by Andrew Bulgarino '21
I have wanted to go on the Eton Exchange ever since my 7th grade year at MBA when I first heard about it. When I found out in November of 2019 that I was selected to represent MBA for the 2020 exchange, I was overcome with excitement—I was eager to get off to England in January. My teachers and friends were excited for me, as well, and they wished me all the best at New Years’, a few days before my departure across the pond.
The full realization of living in another country for 3 months did not hit me until I finally stepped off of the plane at Heathrow Airport. I was greeted by Mr. Ralph Oliphant-Callum, Eton’s correspondent and organizer for the exchange, who welcomed me with the pleasant remark that I had no requirements today—I could simply rest from the long, red-eye flight. That evening, we had dinner with my soon-to-be housemaster, Eton’s term for the instructor in charge of a boarding house, and dame, the leader of the house’s staff. Eton consists of 25 houses, each with around 50 boys total, roughly 10 from each year. I was in Walpole House, with Mr. Jackson as my housemaster and Ms. Heyward as the dame. Etonians refer to their houses not by their names, but rather by the housemasters’ initials, and so Walpole is called JCAJ.
Both Mr. Jackson and Ms. Heyward were quite excited for my stay, particularly for me to get involved with the Lenten Term’s main sport: field game. It would be impossible for me to explain fully the rules of the game through text—not even the Etonians know all of the rules—but the best way I can describe the sport is as a combination of rugby and soccer. After all, both rugby and soccer originated from field game. They knew of my role as the kicker on MBA’s football team, and so they were hopeful that I could be useful to JCAJ’s team. That’s how sports work at Eton, for the most part. Each term at Eton has its own sports, such as rugby, soccer, cricket, and field game, and every house at Eton has a team for each sport, and they compete amongst each other. There are school-wide teams for rugby and soccer that compete with other schools, but the main competition is inter-house. Though rivalries between houses exists only on the fields, the intensity of the competitions likens to those between MBA and BA.
My arrival to Eton was a day earlier than the actual start of the term, giving me a little bit of time to adjust before classes started. I did not find it too difficult to adapt to the schedule—the timetables of classes include many breaks. A daily schedule begins with Chapel Service or an assembly at 8:30, lasting until about 9, followed by three lessons (all lessons are 40 minutes). Like MBA’s break, there is a brief pause with snacks called “Chambers” between the third and fourth lesson. After the fifth lesson, lunch is served. Many houses go to Eton’s dining hall for their meals, but a few, like JCAJ, have their own kitchen in house that serves all the meals. After lunch every day, the afternoon features a set-time for sports, and so on my first day I went with some younger students to practice the field game, as they were also learning it for the first time. All I needed was one practice, apparently, as it only took until my second day for me to make my debut (which resulted in a win, though not very much thanks to me). On Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, there are two evening lessons after this sporting period, but on the other days, lessons are finished before lunch. These half-days come at the cost of having some classes on Saturdays, something that I found to be much less unpleasant than it seems.
I purposefully tried to stay in my room as little as possible. I wanted to get as full of an Eton experience as I could, and my housemates made that much easier. I found the familiar idea of brotherhood within my house at Eton, though it is a little different than MBA. Because of all of the spread-out system of classes, the people with whom I spend the most time are my housemates, not my classmates. Though I became friends with some of the Eton boys in my classes, my closest friends were my housemates. The 10 or so guys that were in my year had grown up together, having come to Eton when they were 13 and living with each other through high school. They develop a real sense of family, in a different way than MBA, and they welcomed me right into their family. Field game and the challenging classes are essential to the Eton experience, but spending the late hours chatting away with friends in each other’s rooms plays an equally important role.
After the equivalent of sophomore year, Etonians specialize in particular subjects, a unique aspect of the English schooling system. Most students thus only have 3 courses and some electives. I took Physics, French, and Latin, and I met with a math teacher occasionally as well. The Physics and Latin courses were quite similar to MBA’s classes, especially in teaching approaches. French, though, was starkly different—at MBA, with Mr. Trotter, we learn primarily with an emphasis on speaking French, and thus all of our classes are spoken in French. At Eton, a more traditional approach places greater emphasis on grammar, and so English is spoken in class. I personally prefer MBA’s approach in this regard but taking a deeper dive into grammar proved to be useful to my French education. All of my classes lived up to the Eton reputation—I could distinctly tell that Eton draws in extremely intelligent students and professors in all subjects.
Eton thrives outside of the classroom, too. Eton distinguishes itself in the number of guest speakers that visit. Societies, Eton’s clubs, ranging from the Medicine Society to the Sports Society to the African and Caribbean Society, host lecturers and speakers nearly every night. I attended several of these events, hearing talks from the CEO of Blackstone, an executive of Chelsea FC, a former SAS soldier, and a guy who traveled around Africa and Asia exploring local tribes in each region. Each guest was informative and entertaining, and I am extremely fortunate to have been able to attend these Eton-unique events.
During any given Eton term, there are three breaks from school. Two of them are three-day weekends, and between these two there is a week-long pause called Long Leave. During the two short leaves, I stayed with two families I had met at Eton, both of whom graciously toured me around different parts of England. During these breaks, I took a tour of Stamford Bridge, attended a leadership conference, and watched an Oxford United soccer match. The highlight of my trip, though, was certainly the week of Long Leave. It began on Friday, February 14th, and for the first half of the break I stayed with two different families to whom Mr. Gioia had reached out on my behalf. The first family met me for lunch at their house in the heart of London, and after a good conversation, they surprised me with packed suitcases—they were leaving to take their daughter to visit colleges in America. They graciously left their house to me for the weekend. On Saturday, I had dinner with an MBA alum who lives in London, Reid Murphy. A special moment of reflection hit me afterward; I had just bonded with a guy on another continent after talking with him about MBA football.
Early the next week, I travelled to a small town called Moreton-in-Marsh, where my next host family lived. They took me on a long drive around the beautiful English countryside, where we visited Shakespeare’s birthplace at Stratford-Upon-Avon and the legendary Blenheim Palace. On one of the weekdays, they had to go into London for some business meetings, so I went with them and did some touristy things. I visited Westminster Abbey, Trafalgar Square, Baker Street, and of course snapped some pictures from the top of the London Eye. Later in the week, I traveled more southwards, where I stayed with a family from Eton. They took me to a fierce rugby match on Sunday between the English and Irish national teams, a part of the annual Six Nations tournament. It was the first rugby match I had ever seen, but it was a special spectacle—England and Ireland are intense rivals, and the English culture around rugby challenges the American South’s culture around football. England triumphed over Ireland, much to the dismay to many Irish fans sitting next to me. After the game and the following celebrations, we drove back to Eton that night to return to school.
It was the Monday night after Long Leave when I first heard the word “coronavirus.” I heard it as a joke over the dinner table in Walpole House after someone coughed. No one paid any attention to it as an actual disease; it was not real yet. Things got slightly more concerning a few days later, though, as news had spread of an outbreak in Northern Italy, a popular ski-spot for many Etonians over Long Leave. One of my housemates had just come back from a ski trip there, and he was immediately taken by the dame to be questioned. At this point, still, it was less of a joke, but not serious enough to be pondered any deeper. Other than this small scare, no other word of Covid was spoken until later in my trip.
During my last few weeks, I took it all in. I had become best friends with several of my housemates, and we had started the knockout rounds of field game. We frequented the famous High Street, going to Tudor’s and the local grocery Budgens. I felt like I was an Eton student, assimilated well into the life of an Etonian. Time flew by. Soon I had only a few days left in England.
My flight home was scheduled on a Saturday afternoon. My two closest friends offered to let me stay with them on Friday night and take me to Heathrow. The entirety of Friday was bittersweet; that morning I had to pack up my room and bid farewell to Mr. Jackson and Ms. Heyward, with whom I had developed fond relationships. I attended my final Eton lesson—an entertaining Physics class where we watched a gameshow that the teacher and his friends won—and I exited Walpole House one final time. My two friends and I, one of whom was from Hong Kong, took the train to London, where we had a celebratory send-off. It was sometime during the festivities of Friday night when my phone buzzed with an email from the MBA office, giving me the news that we would have virtual classes for at least the two weeks following Spring Break. In the moment, I was rather glad. The two week “break” would give me more time to catch up with some of my MBA classes. I read the email and heedlessly pushed it aside to continue the celebrations.
At the airport on Saturday, I hugged my friends for the final goodbye. It did not seem real—I certainly teared up as I walked toward my gate. My moments of reflection were cut short by an ominous announcement over the speakers: “If you have been to mainland Europe in the past two weeks, please come to the desk.” It was around this moment that I realized that Covid had begun. President Trump restricted travel from the EU on this day. I was not terribly worried about being trapped in England—firstly I would not mind it too much, and secondly US citizens were not too limited. I was unnerved, though, when the family in front of me, who had just come from France, was pulled out of the boarding line (they were switched to another flight). I managed to pass through, and I escaped back to America just in time.
My time in England will forever be one of the highlights of my life. It was truly a once-in-a-lifetime experience. I made memories and friends that I will be connected with for the rest of my life. It is truly remarkable that I, as a high school student, was able to have such a formative experience on another continent. My gratitude to the Warner family, Mr. Gioia, Ms. Scholer, and all others who made my experience possible is truly unparalleled. I would highly recommend that any young student at MBA look into the Eton exchange as well as all of the other incredible opportunities available only at MBA.
