Conner: I was hosted by Jake Leck and his family for an incredible four weeks. After arriving in Christchurch, New Zealand (and delivering Dr. Boyd’s green card to him) we flew to Queenstown, a tourist town with beautiful mountains surrounding and a stunning lake. After bungee jumping off the bridge where bungee jumping was invented, we drove around the surrounding areas to see the magnificent views New Zealand has to offer. Battling jet lag and a cold, we then drove to Wanaka, where we spent much of the next three days with family friends of the Lecks. Finally, on the Saturday before school started again we drove to the Leck’s town house in Christchurch, which was a ten minute walk to the campus and overlooked a park owned by the school. In the two days I had left before school, the Lecks showed me around Christchurch, and Jake introduced me to some of his friends.
On Monday the school had parent teacher conferences, which meant another day of holiday for us, but then on Tuesday I went to my first day at Christ College. Walking into the campus was breathtaking. The British architecture combined with the pristine grass lawn made the school look like something out of a movie. I spent my first couple of days meeting Jake’s classmates and teachers and going to each of Jake’s classes. Their dining hall, much like MBA’s, was very impressive, with long tables running down the sides and middle. It was here that we ate lunch everyday, and dinner and breakfast the days that we boarded. Although the Leck’s had a townhouse just minutes away from campus, they normally live in the North Island, so we boarded many nights on campus. I had the privilege of staying in Flowers House, the best house on campus. Similar to MBA, the matron and staff of Flowers House took great pride in the presentation and accomplishments of their students. Although boarding was a foreign experience for me, the overall feel of the boarding house and school felt very similar to MBA. As the weeks passed, I grew more and more comfortable in the classroom and the boarding house and started to try new things, like taking a mechanical engineering class where I was able to weld for the first time. Although Christ College has many similarities to MBA, its classes are slightly more engaging and practical.
I am incredibly grateful for the opportunity to do an exchange to New Zealand. I want to thank the Warner family for their much appreciated donation and the Leck family for hosting me. My time in New Zealand was certainly a once in a lifetime experience that I will never forget.
William: I was hosted by Bede Hamilton and his family and had a wonderful time in Christchurch, New Zealand. As soon as I arrived after 30 hours of traveling from Trieste, Italy, I was exhausted and took the remainder of the day to recover. However, the next day was actioned packed. I was taken to the beach at Sumner, but the cold weather and harsh winds meant that swimming was off the table. The views from the top of Sumner were fantastic, and I even set some of the photos I took as my phone’s background. I then traveled to Diamond Harbor and Littleton. The views there were just breathtaking and the light blue water, where the area gets its name, was unforgettable. A couple of days later, I traveled up to Blenheim to meet some of Bede’s grandparents. The drive there was in terrible weather, and I could not see the top of the mountain range that we were at the base of, but the sight of the seals and their fun tradition for tunnels made up for it. I then got to go to Picton, a coastal city in the Marlbrough Sounds, and saw the ferries go in and out.
At the start of the next week, I went to my first day of classes at Christ’s College. My first stop was Harper House which Bede was apart of. The house system is very different from Montgomery Bell Academy. They have a lot of inter house competition. Many houses have teams in a variety of sports and subjects that compete for house points to win the house cup. One important competition that was coming up was the house plays. Each house has to write, direct, and perform a play in front of a panel of judges. Harper House was adapting The Inbetweeners, a 2010s british sitcom about a kid adapting to a new school. Although I did not see the proper production, I did get to watch the rehearsal which was just as good.
Bede’s course selection was quite different from my own. His courses focus more on skills rather than STEM. He took a course about creating podcasts which I found interesting. They had to find a topic they were interested in, find people to interview, create cover art, and produce a whole series of episodes. Bede was creating a podcast about his time working for McDonalds. I created a script for a first episode about differences between America and New Zealand. He also took a music creation class where they analyzed modern composers and created their own works. My favorite class was mechanical engineering because I got to create something of my own. It was a portable laptop stand pictured below. Unfortunately, it is still in New Zealand because I could not fit it in my bag, but I am still proud of myself. The class I found most different was the three time a week chapel service, because I had never attended a school sponsored religious ceremony.
In my second week, the Hamilton family had to go away due to a funeral, and I stayed with Baxter Lamburg. It was so generous of them to let me stay with them over spending the weekend in a boarding house, and I wish to thank them. With them I got a tour of the city on their old fashion tram. I loved the modern architecture around the city. We also went to the earthquake museum.
During my other weekends I got to go to some other fun activities. My favorite was rugby because it was like a faster pace version of football. Although I do enjoy the games here in America, it is not for the gameplay. I saw several matches including a All Blacks, New Zealand’s national team, and South Africa match. On my last weekend, I went go-karting which was a incredible experience because I had never raced before. My host family loved playing games during and after dinner, so I got to play a lot of those which I enjoyed.
I just want to say a big thank you to the Hamilton family for hosting me and for the Warner family for sponsoring me.
No comments:
Post a Comment