Conner Griffin-Bishops Exchange

My Exchange to Cape Town, South Africa:

The Bishops Diocesan College

We arrived at Cape Town, South Africa after over a day’s worth of flying, and were greeted by our host families at the baggage claim. Kaylor and I said our temporary good byes, and each headed off with our hosts. I stayed with the Freunds, who have two sons, Paul (18) and Richard (16).

            After a brief nap, I was awoken by Mr. Fruend, and he, Paul, Richard, and I got in the car and headed to Newland Stadium to see the DHL Stormers (the local team, based out of Western Cape Province) play the Melbourne (Australia) Rebels in a rugby match. The stadium was huge, reminding me of Neyland Stadium in Knoxville. As this was the first rugby I had ever seen, I didn’t really understand the rules, but the game was intense and I liked it. With the Stormers victory came mass pandemonium and jubilation in the streets, very similar to the atmosphere, or “vibe” as the South Africans say, of an NFL game.

            I arrived on a Saturday, and the following Monday was my first day of school at the Bishops Diocesan College, an all male high school very similar to MBA. I wore a uniform consisting of a white button-down shirt, tie, coat, and blue/grey slacks. Although it was July, it was winter in Cape Town, and very cold in the mornings. While at Bishops I attended classes such as Mathematics (or “math’s” instead of our abbreviated “math”), economics, life orientation, art, English, and South African history. The classes were an hour in duration each, and structured almost exactly like MBA’s classes are structured.

            Each day began around 7:40, and each morning students would go to their respective “houses” for a twenty or so minute socializing period. Paul and Richard were in Birt House. Each house had its own courtyard, locker room, billiards room, and a special room for the “matrics”, or seniors. Around 8:15 all students were required to attend Chapel, which was a mixture of our conception of a purely religious chapel and assembly. Chapel was held in the chapel, and during this hour long session students would sing hymns, take communion, and announce athletic or extracurricular news. The headmaster would also address the school in the same way Mr. Gioia addresses the school each Monday morning.

            After Chapel comes one period of class, then a snack break, then two more periods of class, followed by lunch. The lunch period is an hour and a half long, and students either bring their lunch, go through the “hot lunch” bar (similar to MBA’s cafeteria), or order food from the “Tucks” shop. “Tucks” is a colloquial in South Africa meaning food. The last two periods of the day follow lunch.

            For athletics, Kaylor and I participated in Rugby. This sport is huge at Bishops, and there are over fifteen different teams among the high school. I found rugby to be extremely physically demanding on both the lungs and the upper body, but it is an awesome sport and I think it’s a shame that Rugby is not played more in the United States.

            The exchange coordinator at Bishops, Mr. Phil Court, did a wonderful job planning out activities exclusively for the exchange students. These activities included a 3,600 foot climb of Cape Town’s famous Table Mountain; a trip to Robben Island, where we saw Nelson Mandela’s jail cell; a week long tour of South Africa’s coastline, where we participated in activities such as bungee jumping off of the highest bungee jump in the world, a zip-line tour of South Africa’s forest canopy, and a safari tour at a game reserve. At the reserve we saw animals including lions, rhinos, elephants, giraffes, and many more. I also received the opportunity to go shark seeing off the coast, and saw many great white sharks.

            My exchange experience was incredible, and on this trip I made what I hope to be life long friends from Pennsylvania, Connecticut, the UK, Whales, India, and South Africa. This exchange exposed me to many different cultures and broadened my global perspective a great deal. I would urge all MBA students to consider applying for an exchange grant, as I am eternally grateful to the Warner family and MBA for this amazing trip.

Adding on to Kevin’s idea, I thought I would post some things that are different in South Africa from the U.S.

1.     Instead of saying “guys”, South Africans say “oak”. For example “hey, what are you oaks doing tonight”

2.     They said “hey” at the end of sentences as well, “what a great game hey”

3.     Instead of saying “bro”, they said “bru”.

4.     They drive on the left side of the road, with the driver’s seat on the right side of the car

5.     They call any type of sweater or jacket a “jersey”

6.     They call clementines “narchies”

7.     They eat fish and chips

8.     Chips are French fries

9.     Potato chips are “crispies”

1. They call lifting weights “gym-ing”

1.  They say “cheers”

1. They say “Howzit” meaning “how’s it” as a greeting similar to our “hey”

1. They say “bleak” to indicate that someone or something is mad or bad

1. They ate Nutella sandwiches

1. A “barbeque” is what we call a “cook out”

1. They think American college students live according to what is depicted in American Pie

1. When they want to say someone can run fast, they say that the person “has a nice pace”

1. They call cleats “boots”

1. They eat something called “biltong”, which is almost exactly like beef jerky

2. They call the TV the “tele”

2. The Matrics at Bishops are all assigned an 8^th grader, and the Matrics can command their 8^th grader to run errands for them at school, such as take their uniform to the laundry mat, get them food at the Tucks shop, shine their shoes on the spot, etc.