Melbourne Grammar School 2018

Before we begin, we would like to extend our gratitude to the Whitson Family as well as Mr. Gioia and the school for providing us with this opportunity to experience international exchange. Our trip to Melbourne Grammar School in Melbourne, Australia was a once in a lifetime opportunity, and we cannot put into words how grateful we are.

Arrival and Week 1 (Luke): Joseph Perazzini and I (Luke Bernatavitz) left for Melbourne, Australia on June 11 and arrived on June 13. After many hours of travel, we were both exhausted. Our host families met us in the airport, and we went our separate ways. For the first few days, our host families allowed us to relax and prepare for school the next week. Our host brothers, Aran and Lochie, took us into Melbourne to show us around the city. The day before school began, we both visited the uniform shop to receive our school attire. The first day of school began with meeting members of our houses. Joseph was a member of Ross House and I was in Witherby House. We shadowed our brothers for a day or two until we had personal time tables. Everyone was extremely welcoming and helpful in making us feel welcome during our first week at Melbourne Grammar School. Our families also bought tickets to a P!nk concert and Lochie's family took us to see Kangaroos in the wild. Following that,we went to a unique Asian restaurant where we were able to choose our dishes straight off the cart. We choose kangaroo and crocodile among other things.

 After the first week, we both felt confident and ready to dive into all that this exchange would offer us.

Week 2 (Luke): The second week was one of the busiest for us in Australia. We both received our respective time tables and started our classes. I began training with the soccer team before school on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and Joseph began basketball. Lochie's uncle took us to his farm during the week. It was atop a hill adjoining a national park. We were determined to find a koala, but did not succeed in doing so. However, we were able to see Rock Wallabies, Kangaroos, and many other incredible animals. On Saturday, I played in my first soccer game with the blokes, which we were extremely excited to win, since it was against a rival school. The next day, we traveled to the Ballarat gold mines. We spent the day panning for gold, walking through old mine shafts, and going on tours of the town. Our second week was certainly one to remember. 

Week 3 (Luke): Our third week was incredible. We began the week with a trip to the Healsville Wildlife Sanctuary. We had the privilege of spending the day seeing the incredible indigenous animals of Australia. Among the animals we were able to see were Tasmanian Devils, Wombats, and Australian Dingos. The night before visiting Healsville, we spent the night at Lochie's family farm, which was another fantastic view into undisturbed wildlife. That Friday, we went with Lochie to an Australian Rules Football (AFL) match. Fortunately, we had picked an exceptional night to attend an AFL match. Our team, Richmond, was victorious, and all the locals said we had attended the game of the year. On Saturday evening, we went with Aran's family to eat Korean Barbecue. 

Week 4 (Joseph): Our final week was a very busy week at the school, with school really kicking back into session for them. While we didn't get to go on any of the journeys we had gone on earlier in the trip, we were able to explore more of the city. In this journey to the city we were able to visit the Asian center of the city, trying and eating a blended cuisine of the Aussies and Asians. With the school week being pretty busy it was littered with different house events which both Luke and I got to participate in. These include the house Nerf football throw, Call of Duty tournament, the debate competition, and chapel. However, the most anticipated event of the week was the house cross country. Every person who was able bodied was required to race across the Yarra river and around the beautiful botanical gardens,which I had seen earlier in the trip,to earn huge points for the house competition and to determine who was the fastest in the school. Both Luke and I ran and had good finishes, helping score much needed points for our new house mates. As our trip neared an end, we attended the Melbourne Film Festival with Mrs. Dowd (Lochie's mom) . The film was about the Kimberley, a huge hub for aboriginal and indigenous culture, something that is very important to the Aussies. This film along with the speaker, a young aboriginal man, gave us an insight to life in the Kimberley and aboriginal culture. In our last two days in Australia we said our goodbyes to our host families and our house mates, finishing all our schoolwork and getting more tim tams and cherry ripes to bring back to our families back in the state. The final day, the Dowd's took me to St. Kilda Beach, where we ate our final meal together and enjoyed the beautiful Australian sunset before my early journey. The next morning, I said my final goodbyes before I headed off to the airport around 4:30 in the morning. We arrived in Sydney around 7:30 in the morning, where we got a quick glimpse of the Sydney Tower, the second tallest observation tower in the Southern Hemisphere. We boarded the plane to the Houston getting in around 10:00 the same morning. While saddened by our departure, we were thankful we got to experience Australia. 

We would like to express our immense thanks for this experience, as it will be one that sticks with us for a lifetime. Not very many kids can ever say they have been to Australia let alone out of the country, so we would like to thank everyone who made this possible for us. Australia is always one of those places as a kid where you want to visit but realize it may never happen because of how far away it is from the states, yet we were given the opportunity and it definitely lived up to everything we hoped it could have been. Thank you so much for this experience and enjoy all the amazing photos from our amazing trip. Cheers and G'Day!