International Exchange Programs at MBA: Richard Thornton: Christ's College (New Zealand)

This past summer, I had the privilege of traveling to New Zealand to study at Christ's College in Christchurch, New Zealand, on a Warner Exchange. I spent the first ten days vacationing with my host family in Queenstown and then returned to school for the remainder of my stay. I enjoyed every minute of the trip and made some great friends. Below is a general summary of my trip. Please check out my full blog from the trip at http://christscollege.blogspot.com/

On July 8, Parker Logan, Daniel Maynard, and I boarded a plane on the first leg of our journey to New Zealand. After a four hour flight to LAX, we ran across a few terminals to get to our flight bound for Auckland, NZ. The twelve hour flight was filled with Anchorman 2, Crime and Punishment, and lots of sleep. We left Los Angeles at 9:45 PM on July 8 and arrived in New Zealand at 5:45 AM on July 10 (I will never experience July 9, 2014). Passing through customs in New Zealand was very entertaining with fruit smelling dogs and numerous threats of a $400 fine for undeclared "bio-dangerous" items. Luckily, I made it through customs but ended up missing my connection after a luggage mix-up. I finally made it to Christchurch and was met by my host brother Michael Newton, his brother James, and his father David.

After getting acquainted with Christchurch for 24 hours, the Newtons and I drove to Queenstown at the southern tip of the south island. In Queenstown, we enjoyed skiing, luge-ing (like alpine slide), and riding a steamship which has been in use for over 100 years.

After the fantastic holiday, we returned to Christchurch where I began attending Christ's College. I biked to school every morning enjoying the morning ride much more than the afternoon ride home which was often after a long run or basketball practice. At Christchurch, Parker, Daniel, and I took calculus, economics, English, history, and digital media. My favorite classes were history, in which we discussed the English Civil War, and digital media, during which I practiced my Photoshop skills.

After school, I enjoyed running around Hagley Park with the harrier team or playing basketball with the Senior A team. On the weekends, I competed with the basketball team, and we won two games including a great comeback victory against St. Andrew's which is to Christ's College as Ensworth is to MBA.

One interesting difference between Christ's College and MBA is the schedule. Like MBA, the College boys go to the same classes everyday, but they change the order of the classes providing some variety from day to day. Also most boys bring their lunch and eat it in their respective houses. I was in Harper House and spent morning and afternoon tea with Michael and the other Year 12's (juniors). They were very entertaining, and I really enjoyed spending time with them.

I could go write about this trip forever and did on my other blog, so if you want more information please go to http://christscollege.blogspot.com/

I would like to thank Mr. Gioia, Mr. Leese, Mr. Porter, the Newtons, and especially Mr. and Mrs. Warner for making this trip possible. I am very grateful for the opportunity to have experienced a different part of the world and cannot express my amazement at the generosity of the Warner family and Montgomery Bell Academy. I highly recommend that all juniors pursue these opportunities. I have attached some pictures below. Cheers!