and Cam Perkins, at Melbourne’s best Chinese restaurant dubbed “dumplings.” Our trip to dumplings introduced me not only to the concept of well-connected public transportation with our use of trains and trams, but also the lively streets of St. Kilda road and Flinders Street that I  would frequent throughout the trip.

            As our last activity for the last week of MGS’ winter holidays, the Barrington family and I ventured to their house down the coast to the West of Melbourne in beautiful Lorne, Victoria, a sea-side vacation community extremely similar to MBA student’s much beloved spring break destination, Seaside, Florida. We spent four days in Lorne fishing and looking at the breath-taking scenery of Teddy’s Lookout and Erskine Falls.

            A week into my stay, our winter holidays were finally over, and Adam and I began school at MGS. The first day was rather intimidating with roughly a thousand faces having a double-take as they passed Andrew, David, and me in the halls, wondering why they had never seen us before, and with teachers informing us of their expectations and classroom policies. For the four weeks of academic life at MGS, I took Economics, English, Australian History, Chinese, and History of Revolutions. Although the first few days were a somewhat uneasy transition into MGS school life, I quickly settled into MGS life with the help of many of Adam’s friends I met with at break everyday at MGS’ canteen, a place where students go most every single day to buy a snack to hold them over before the day’s lunch comes around. Some of the highlights of my time in MGS were talking with friends in the library each day and watching Andrew participate in the house “footy” competition at break as I ate Macca’s (i.e. an Australian nickname for McDonalds) with Adam and a few of our friends.

            My time at MGS was undoubtedly one of the most incredible experiences of my life. In such a short amount of time, I met so many new, interesting, and friendly people that really made my experience as great as it was. I was able to have a personal insight into the average day of an Australian student, a perspective that not only taught me about the Australian culture that I had almost no prior knowledge of, but also allowed me to reflect on my own times here at MBA. I cannot thank the Whitson family enough for providing me the opportunity to learn about such a fascinating and friendly people and their culture. Special thank you’s go to Mrs. Warner for her efforts in coordinating the exchange and pairing me up with the greatest bloke in all of Melbourne, to Mr. Gioia, and an especially huge thanks to the Barrington family for being so kind and generous enough to host me. For those considering applying to the Melbourne Grammar Exchange, I highly encourage you to do so, for you will meet the friendliest and, simply put, the greatest people in all of Australia. This experience was so enriching for me because not only did I get to learn about the Australian culture firsthand, but it also allowed me to reflect on our own back here at home with a much different perspective.    

MGS as seen from the Eureka Tower

Colombia Exchange Trip: Colegio Claustro Moderno

       From the 15th of June to the 4th of August, Ryan Owen and I embarked on an incredible journey to Bogota, Colombia. The first impression of the city was astonishing. I got into the car of my host family, the Escobars, and we headed to the family's apartment on the other side of the city. I was overwhelmed by the enormity of Bogota and everything that was going on around me. I thought downtown Nashville was busy on a Saturday night, but this city blew it out of the water any day of the week. It was like New York City only with mountains surrounding the entire city and less high rises. My family made me feel welcome the second I got home by feeding me dinner and watching the Finals for Colombia's soccer national league. Bogota's team, called Santa Fe, won, and my host brother, Camilo, and his father took me to the central park to celebrate the team's victory. The streets and park were filled with thousands of people waiting for the team to arrive. Unfortunately, we had to leave because it got late and the players had not arrived yet, but on the way back to our car, we saw the team bus being flocked by people with the players standing on top basking in the victory. The craziness of the first day of the trip really set the stage for the next 3 weeks of my journey.

Central Park after Santa Fe win

        The next day was our first day at our new school, Colegio Claustro Moderno, which is a beautiful school built on the side of a mountain with a rich school history that dates back 45 years. The first view of the school was from the inside of the van which took my host brother and I to and from school each day. I saw the amazing waterfall with the bridge running over it for the first time. I knew that this trip was going to be unforgettable. The first few days took some getting used to because the curriculum was so different. It was the beginning of the second semester and 2 weeks from the Olympics. The entire school, including Ryan and I, were going to participate in the Olympic ceremony prepared by the students and teachers in front of the parents at the end of our trip. Practices for the ceremony were incorporated into the daily schedules which cut into class time, but that seemed to be okay to the students, so it was okay to us. A typical day started with arriving to school and meeting in a room specifically for Ryan, Sr. Paolicchi, and me and discussing what we had done/ learned the day before, next Ryan and I went to a class, then usually another class, then we had break where we could buy food and drinks such as empenadas and Quatro, next we had another class, then after that was practice for the Olympics or athletics, next was lunch, then maybe another class or class meeting, then the day was over. Classes varied from day to day, and sometimes there were small group meetings or enrichment classes. I enjoyed this varying schedule greatly because it broke up the monotony of the school day.

Waterfall and Bridge at Claustro Moderno

Farm I visited for a weekend

       For me, the students and people at Claustro and Bogota were the best part of the whole experience. Everyone was friendly and made us Gringos feel like we had lived there all our lives. We made friends with the students in the "senior" class and "junior" class, which is the class our host brothers were in. Everyone seemed to like us and always let us joined their soccer, basketball, or volleyball games. The students helped us with our Spanish if we made a mistake and also helped us understand what the teacher was teaching. On the weekends, my host brother would take me to restaurants serving Colombian dishes, to movies with friends, or just out to a friend's family barbeque. One weekend, we even went to his friend's farm to ride ATVs and herd cattle. The people of this incredible country were what made Colombia so special. Their acceptance of us Americans as one of their own made us feel comfortable in everything we did.




     

Museo de Oro

   Some of the best times in Colombia were the field trips Ryan, Sr. Paolicchi, and I got to take during school to places such as El Catedral de Sal, Cerro de Monserrate, Museo de Oro, and Museo Botero. Each was very unique in that one could never find attractions such as these in any other place in the world. For example, El Catedral de Sal is an underground cathedral in a salt mine. It was spectacular because of its size and attention to detail. Cerro de Monserrate is one of the tallest points in Bogota and at the top is a cathedral. The view from the top was phenomenal. The entire city could be seen. The two museums were of the famous gold discovered by the natives who used to live in the region and of the Colombian painter, Fernando Botero, who is famous for his paintings of fat people and objects. It was attractions such as these that really stuck in my mind, and that I know I will never forget.

View from Monserrate

Catedral de Sal

   
      This trip changed my life forever. The people, the city, the attractions, and the friendships formed from this incredible trip will stick with me for the rest of my life. I have to thank the Warner family for funding this exchange and creating such a rich exchange program. I also need to thank Mr. Gioia and the school for giving me the opportunity to visit such a beautiful place. Another thanks to the Escobar family for hosting me and making me feel at home with the family. This is one of those unforgettable experiences that will stick with me for the rest of my life.

Raffles Institute exchange, Singapore. Falkner Werkhaven

Flying into the small island country of Singapore at about 11pm, I expected the city to be dark, but as George Swenson, JT Braun and I stepped into the cab to take us to campus, I saw the city as active as Nashville during rush hour.  Driving on the other side of the road was really the first thing that showed I wasn't home anymore.  As we pulled into campus and saw the thirteen story boarding house we would be staying at, we couldn't help but wonder how different this school was.  The next morning, JT and I rolled out of bed and looked over the side of the balcony and saw their pool.  After waking up George, and having breakfast in the boarding hall, we all walked down to the school to have a look around.  Our first shock came when we saw a coy pond in the middle of campus.  The academic building for their high school stretched from about Massey to Lowry on our campus, and was seven stories tall in some parts.  The library was astonishing, three stories and beginning on the second story of campus.  The next highlight of the trip was traveling to various cultural centers, including little india where George and JT got henna tattoos.  Then came the mosque, built partly out of bottles donated by surrounding communities.  The food stalls surrounding the area were superb, and the samosas that we had there was the best food we had on the trip.  After that, we went to the waterfront where we saw the merlion and heard the story of the founding of Singapore.  A few days later we visited one of the pride gems of Singapore, the Singapore flyer, slightly bigger than London's.  After hearing multiple tour guides say this, it appeared as though Singapore was attempting to "one-up" its former colonizer.  Unfortunately, the night safari was amazing, but as it was at nights pictures were all blurry or dark.  The various large cats were active at night, and many of the smaller ones would jump nearly 10 or more feet in the air.  The exchange in this fantastic country on the other side of the world allowed me to experience all of these interesting sights.  The outward shining city however was not reflected on the political and economic situation of the government.  Multiple speeches about the atrocities of war, and evil of violence made me think Singapore would be a peaceful country, and yet they almost brag about being able to invade Malaysia in less than 36 hours.  They also promoted green technology, and yet destroyed almost all of the natural resources that existed in the country.  At first, I was critical of these contradictions, then came to realize that these same views occurred in the United States.  The US and Singapore are very different in their physical sights, language, and food, yet very similar in the socioeconomic mindset.  My interest in politics of the smaller countries that was sparked by my policy debate research was furthered by the experience of viewing the contradictory mindset that is reflected from the US, and seeing how even though culture varies, the mindset of developed countries seems to develop as a whole, and for one country to advance, all countries must. The experience of this summer that has changed my view of countries outside the United States has been one of the best of my life.  I'm sure that the experience will help me understand the workings of other countries, and further my international service efforts, and policy debate research. Thank you MBA, Mrs. Warner, and Raffles Institute for making this exchange possible.

Melbourne Grammar School (Australia): David Maynard

     I stepped off the plane in Melbourne, Australia with Andrew Scott and Hayden Deakins at the end of a day-long flight, but at the beginning of a five week journey down under.  I was immediately welcomed by the Ellis's, my host family, and right from the start, they were incredibly friendly and welcoming.  As we drove away from the airport toward downtown Melbourne, I knew that I had begun one of the most amazing journeys of my life.
     I stayed with Seb and Zac Ellis along with their parents, Mr. and Mrs. Ellis in their house right outside downtown Melbourne, and they welcomed me into their home like I was one of the family.  They showed me around the beautiful city of Mebourne that sits on a harbor in southern Australia.  I was able to go on top of the Eureka Tower, the tallest tower in the Southern Hemisphere and get a complete view of the city.  It was one of the most breathtaking experiences of the trip.  I also got the opportunity to visit the Ellis's country house outside of Melbourne.  I was incredible to see the beauty of Australia with its rolling hills and amazing wildlife.  I was able to see kangaroos, wallibies, and an echidna.  I was a great experience to see the amazing countryside in Australia as well as the city. 


View of Melbourne

     Soon after leaving the countryside, I began school at Melbourne Grammar School along with Andrew and Hayden.  In many respects, MGS is very similar to MBA.  It is a very prestigous all-boys school that prepares its students for the world and college, and like MBA, MGS is a school that focuses on making great students in and out of the classroom.  I was able to take Biology, Literature, History of Revolutions, Australian History, and Economics as well as playing basketball and Australian Rules Football.  I enjoyed Biology which I am now taking at MBA and it was also exciting to learn how to play Australian Rules Football.  The people at MGS were also friendly and  excepting, however, they did think it was strange how I said "y'all."  It was also great that the Ellis's house was within walking distance of MGS and downtown Melbourne.

Melbourne Grammar School

    Melbourne was a fanatastic city with so much to offer.  Melbourne has great public transportation that made it easy to get anywhere in the city. Whether you were going to AFL (Australian Football League) game at the enormous MCG (Melbourne Cricket Ground), going to Victoria Market to buy a souvenir, or going to one of the beautiful beaches near Melbourne, it is easy to get anywhere.  Melbourne is an amazing city with fantastic people.

AFL game at the MCG

Port Sorento near Melbourne

    Travelling to Melbourne and MGS was no doubt one of the most rewarding experiences of my life.  I loved being able to experience a new culture and a new country.  I would like to thank the Whitson's so much for their generocity and for making this once-in-a-lifetime trip possible.  I would also like to thank Mrs. Warner and Mr. Gioia as well as all the people at Melbourne Grammar School and MBA who organized this amazing exchange program.  Lastly I would like to thank Zac, Seb, and Mr. and Mrs. Ellis for opening their home to me for five weeks and making me part of their family.  Without these people, none of this experience would have been possible.  For anyone else considering going on exchange, I strongly encourage you to do so.  These opportunities at MBA are incredible, and you should definitely take advantage of these once-in-lifetime trips.  You will have relationships and experiences that you will never forget.  Australia is an amazing country and I hope to return there in the near future.

Me in Austalia