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