Michaelhouse School (South Africa): Vince Panvini

 

This past summer I was fortunate enough to go on exchange to Michaelhouse School in KwaZulu-Natal South Africa. I chose South Africa because I wanted to experience a culture that is completely different than ours here in the United States.

Upon arriving in Johannesburg, Chris Habermann, my fellow exchange student, and I noticed the heavy influence the soccer World Cup had had on the city. The airport looked renovated and new and after talking with the families they mentioned that the city had been cleaned up quite a bit for this world wide event. A few days later we would visit Soccer City and take pictures outside the stadium.

In Johannesburg, Chris and I stayed with the Truda family. Gianluca, age 16, will be on exchange for the month of October. The members of the Truda family were wonderful hosts.

On the first day, Mrs. Truda took Chris and me to the Lion and Rhino game reserve where we saw zebra, ostrich, wildebeest, lion, rhino, and hippo among other new and exotic animals. In the afternoon, we saw the “origin of man” exhibit in an area called The Cradle of Man where the oldest known human fossils were discovered.

The second day, however, was the real eye opener as we were taken on a tour of Soweto. The driver and a native of Soweto called the region “the other side of the coin.” Soweto is a poverty stricken region just outside the city of Johannesburg. There are many sectors of Soweto however that range from the upper class (a nice one or two story house), to middle class (a small house but has indoor plumbing), to the majority which was the lower class (at best four pieces of sturdy metal with a roof and some furniture). Fortunately the winters are not unbearable. We were there during the coldest part of the year and the lowest it would get at night would be around 35F but it warm up to the 80’s during the day. During our tour of Soweto we saw open street butchers selling cow face, many stands selling goods ranging from fruits and veggies to clothes to movies. Also, the Soweto taxi ring was unique as civilians would make different signs with their hands based on where they wanted to go. We finished the tour by visiting the house where Nelson Mandela lived before becoming president of South Africa. To end the day we visited a mall in Johannesburg which was quite large by comparison to the malls we have here in Nashville.   

After our brief stay in Johannesburg, Chris, Gianluca and I flew to the coastal city of Durban where we stayed at the Green’s beach house looking out onto the Indian Ocean. Campbell, age 15, will also be on exchange at MBA for the month of October. Highlights in Durban included swimming in the Indian Ocean, eating fresh sea food, shopping at gigantic malls, and seeing giraffes at a local game reserve. After two days of fun in Durban, it was time to go to Michaelhouse.

 Upon arriving at Michaelhouse, the first thing I noticed was how beautiful the campus is. Set in the middle of the KwaZulu-Natal region, the campus is surrounded by rolling hills and fields. Although isolated from the cities, Michaelhouse sits in a wonderfully charming rural environment and has a great sense of community within the walls of the school. Chris and I were assigned to stay in A block in McKenzie House. A block would be equal to our senior year. However we took B block (junior) courses. Our course load included: Maths, Science, English, History, and Theater (for me, Chris took Biology). Personally my favorite was theater. Mrs. Tarr made the class interesting and fun with new games and exercises as well as teaching us about melodrama, which was the subject that they were studying. Our History teacher, Mr. Thomson, invited Chris and me on the C block history camp of the Zulu Battle field. At the camp we learned about the war between the British and the Zulus as well as meeting a tour group from Wales. At night we would play games of fire ball hockey. For sport, I played 7’s rugby while I was there, which is like normal rugby just with less people on the field. I would have played in an official match had it not snowed the second to last day we were there. This snow was a first for many Michaelhouse boys as they had never experienced true snow before. The snow totaled to about two inches and school and sports were cancelled. Having had experience with snow, Chris and I soon became champions at the epic snow ball fights that pursued. Some interesting words I learned while at Michaelhouse include: Howsit? = what’s up?, shot = thanks, jingerd = ripped or buff, admin = too much unnecessary work, oak = person, cack = microbe and just now = later. 

After the snow had a chance to melt, Chris and I left Michaelhouse and its generous hospitality and traveled back home to America.

Personally I would like to thank Mrs. Warner for all of the time and energy she spent to give Chris and me the opportunity of a lifetime and also Mr. Gioia for allowing us to take part in this wonderful program. I would especially like to thank the Truda Family and the Green family for taking us into their homes and showing us great hospitality. And finally I would like to conclude by encouraging all juniors who are thinking of applying for exchange to consider South Africa. It is a life changing experience and one that I would repeat in a heartbeat.