Eton College 2013 - Bates O'Neal

Filled with nerves and excitement, Nick Boney and I packed our bags for 10 weeks in England. We had no idea what to expect other than the praise of previous years' exchange students telling us that going on exchange is the greatest thing someone can do in high school.  As the rest of the MBA community was beginning classes for the second semester on January 7, I was headed for the airport to spend an amazing few months in Windsor, England.

Despite the long plane ride and the fact that my luggage was left in America and would not arrive for another twenty-four hours, Nick and I were immediately welcomed into England and the Eton College community by an Etonian house master and good friend of Mr. Gioia, Ralph Oliphant-Callum. We quickly learned that most teachers and faculty at Eton were referred to by their initials (RDOC). We spent a lovely day and a half with him, learning about the school and being introduced to some traditional English meals before meeting our respective house masters and meeting all of our soon-to-be Eton friends Wednesday evening, January 9.

The first day:

My Home for 10 Weeks (aka the Dorm)

I stayed in Manor House, also known as TEJN (the houses were commonly named after the current housemaster's initials), which turns out to have played host to the princes of England while they were enrolled at Eton. After meeting the house master, Justin Nolan, and enjoying a bit of tea and pleasantries while getting to know each other, I was given a tour of the magnificent house, which houses more than fifty students at a time as well as several staff and the house master's family. I enjoyed a very large room, only to be reached by climbing up five flights of stairs.

Eton High Street is a marvelous resource for Etonians to find anything and everything that he could possibly need: clothes, souvenirs, school supplies, sports equipment (although they did not carry an American football), and last but not least, food. Mr. Nolan took me to the tailor to get my uniform, to Eton Sport to get my athletics kit, to the post to get school supplies, and he showed me other stores at which I could find other things I might need. My final first-day task with TEJN was to fix my schedule. I decided to take a schedule including French Revolution history, taught by none other than Mr. Nolan himself, Divinity, which included Ethics and Theology, "Maths," and Warfare, topped off with C Perspectives, which included a series of speeches and discussions about human nature.

Mr. Nolan with my Etonian friend Tom

I received a grand welcome by all of the Manor House boys that first night, watching a football match and singing some some songs around the piano while sharing stories and small talk to get to know each other. I knew from the first moment in the house that I was welcome there.

Thrown into the fire:

Let me first provide you with a little bit of vocabulary that I might use from Eton:

Beak = teacher
Timetable = schedule
School = class period
Div (short for division) = also class period
B Block = Seniors
C Block = Juniors
D Block = Sophomores
E Block = Freshmen
F Block = 8th Graders
(There used to be an A Block, which was like a PG year, but they removed                        that and never reorganized the block scheme.)
Chambers = break / midmorning snack (25 minutes daily)
Dame = house mother
Prayers = roll call every night in the house
Reader = study hall
Sport (never uses and "s" even in the plural) = athletics

Me Wearing the Uniform + Overcoat

The Uniform:
The traditional Eton uniform consists of a three piece suit with pinstriped pants and a tailcoat, a white collarless French cuffed dress shirt, a stiff collar with brass pins to hold it in place on the shirt, and a "tie" which is essentially just a long thin strip of fabric that covers the front pin. Overcoats, scarves, and gloves are also popular to help students cope with the freezing temperatures.

The Schedule:
Engulfed in a sea of unknown territory, wild vocabulary, British accents, and freezing cold weather, I had to learn Eton's ways very quickly, since I would be there for the entire Lent term. School runs Monday through Saturday every week. After an 8:00 breakfast, the school day usually starts with chapel (or an assembly) at 8:35, with classes starting at 9:00. I really enjoyed sleeping in, as my schedule at MBA often requires me to be at school before 7:00 in the morning. Each school runs for 40 minutes, with a 10 minute break between each div for changing books and walking across campus. There are five schools in the morning, with Chambers after the third. Lunch starts daily at 1:30, with every member of the house in the house dining hall. The timetable varies in the afternoon. Every day, sport follows lunch, but on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, there are two schools late in the afternoon, from 4:30 - 6:00. This means that Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays are the main days for sport competition.

Eton's Original Building behind the statue of Henry VII

Classes:
My teachers were fantastic for the entire term; however, courses are taught much differently to prepare for English exams, which took some getting used to. Mr. Nolan, my French Revolution teacher, did a fantastic job teaching the class in depth material concerning this period in history, throwing in some "banter" throughout. My maths beak, Mr. Vivian, prepared me for my current calculus course, as I was taking an very advanced maths course. I had a very odd warfare teacher, who I can only describe as a mixture of Mr. Jon Lanier and Mr. Dan Herring. Mr. Proctor was passionate about the subject, but I was befuddled at some of his mannerisms and teaching styles. This man was also immaculately dressed every day. Finally, in my Divinity divs, Dr. "Muscle" Russell (long story), my theology beak, and Mr. Griffiths (aka WING: really great initials), the ethics beak, gave me valuable insights into religion, human nature, and lawfulness through history and current events which helped me decide that I would like to study Judaic Studies in college.

Eton's College Chapel

Extra-Curriculars:

Music:
While at Eton, I had the honor of being able to be a member of the prestigious College Chapel Choir (CCC). We sang daily in the magnificent 15th century chapel at Eton and were accompanied by the fantastic grand organ. This is certainly the most talented group of singers of which I have been a part. We sang SATB (male and female) music using the younger F Block and E Block singers whose voices had not changed as the Sopranos and Altos, and the talent level was so high that we were expected to sight read college level pieces. In addition to this, I had two other singing opportunities in England. I sang in a ~400 person chorale which performed Bach's "St. John's Passion" in German at the end of the term. I also participated in my house choir, which took 3rd place out of 24 houses in the house harmony competition.

Sport:

Eton's main Sport field

          At Eton, I decided to explore new sports which are not often offered in America, field game and rugby. Field game is a sport which is exclusive to Eton College. Picture a mixture of football, American football, hockey, and rugby, but with a myriad of other rules which have evolved over time. I played for the Manor House team, but I did not succeed very often in playing the game correctly, as I was still learning the extremely intricate sport and all of its nuances through the end of the term. Playing rugby sevens was great fun, and even though I am an excruciatingly slow runner, they liked having me on the team because of my size and physicality. Also, I dabbled in kickboxing as well, which had late night practices twice weekly. It was hard work to improve, but it was also really enjoyable once all of the bruises went away.

Great Relationships:

The students at Eton College are fantastically talented. Being around brilliant students, great athletes, world class musicians, or just all-around great people, I made a connection with nearly everyone I met there. I made some great friends at Eton, and I even have tentative plans for a few of the Etonians to come to America in a couple of years for a reunion cross-country road trip.

The House Social with the Girls of Wycombe Abbey

Leaves:

Short Leave = a 2 and a half day break at the beginning of the term

In addition to the amazing opportunities I had at Eton, some of the most memorable moments on the trip were during the vacations. During Short Leave with Jack, I got to see a small village in the south of England and witnessed the quieter side of life, playing piano and singing with his family until nearly 2:00 am. Then, I took the train to Cambridge, where Edmund lives. We got some of the most delicious food I have ever had from the Sunday courtyard market at Cambridge University, and we even were able to go to an evensong at King's College Cambridge, which hosts one of the best and most prestigious choirs in the world.

Jack's Historic house

Chapel at King's College Cambridge

Long Leave = a 10 day break in the middle of the term

For Long Leave, I stayed in three different places. First, I was with Ned in Yorkshire, at his castle. He is the Earl of Hillsborough. His humongous castle sleeps around 28 comfortably, which is crazy. They run a nearly self-sustaining property on their 1300 acre estate. In the castle, they have a grand dining room, a full sized snooker table, a tennis court, and bathroom reading selection that looked like the rare books archives of most libraries. I even was able to go "shooting" the English way, when we hunted pheasant on the grounds of his estate. After an action-packed first weekend, I stayed with Freddie in Kent, in a house which was built in the 13th century. Staying with him, I was able to see several historic sights, including Leeds Castle. Finally, I was able to visit London with Alex. One of his friends hosted a party in her beautiful 8 million pound penthouse apartment overlooking the London skyline, a stunning view to say the least. We played golf in the middle of London and watched the Six Nations Rugby tournament all day on Saturday as well.

Ned's Castle from a distance

Three Eton friends in front of the London night skyline

Me by the river on Ned's estate

Leeds Castle

Thank you:

I am so glad that I had the opportunity to spend this time in England at Eton College, and I would do it again in a heartbeat if I could. I met so many wonderful people, had countless fantastic opportunities, and it was a growing experience for me without a doubt. I will certainly recommend this exchange opportunity to anyone in the future who is thinking about going abroad. Thank you to Mr. Gioia, Mr. and Mrs. Warner, the MBA community, my teachers who put up with my missing an entire quarter of school, Mr. Little (Eton headmaster), Mr. Oliphant-Callum, Mr. Nolan, all of the Eton boys who befriended me, the Clovers, the Ryans, the Fishers, the Hills, the Horns, and everyone else who made this great trip possible for Nick and me.

Exchange to The Raffles Institute in Singapore

This summer, I was fortunate enough to go on exchange to the Raffles Institution in Singapore with Johnathan Barringer and Jordan Pugh. I’ll be honest – I had to look at a map to see exactly where Singapore is located. The country – which is actually a city state (and the only city state in the world that is an island) – is at the very tip end of the Malay peninsula. The flight to Singapore took nearly 30 hours (including time in the Tokyo airport), and although the layovers in Minneapolis and Tokyo were cool, the jetlag the first two days was nearly overwhelming. Upon returning to our dorm room at roughly 4 PM on both of the first two afternoons, we decided to take a nap before dinner at 7. Both nights, I woke up at 11 PM and had to tell Johnathan and Jordan that we missed dinner.

            The three of us all shared a dorm room on the Raffles campus. During the first week, we attended classes with students who were probably the equivalent of freshman at MBA. The teachers were very nice and so gracious to us as “outside” students. Every teacher was very kind and went out of his or her way to involve us in their lessons. I particularly liked the math and chemistry teachers. We also had one lesson in Chinese, which frankly didn’t stick very well with any of us! Interestingly, at Raffles, the students stay in the same room almost all day, and the teachers rotate.

            The Raffles students have math six times a week. During the week we were there, one of the math classes was cancelled because the entire student body was taking a health/sex education class. Our math teacher was not happy about this and suggested that we didn’t need to take this class because math was “sexy” enough on its own. He was really funny and made the class interesting for his students.

            Our primary liaison at Raffles was Miss Ho. She was really nice and went with us on many of our outside excursions. She took us to the Night Safari (where we saw a “mousedeer,” the coolest animal ever) to the Singapore Flyer (a massive ferris wheel), and various restaurants and tourist sights. It was Miss Ho who picked us up at the airport (at 1:30 in the morning), and she told us early on not to bother checking the weather because it never changes. She said it would be hot all day and there’s a good chance of rain at some point every day. She was right!

            We were especially fortunate to connect with Mr. Wayne Hicks, an MBA and Vanderbilt alumnus, who now lives in Singapore. He took Johnathan, Jordan and me to his “cricket” club, which is the Singapore version of a country club. The food was wonderful, and he and Mrs. Hicks were very gracious hosts.

            In our down time, we visited Orchard Row, which is a section of town with approximately 30 high-end shopping areas, and other tourist spots. We really enjoyed riding on the Singapore Flyer and going to the top floor of the Marina Bay Resort.

            This exchange was a tremendous opportunity, and I am sincerely grateful to Mrs. Warner, the Warner Exchange program, Mr. Gioia and MBA for allowing me to represent MBA at Raffles. Finally, I would also like to thank all the Raffles teachers and administrators for facilitating our exchange, as well as our three student buddies, Sam, Ryan, and Alex. Having the chance to interact with students who are literally half-way around the world was a once-in-a-lifetime experience, and I would encourage any MBA student to consider applying for the program.

 Jordan, Mr. Hicks, Mrs. Hicks, myself, and Johnathan

 The Marina Bay Sands Resort (Left) and Singapore Flyer (Center)

With the "Merlion," the mascot of Singapore. The mythical creature has the head of a Lion (from Singapore, which means "The Lion City") and the body of a fish (because of the importance of the sea).

 View of downtown from atop the Singapore Flyer

 Johnathan, Jordan and me trying out mangosteen, a plum-like fruit, and durian, a strong-smelling fruit.

 View from the top floor (the boat section) of the Marina Bay Sands Resort.

 Johnathan and me on top of the Marina Bay Sands

The dorming section of Raffles Institute, we had a room on the 3rd floor in the second building on the right.

Paul Garrard Exchange to Bishops Dicosean College, South Africa

First Week (July 15 - July 21)

Coleman Kelly and I arrived at the Nashville airport at about noon on Tuesday, July 15th and said our goodbyes and were off for the next month to Cape Town. The total travel time was Just under 27 hours, but we finally made it with the help of some airplane movies. We met our host families and moved into our dorm rooms on Campus. I stayed in Schoolhouse and Coleman stayed in Whitehouse. Exhausted from my travels, I went straight to bed after shaking a bunch of hands. The next morning, my host brother Jamian and his mom took me to the school shop to get me "kitted out" with the proper Bishops attire, consisting of black shoes, dark pants, a white button down shirt, school tie, and navy blazer during the chapel service. We got our class schedules for the week from the exchange coordinator there Mr. Court, and we attended art, physical science, South African history, algebra, and english classes every day. The schedule rotated as the days changed, but every day began with a ring of the bell at 6:50 am for breakfast, followed by chapel at 7:30, and classes beginning at 8:20. For our first three school days, we got used to our schedules and began to put names to faces around school. Also, people would always tell us to say different phrases in our American accents because it "sounded funny." Funny how that works. During that weekend, we spent friday night at the school, watching our first field hockey match. Saturday morning was the first big rugby match, which is the school's main sport and comparable to our football. However, while they paint up, the bishops students have to wear school dress at all the games. After the game, Coleman and I went to stay the rest of the weekend at his host family's house, as mine were unable to that weekend. It was fun to see what home life was like. We arrived home and played touch rugby with Coleman's host brother and his friend, and after a big dinner we were off to bed.  Sunday, we slept in for a while, and actually got to play golf at a course down the street for a few hours. Coleman's host dad and one of his friends even challenged us to a round, which we unfortunately lost. After yet another feast back home, we went to bed with school awaiting the next morning.

Outside view of schoolhouse

My bed in the dorm

Our first rugby match

View from house, across the bay with table mountain in the background

Second Week (July 22 - July 28)

Left the Smit's beautiful home that Monday morning very early to get to school that day. Monday and tuesday were usual school days, going to all the classes and such. In English class we started watching the Shawshank Redemption for a movie study, which was pretty cool. At bishops the exchange students were recommended to participate in an athletic activity, so Coleman and I chose rugby because we didn't have it back home. Since rugby is such a common sport in South Africa, there were seven different teams in the high school, all at different levels. Even though Coleman and I had barely any knowledge of the game, we were able to do alright on one of the lower teams. Rugby was no disappointment, as its speed and intensity proved to be as vivid as advertised. The rest of the week, I attended my classes and played a lot of ping pong in pool during my breaks. By this point, I had already become great friends with my dorm mates, and I looked forward to hanging out with them every night during and after dinner. On that Thursday, Mr. Court, the exchange organizer, arranged for all the exchange students to take a bus tour of downtown Cape town. Unfortunately, the weather wasn't perfect, but nonetheless the city proved to be one of the most beautiful I had ever seen. That weekend, I stayed with my  actual host family of Jamian and his mom, and even got to go to a Great Gatsby themed party on saturday night. After recuperating from a late night on sunday, we took a road trip over to Cape which was one of the most stunning views of the ocean I have ever seen. Cape point is an area where the tall cliffs of the coastline jut out into a very narrow peninsula in the ocean. After hiking around there for a few hours, and even seeing a wild baboon and ostrich for the first time, we drove back home and I went back into the dorm for the night. 

View of Downtown Capetown

                               
                                                               Cape Town Stadium

Gatsby Party!

View from Cape Point

Dare Devil

Cape Point itself

Third Week (July 29- August 2)

The third week of the trip was without a doubt the highlight of our month in South Africa. The exchange coordinator Mr. Court arranged a tour bus to take Coleman, Me, and  Doug, another exchange student from Pennsylvania, on a five day trip up South Africa's "Garden Route," arguably the most beautiful part of the country. We left early monday morning and began our drive along the coast. We first stopped at this penguin preservation place, where we saw hundreds of penguins waltzing about in their little village. We then hopped on the bus again for a couple hours and arrived at a game lodge, where we were lucky enough to take a safari that night and the next morning. We got to see all of South Africa's animals, including cheetahs, kudu, lions, elephants, buffalo, rhinos, springbok, giraffes, and many more. We also had the opportunity to hold some poisonous snakes. After the morning safari, we left the lodge and stopped in the coastal town of Knysna for lunch, which was a beautiful harbor town that bordered the indian ocean. After that, it was time for my life's most exhilarating moment: the bungee jump. The buildup could not have been worse, as I had to wait two hours to drive there. We finally arrived to the Blourkans Bridge, which is the tallest natural bungee jump in the world at over 700 feet. After getting strapped up and walking across the half-mile long catwalk with a clear floor, I arrived to the potential last moment of my life. Out of the group of about 10, I was the second to go. As I approached the ledge, fear turned into excitement, as I took the plunge to the valley below. The slogan for the place was "fear is temporary, but regret is forever." I could not have agreed more. Coleman and Doug were also courageous enough to take the jump themselves. On that Wednesday, we went to Tsitsikamma National park, which was of course stunning as well, with a forest of pine trees bordering the rocky shores of the ocean. After hiking through there for a while, we took another road trip to Ando elephant national park, where, as advertised, we saw tons of elephants. One of the most unforgettable parts of the trip came where at least a hundred elephants came marching right by our car within arms reach. On Thursday, we traveled to an ostrich farm. where we got to pet, feed, and even ride the ostriches. Not one of the smartest animals in the world by a long shot. Later that day, we drove to another animal preservation area, where we had the opportunity to pet a cheetah. That night, we ate ostrich meat and kudu for dinner, and met some fellow travelers from Canada. Finally on Friday, we stopped for our last leg of the trip at the Cango Caves, where we took the "adventure tour" where we got to crawl through tight spaces in the cave. After another car ride, we were back at Bishops again that night. 

Giraffe at Sunrise

Holding a snake

Too close for comfort

Feeding Frenzy

Bungee Jump

Coleman, Doug, and I petting the cheetah

Fourth Week (August 3 - August 10)

The final leg of the trip began on the Saturday morning after the Garden Route trip. Saturday was restful, but Jamian, his mother and I took a hike through some forrest right underneath table mountain. That night, my host mom cooked us Bobouti, a native South African Dish, for dinner. Sunday was mostly uneventful as well, and I was back at school that night. It was great to see all of my buddies after being away for the previous week. Monday was another ordinary day of school, but I finally was able to beat coleman in ping pong during one of our free periods. On Tuesday, Mr. Court arranged another trip for the exchanges to Robben Island, the prison where Nelson Mandela served the majority of his prison sentence. It was fascinating to see all the prisoner's stories posted on the walls, as many wrote poems or even earned degrees during their time there. We took at ferry to get there, which was terrifying on the way back because the harbor was particularly rough that day, and the only way to navigate the tall waves was to drive straight into them. For this reason, the ride back was more of a roller coaster ride than a pleasant trip. Everybody kept screaming as if we were all about to die, but the boat crew was laughing so (hopefully) everything was under control. After getting back on the mainland, we had the opportunity to walk around the waterfront mall for a while. Back at the dorm, my roommates and I ordered some pizzas and had a pizza party just for the heck of it. On Wednesday, school was normal, but then I went shopping with Mike, Jarryd, and Garth (roommates) and I bought some cow tongue, which is like South Africa's beef jerky. I then had a fun, but sentimental last night in the dorm with my friends, where we listened to music, watched YouTube videos, and pranked each other one last time. Thursday Consisted of many goodbyes to my friends at bishops, which was extremely difficult on that last day. After saying goodbye to everyone, I then learned that I had to hang around the school until 9 that night before my host family picked me up. Luckily, I was able to hang out with one of my friends, Paolo, during that time. I went out with Jamian and another friend of mine Saseko that night to downtown capetown, and got back home at about 1am. The next day, I packed everything up, first said goodbye to Jamian, who had to work, and then said goodbye to my host mother and her boyfriend, who dropped me off at the airport. All of the goodbyes were hard to say the least, but I was looking forward to being home again. After another 27 hours of travel time up to Amsterdam, over to Detroit, and then finally back home, I had finally made it back. 

Nelson Mandela's Jail Cell

Chapel service on my last day

Last time seeing Bishops Chapel

Coleman and I in school attire on our final day

Roommates Dean, Garth, Mike, and Jarryd.

Thank You!

I would like to thank the Warner family, Mr. Gioia, Montgomery Bell Academy, my host family, and everybody else involved for contributing to my experience abroad. It was the best gift I could have ever received, and I will take the relationships and memories I made with me for the rest of my life. Traveling abroad truly helped me gain a new perspective on the world and was without a doubt the best thing I have ever done. Once again, thank you all for your generosity. 

Ferriss Bailey Michaelhouse, South Africa

In Front of the Mandela House

Miles and I left at 2:30 in the afternoon and we arrived in Johannesburg, South Africa at 11:00am(Nashville time) the next day. South Africa is seven hours ahead so it was five in the afternoon. We were picked up by Mrs. Vambe, the mother of Shingi, a student at Michaelhouse who is coming to MBA in the fall. During the long ride to their house in a suburb of Joburg, Mrs. Vambe asked us many questions about everything from school to our future plans, but Miles and I were both a little slow after our long flight and introduction to an entirely new place. We eventually arrived at the Vambe’s house and met Shingi, and his two sisters.

The Vambes were extremely hospitable and showed us around Joburg. They brought us to the Lion Park outside of Joburg, where we were able to see Impalas, Zebras, Giraffes, and Lions. We also fed the giraffes by hand and pet the lion cubs.

An Elephant in Unfolozi

A Giraffe in Umfolozi

The next day the Vambes took us on a tour of Soweto, which is the only place in the world where two Nobel Peace Prize winners lived on the same street, those two are Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu. Soweto also has severe poverty and as a result many squatter camps. We were actually able to go into one called Kliptown. A resident named Mo showed us inside a typical house and then showed us the Kliptown Youth Program or KIP. KIP is a program that provides the children of Kliptown with food, computers, tutoring, and various activities. It is operated by Thulani Madondo, who was actually a top ten CNN Heroes finalist. Kliptown was truly eye-opening, not only because of the awful living conditions, but also because of the amount of effort certain individuals are putting forth to make a change. We went on to Mandela’s house, which has been turned into a small museum. It was especially moving to see it with Mandela in such critical condition.

The Prinsloos

A male Nyala that our host brother, Armin, shot

After our short stay in Joburg, Miles and I flew on to Durban where we were picked up by the Prinsloos. Their house in the Zimbali estate was beautiful, with a clear view of the Indian Ocean and a world class golf course. Mr. Prinsloo told us there was no theft in Zimbali except for the monkeys, who run into the house and steal food all the time. The Prinsloos took us up north to Hluhluwe, and we stayed on a pineapple farm, which actually produces twenty percent of the world’s pineapples. We went hunting on the farm first for guinea fowl and later for buck. Both Miles and I shot a guinea fowl, but we didn’t see many buck. Armin the younger brother did shoot a Nyala(pictured to the right) which is a trophy kill. The Prinsloos then took us on to the Umfolozi game reserve, which is the world’s second oldest behind Yellowstone. We didn’t see a great amount on the reserve, but we saw two elephants and a Giraffe as close as we possibly could, which made it completely worth it.

Michaelhouse main quad, a view from the bell tower

The Founders House C Blockers

After an unbelievable time with the Prinsloos, we drove west to Michaelhouse. The school is situated in the midlands of Kwazulu-natal; basically, it is in the middle of nowhere. Michaelhouse is an all boys, all boarding school with many traditions. Some of the traditions include the sacred grass in the main quad, which only school prefects can walk on. Students coming to and leaving the school must wear number ones, which is the formal uniform of a blazer and the school tie. There is also a cak and cop system where the seniors can order the E blockers or 8^th graders to make them a sandwich, do their laundry etc. It is essentially the opposite of the Little Brother system at MBA, where we help welcome the new students. Behind the obvious differences, MBA and Michaelhouse are very similar. They are both all boys private schools recognized for their academic and extra-curricular strengths.

I stayed in Founders House, which is the oldest of the eight houses. Miles stayed in Mackenzie, the newest house. We both stayed in C block(10^th) dorms, but went to B block(11^th) classes. Unfortunately, I was not able to play any team sports because of a stress fracture on my shin, but I was able to cycle. My Housemaster, Mr. Bounds lent me his bike, and I was able to go on many beautiful rides in the adjacent Orobi reserve.

One of my mountain biking adventures

Of all of my classes, Drama and History were the most memorable. Drama was always exciting, and we really got to know the other guys in the class. It was interesting in History to see the different perspective on events. My teacher, Mr. Thompson, is also the exchange coordinator at Michaelhouse.

The entire trip was unbelievable, and I would like to thank Mr. and Mrs. Warner, Mr. Gioia our host families, the Vambes and the Prinsloos, Mr. Thompson, and everyone at Michaelhouse for making the trip possible. I have made good friends and memories to last a long time.