Week 1:
During the first week of arrival, Christ’s College was on the last week of their winter holidays. Still Jet Lagged, the O’Gara’s took me on a road trip up the east coast of the South Island to Kaikoura, known for its marine life. We went on a whale watching tour, seeing 2 humpback whales and a pod of endangered dolphins. On top of the whale watching tour, I went on a mountain top ziplining adventure, consisting of 5 different zip lines totalling roughly 1.8 kilometers of line through the valleys of the mountains. Following our adventures in Kaikoura, we then went to Hanmer Springs and took advantage of the natural hot springs. Upon returning to Christchurch, we explored the town a bit, seeing the new construction following the disastrous earthquake. However our time in the city was short, as we then travelled to Mount Hutt to ski for the day. The slopes were much steeper than any slopes I have ever been to in the US, and the views were astounding. The following day, we tackled mountain biking; the wet climate brought muddy tracks yet the rides were exhilarating and tough. After these days of fun and adventure, the looming school weeks approached
I played golf and shot clays at Terrace Downs with the mountains in the backdrop. The next day George and I went skiing at Mt. Hutt which is about as good as skiing out west with no trees and great views.
Week 2: On the following Sunday, it was time to move into the boarding house. Instantly I was greeted by the warm house matron, Karen, as well as the head of house, Jake Leck, host brother of Connor Looney who went the year prior. As I settled into my college style dorm, I got to meet the rest of the house who were returning from their holiday. The boys were super welcoming and very intrigued by life in America with questions like “What do you think of trump” and “Do you own any guns?” I started my first day of school with a barge through my front door, their method of morning wake up. The schedule was fairly similar to ours at MBA, with 6 classes of 50 minutes long starting at 9, but their lunch was an hour and a morning tea of 20 minutes after the first two classes. Their class subjects were rather similar to ours at MBA, but offering some different classes like accounting and media studies. On Wednesday, as a part of Frank’s Earth and Space Science class, we went to Lake Tekapo to study the stars and the telescope facilities there. The trip was a 3 adventure that consisted of observing stars, learning about the machinery that drives the observatory, and taking in the views and pictures of the sky. At Christ’s College, the boys are separated into houses, based on whether or not they are boarding. People tend to stay within cliques of people in their own houses, so through class, I was able to meet a bunch of day boys. The week ended with Rugby games. Christ’s College First 15 team had a major win or go home game against St. Bede’s. The game environment was rather similar to that of an MBA football game. The game was close and intense, but Christ’s college squeaked out the win 20-24 on a last minute penalty conversion to seal the win. Weekends at the boarding house were pretty calm with most people leaving on the weekends either to go home or for other reasons.The boarding house has a computer system that shows where each person is signed out to
Week 3: The third week kicked off Round Square week at Christ’s College which celebrates international diplomacy and cooperation. Throughout the week there were many events to celebrate internationalism, including different food trucks, a trivia night, and a karaoke competition. Aside from Round Square, the week went by fairly normally except for the fact that Frank made me speak at their assembly. Although departure was sad, and I will miss dearly the O’Gara’s for their warmth and hospitality as well as the great people that I met at the school
Differences: In some ways the school is very similar to MBA. The general atmosphere and culture among the people is roughly the same, which is to be expected at an all boys school. Their schedule is roughly similar to ours, although their school day is an hour shorter. Although the people are roughly the same, the kiwi culture definitely is different than the American culture. They fancy rugby and cricket over football and baseball, although basketball is still popular.
The biggest difference however, is the boarding experience. Just living at the school is an experience that is completely novel to me. The regimented schedule, the night role calls and prep hours, and the early wake ups were definitely new to me.
I started this trip in Edinburgh, Scotland where I said goodbye to my family and St Andrews where my family is from. George and I had to go through customs which took a while and then we had to go out of the airport and take a bus to the domestic section and by that point we missed our flight. We flew over both islands and saw all the snow on the mountains. I showed up in Christchurch only getting about nine hours total of sleep on those flights. I was shown around Christchurch and met up with a guy named freddie. I went to bed at 4:30 thinking I was only going to nap but I fell asleep only to wake up at 11 then I could not go back to sleep for another few hours. I ended up waking at 8:30. That morning we hiked up the bridle path and went to the family's sailboat in Lyttelton. I then had lunch at a place near the city center. We came back to the house and chilled out and then had lamb for dinner. We would have a lot more lamb over the following weeks. The next day we went out to terrace downs and played golf at a resort course. The ground was wet from that morning but the soil was chalky and absorbed all of the water. If the course was done by a well known golfer it would probably be one of Jack Nicklaus's easier and more fun designs. We had really good brisket sandwiches out in the sun. The views were amazing with the course being at the base of a mountain and on the other side a small river ran by. The next day Euan and I went skiing with George and Frank. We got to their house and they were still asleep and then we had to watch them eating breakfast. We drove to the mountain on relatively flat roads then we went up the mountain which was a 1.5 lane road with enough room for two cars to barely get by. The road was dirt and had no rail guards. We eventually made it up the ski field and got set and went up the mountain. Frank got an all day ski lesson for $800. The other three of us got up and then we all lost each other going down. I went on so many runs since the lines were so short. The elevation was about four thousand feet and had three runs to get to the bottom. The powder was good. I went to the park several times and tried the jumps. We got one video of me falling on the jumps. The next day Euan went back to Mt Hutt. I went to Acaroua with Euan’s mom. We had good fish and chips then went on a dolphin boat tour. We saw many dolphins, seals, and penguins. The day after that I went to the Bob Charles Golf Center to hit some balls and do some putting. The place was really nice and was something that you would only expect at a very high end country club in the states. I went to the school which wasn't too different to MBA. The students wear coats and ties every day and are put into houses. The teachers are the same bunch as the ones at MBA. The academics are easier and are more broad. I went to a shotgun practice and used a crappy remington shotgun that jammed on me twice, was way too small, and was full of recoil. The one nice thing about the gun was that it was very easy to open and close. I shot 17 on the trap single shot which was very different to the trap back home since the clays are slower and move in more violent directions. The double trap was interesting and I did a bit better shooting 21 out of 25. I went to the Christchurch Club to meet my mom’s college friend. We talked about all the other college friends who I have met. The grandmothers were very funny too. They both showed up wearing their big fur coats and went outside for several smoke breaks. That weekend I went night shooting which was a ton of fun. I even shot better during the night than during the day. The last night Euan’s family took me out to a Japanese restaurant which was better than anything you could find in nashville. I had a wagyu steak with sake. The next day George and I flew out on our approximately 30 plus hour journey.
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