Winchester Exchange 2013

            My trip to Winchester was quite the experience. Around a week into June, Pat, Taylor and I departed America for the United Kingdom. After a long day of travel, we were picked up at Heathrow airport by one of Winchester’s drivers for the hour-long drive to the school. Upon arriving, the three of us were split up into our houses, not to see each other for at least another 24 hours. At this point I realized how far I was from home: unfamiliar faces, strange word choice, dinner bells for food. My boarding house was called Chernoke House, but just like every other boarding house at Winchester it had its own nickname, Furley’s. I unpacked my luggage and then head downstairs for what was apparently Sunday roast. After dinner, we 4^th year students went to have coffee with the housemaster. And this was all just the first day.

            Winchester’s academic system is very different from Montgomery Bell’s. When I was given a scheduled, I noted that I was, for all intensive purposes, only in 3 classes: English, Physics, and History. These classes were, however, longer and split up through the day. A few days into school, the housemaster heard me playing piano, and said I could switch to music if I so desired. Naturally I said yes and tried to switch Music for Physics, but the best they could do with scheduling was to switch me out of English. Winchester’s Music program was nothing short of phenomenal. Never had I felt so engaged in a class than when I discussed the works of Mahler and Tchaikovsky with my Winchester peers. Physics was a little drier, but the teacher was American, so we could relate somewhat and joke about some English idiosyncrasies. My History class I actually had with Pat, and we both agree that our don, Dr. Gymer, was our favorite teacher. A great image creator, Gymer threw Pat and I back to the late 1700’s, when the English House of Commons was domination by William Pitt and Charles Fox. Overall, the academic experience was deeply enriching and gave me a chance to reflect on MBA’s own academic prowess.

            Socially, Winchester operates quite different from MBA. There really is no strong school spirit. Rather, the students hold allegiance to their boarding houses, which compete against each other frequently in football matches and other sport. Winchester students are really allowed to leave the school at any point in their downtime, provided they make it back for dinner and such. This made for many excursions into downtown Winchester, which was fairly small. There is this fantastic milkshake shop called Shakeaway if you ever decide to visit by the way. You can put just about any sweet you can think of into your shake. Anyways, my extracurricular time was dominated by yard cricket and pickup football matches, at least until I injured my foot early on in the trip. Overall, this was a fascinating, engrossing experience that I had, and I would like to thank Mrs. And Mr. Beth Warner, Mr. Gioia, and the school for making it happen.