Thursday, August 18, 2016
Melbourne Grammar School
Joe Moxley's Post
I had an incredible experience in Melbourne. The city is amazing, and it is a diverse place. With all the cultural diversity, I ate many different types of food. The food there is great. My host family lived right in the city, so there was much to see in walking distance from the house.
On my first day in the city, my host Jackson showed me around town. The photo on the left is of me with the Yarra River and a popular Australian Football stadium in the background. On my stay I went to a Australian rules football game, and it was awesome. The sport is a unique game mainly played in the state of Victoria. The photo on the right was taken on the same day in an art museum showing aboriginal art. The art from the natives in Australia was so nice especially since most of the pieces were describing their history and culture.
These photos are at Hosier lane, famous graffiti spot in the city. There are specific spots in the city like these alleys where graffiti is accepted and even wanted.
One Sunday, my host family took me up to the country to visit their grandmother, who rescued a joey whose mother had died in an accident. I got to pet it and feed it. It was incredible, and it was a once in a lifetime opportunity according to Jackson because kangaroos are wild animals, so nobody gets close to them.
This photo is of me and my host Jackson at the tallest building in Melbourne
This animal is a type of Australian opossum. The animals there were crazy.
These two pictures were taking at the Healesville Sanctuary. The koalas were one of my favorite animals I saw down under. The snake is a brown snake, which is the second most poisonous snake in the world. The trip to Healesville was one of the best days on the exchange.
One weekend, Jackson's parents were nice enough to take me to Sydney. It was great to see another significant city in Australia. I feel very fortunate to have been able to see another great area.
In conclusion, I want to thank Jackson and the Lees family for accepting me into their family and making me feel at home for a month. I made so many great friends at the school. Every student and teacher there were so hospitable. I believe I made some life long friends that I will keep in contact with. This last picture was of my economics class, which, lead by Mr. H, was probably my favorite class. These are some good guys. Last but not least, I want to sincerely thank the Whitson family for sponsoring my exchange. I cannot thank you enough. I had the time of my life, and I will remember this experience forever. It was such a special trip, and without you, I couldn't have done it.
After a 24 hour journey from Nashville, three young jet lagged Americans emerged from plane in the wonderful coastal city of Melbourne, Australia. I was greeted by Rob Cameron who was to be my temporary host until my official host returned from America. On the first day we took a tram into the city and visited famous sites such as the Shrine of Remembrance and Federation Square.
The next day Rob and I went down the MCG (Melbourne Cricket Ground) to see a Footie, or Australian Rules Football, match. However this game was deemed "Mediocre Footie" as both teams were near the bottom of the tables.
On Monday Melbourne Grammar resumed classes after their winter break. Adorned in a wool blazer and dress pants, Rob and I boarded a tram towards the city. Upon arriving at the campus I was amazed by the beauty of the bluestone buildings.
At the front gates of the school, I met up with Jack Reineke and his host Ted. I was to go to classes with them as Rob was a year 12. Although I had already finished my Junior Year at MBA, I was still wearing the blue striped shirt of an underclassman.
Later on during this first week, I received news that my official host, Theo, would not be able to host me. Thus I would be sent to the boarding house. This ended up being a huge blessing. I was able to sleep in, meet tons of new and interesting people from all over Australia, and get free food from the Dining Hall.
As I started finding interesting classes like Physics, Economics, Media, Specialists Math, and a second Physics class, I started to enjoy the classes more and more.
My physics teacher Mr. Anastasiou became a great friend and introduced me to a great service project, tutoring young children, which I took part in every Monday after school for the remainder of my stay.
One day we went with all of the Chinese, Japanese, and French exchange students to a zoo out in the country. We saw kangaroos, dingoes, koalas, and platypuses. However, the coolest animals by far were the Pelicans. We were allowed to enter the enclosure with them and nearly got bitten. But I am still amazed by how interesting these huge birds were.
As the days past by I started to immerse myself in one of Melbourne Grammar"s traditions, the House System. The school is divided into a dozen or so groups of boys who do different activities together. My house, School House, was one of the two different houses in the boarding house. We would have meetings every night after dinner, and go out to eat once a week.
The house activities culminated on the last Thursday of our time in Melbourne. There was a race known as the House Cross Country around the nearby Tan (Royal Botanical Gardens). In this race all the boys would run for their houses around the two and a half mile track. I finished behind both Joe and Jack, the other Americans, however I was still around the midpoint for all of the year elevens.
Overall this trip was fantastic and I would recommend it to any rising senior. The people at Melbourne Grammar are delightful and Australia itself is beautiful. I would like to thank the Whitson family for allowing me to have this unforgettable experience and meet great friends.
Jack Reineke's Post
This summer, I was fortunate enough to receive a grant to travel to Melbourne, Australia and attend the prestigious Melbourne Grammar School for a month. I was nervous to leave my family and home for a month and live in an unknown city but my host family welcomed me into their home and immediately made me a part of their family. The Hibbard family was a great fit for me and made me feel more than comfortable during my trip. On the first weekend there, we went to look around the city. We saw Federation Square and visited some of the cool arcades around the city.
That Monday, I got to go to my first day at my new school and found that it was very similar to MBA. It is a beautiful campus and I enjoyed visiting it for the month I was there.
That weekend I was allowed to go to an Australian League Football (footy for short) match with the other MBA exchange students and hosts. It was a great game and we got to experience real Australian meat pies at half time.
This was the amazing view of the city as we walked over the bridge to the footy stadium.
That next Saturday, the Hibbards took me to a beautiful tourist spot about an hour and a half from Melbourne. This first two pictures were of a spot called Loch Gorge and was the sight of a ship wreck in 1878 where only two people survived. The third picture was of a spot called the twelve apostles and is a beautiful tourist attraction where you can actually see penguins coming back onto the beach at dusk.
One of my favorite moments of my trip was visiting the Healesville Sanctuary. It was really cool to see all kinds of animals that I had never seen before, even in a zoo. We saw echidnas, koalas, kangaroos, dingos, tazmanian devils, and got extremely close to some pelicans.
I am extremely thankful to Mr. Gioia, The Whitson family, Mrs. Scholer, and everyone at MBA that made it possible for me to enjoy this great experience. It was an amazing experience and one that I will remember for the rest of my life.
