We all know that this blog was for my Australia exchange experience, so I won't be writing every day any longer! However I still have 2 videos to share in this blog, so when I am done with editing all of that I will post them...Maybe between this week and the next one! Thank you so much to everybody who read this blog, I really hope you liked it. For everybody who reads it from school, I will be doing a presentation of the whole experience next week probably, so all your questions will be answered and I hope that I can transmit to all of you how amazing this experience has been for me. I want to thank the Leskiw family for being the best hosts possible. My trip wouldn't have been as good without them. They took care of me as if I was their own daughter and always made sure I was feeling okay. Finally thank you so much to the school who gave me this opportunity and trusted me to be the first student from St. Hilda's to venture on a trip like this. I will never forget it.
My flag signed by everybody!
I'll talk to you later and keep tuned for my two videos: 'Argentinian in Australia' and 'Argentinian tries Australian food'!
So I am back home! My flight landed around 6:30 PM on the 6/3, which was quite weird, because I boarded my Sydney - Buenos Aires flight around 7:30 PM on the same day! How confusing is that? haha...My dad and my boyfriend were waiting for me on the other side as soon as I got out out customs so I was really excited to see both of them! Minutes later mum and my sister Julia came and picked me and my boyfriend up and we all had dinner at home! I am so jet lagged I am not sure I will be able to sleep, but I will go tomorrow in the afternoon to school to say hello to everybody, because I am saving the day so as to recover and sleep a bit!
Hey there! So today was my flight! At 2:05 I was in the air flying to Sydney. Montana went to school and we we picked her up around 11 so that she came to say goodbye. It was such an emotional goodbye...I cried my eyes out, but it was time to leave. I am now in the Sydney airport waiting for my 13 hours and 15 minutes flight to Buenos Aires. I did some shopping and now i'm at the gate, waiting. I'm tired already! Talk to you tomorrow! Actually...today? Time differences are confusing haha. I'll just say, I will talk to you later!
I was certainly not looking forward for this day. In the first period we had music and Mrs. Kelly got me an Australian magnet for me to take home, which I thought was really nice of her and totally unexpected! I loved this music class, I learnt so much and met lots of people who I wouldn't have met if I wasn't enrolled in this class, specially because I knew nobody when I first got in it. To Georgia, Peta, Lydia, Sabrina, Nikki, Lana, Kay, Mrs. Kelly, I am going to miss you so much! Thank you for being so welcoming and made this little part of my experience even better. At the end of the class we all took a photo together which is attached.
Whole School Assembly
The second period was a whole school chapel, which was about Ash Wednesday. It lasted an hour and twenty minutes and later we had morning tea, my last one. The people who hadn't signed my flag did and I sad goodbye to the some who I wasn't going to see later, so goodbyes started pretty early. However, they are going to end pretty late today because we are going to QG Swimming, which is a swimming competition between some girl schools in the Gold Coast.
Third period was English! I walked over there with Loulotte and Imogen, the exchanges from Holland. I am gonna miss them so much! They have around two more weeks here in Australia, so I hope that they have the best time! Mrs. Nash surprised me with a bag of Australian food for me to take back home! We actually studied "What it means to be an Australian" these few weeks, and we saw a video about Americans trying Australian food, and everything mentioned in it is my bag! I will attach the video here so that all of you can see it. I was so surprised by her present! I found it adorable! :)
After English we had lunch and then we had Modern and I walked there with Jontie. My last period was Drama, an amazing way to end the day haha...
After school we went to some buses and left for QG Swimming. I will soon be uploading a video I did during my time here, so stay tuned for that!
2 days left of school! Today I switched uniforms with Montana because it is one of their school traditions, and it reminded me how much I love our uniform! Hahaha... I can't believe that I am actually saying goodbye tomorrow...It was a pretty normal day, nothing new except for the uniform haha...Everybody signed my flag, which is also another tradition from the school. You basically get an Australian flag and people write nice messages on it! I will ad a picture of it too! I said goodbye to Lana today. She is in my music class and I love her. She has a plaster cast because she fell and broke a bone in her leg, so she was in the Health Center and I went to visit her! I am not sure if I am going to see her again, but she signed my flag and we said goodbye. She's by far one of the nicest girls I have met in the school...I am really sad to say goodbye!
Below I will also post a picture of Montana and me with our uniforms on.
We just had dinner with all the family and I am now going to bed. Talk to you later!
Hey there! Last days in Australia :( I actually only have 2 more days of school, which is quite sads. Goodbyes are really hard, I met amazing people in here who I really wished I didn't have to say goodbye to. Today I brought my flag and everybody started signing it. They all left really cute messages which will be a really cool way to remember them! I cried quite a bit today, I hate goodbyes, but I'm trying not to think about it. In PC class everybody brought food to make me a sort of farewell which I thought was really cute! In music class Mrs. Kelly filmed me playing the piano with other students so that I can take it home with me and remember them! It was really nice!
I am now waiting for Montana to finish with her Modern History tutorial so that we go back home! I am starting to pack up today so that I don't forget anything! I can`t believe I am leaving this Thursday...It is crazy to think that I have been living on the other side of the world, with another family, with different friends, going to a different school...it is surreal. Anyway I really miss home, so I think leaving is what I have to do, but I will come back. Talk to you later!
Today we woke up around 10. Tegan came over from boarding and we went to the beach at Burleigh beach after some croissants. We had an amazing time! Later we went back home, had some toasties and started getting ready for dinner. Montana planned dinner with some friends from St.Hilda's as a 'farewell dinner'. We went to Vapianos at Surfers Paradise with the girlsand had pasta! It was really good! We went to dessert at Mc. Donald's and had a Mc. Flurry. We hanged at Surfers Paradise for a while and later headed back home! Talk to you later! Last three days of school tomorrow!
Hey! So, today I woke up around 9 AM and since Montana was at Softball we decided to go shopping! I got heaps of stuff and later we picked up Tana from her game. We drove home after getting some groceries and had some wraps. It was pretty hot today so we decided to go to the pool for a bit and an hour later we left to Surfers Paradise. The objective was getting an Australian flag so that people can sign it before I leave, but we also did some shopping. We got Starbucks and headed home! Talk to you later!
Hey there! 5 days left Gold Coast! TGI FRIDAY! I am so tired from all the week! So, today was pretty normal day...Instead of PC class we had House Meetings in which the students from Y11 who wanted to have a leadership position,(vice-house captain or vice-sports captain) gave speeches and we voted online. (Check out the screenshots I took from my phone of the voting procedure! I thought it was really cool! After lunch the seniors put music in the Langford Theatre and free style danced, which was pretty cool! We had music today and we played the piano and also sang along to a couple song in the piano and the guitar! I love being surrounded by people who love music as much as I do! After school we went to Montana's touch game and came back home at 6! Talk to you later! :)
Hey there! So...today was a bit weird. It was quite a big difference without the Canadians here :( However, it was a pretty normal day...After school Montana had a dentist appointment and I went shopping and got some pressies! :) Talk to you later!
Hey there! Today is the last day of the Canadians, which is really sad. I am going to miss them so much, especially Meg. She is like a best friend to me and we became really close after all of these weeks together sharing Music, Drama, CLD, lunch, morning tea, theme parks together. I hope she had an amazing time here and I am really glad I got to meet somebody like her! She is the funniest person, I am really gonna miss her when she leaves, but I guess that feeling will be around me all of the 8 days I have left with all of the goodbyes that I still have to say...
Presents from St. Hilda's
Today we also had morning tea with Mr. Peter Crawley. He invited the exchanges from Canada and me to talk about our experience, it is really nice of him! They gave us a bag with some St.Hilda's stuff and I asked if I could get their annual magazine to take back to school so that everybody can see what it looks like! There's not much left to talk about today...I am really gonna miss Meg and I really hope I get to see her again someday :) Talk to you later!
Hey everybody! Today is Tuesday 25th, and from today I have around 9 days left in Australia which is kind of sad. Anyway, I must admit I am pretty homesick...I miss my family, my friends, my boyfriend, my bedroom...Luckily I brought Dulce de Leche with me because otherwise I'd be starting to eat Vegemite! (Vegemite is a dark brown Australian food paste made from leftover brewers' yeast extract with various vegetable and spice additives) I have a theory about Vegemite, which is that only Australians like it, and I am pretty sure than less than 5% of people of other parts of the world do too.
Back to my morning, today I had music, physics, english, CLD and modern history. On the last period we had a Whole School Assembly. Its theme was about what yourself. Mr. Peter Crawley, the Head of School, gave a speech about rumors, expressing that you have to chose who to believe and who not to. Also you have to learn to listen to others, but mainly to yourself. It is very important to be conscious about what one thinks about himself. He showed two clips while giving his speech(both posted above in the order mentioned). The first one was about people being pranked about an elevator working as a time machine. The second one was one we saw at school about how one sees themselves and how others see you. It was an ad by Dove He concluded with the reflection that we don't want to be fooled like the ones in the video about rumours, but you also need to be aware of what your own opinion about yourself is. It was a very nice speech and it was followed by the prize giving of the Swimming Carnival, with all sorts of cups. Montana had Physics tutorials, so I waited for her until 5 pm and then we went back home. We had wraps for dinner and after that everybody headed off to do their homework. Instead I read and blogged haha. Before I leave, in case you haven't noticed, I added a gadget that you will find in the right hand side of the blog with the days, hours, minutes and seconds I have left here. Talk to you later!
And the countdown begins! 10 days to leave :( Unfortunately I am starting to saying goodbye to everybody...Montana is planning a farewell party for me this Saturday with the boys from TSS and the girls from St. Hilda's, which is going to be fun so stay tuned for that! I am starting to get used to writing every single day, even school days so I might just start writing without no real purpose, but there is always something to write about here! My first period was English, which is in the drama cabins. (Photos below)
Front (modern h. library classroom)
These are quite far away from the school main buildings. To give you an idea there is a complete field in between of the main buildings and the drama cabins, it is quite far away. The cabins have around 4 classrooms which are used for English and CSP English, CLD (Character Leadership Development or R.E (Religious Education).
Left side(modern h. library classroom)
The second period was Modern History, which was good. Today we were at a classroom at the library. These are one of my favourite ones. I will make sure to post photos of this one below (front, right and left side).
Right side(modern h. library classroom)
Later we had PC (pastoral care) in which we discussed on a little farewell class for me next Monday with lots of food :) hahaha. After that we had morning tea and drama. In drama we read a very cool play called "Love child"by Joanna Murray-Smith. Finally we had CLD, in which I talked to Imogen a lot (exchange student from Holland) and signed her flag. We also showed each other our schools and talked about their differences, for example, she doesn't have to wear a uniform! Our last class today was Physics in which we did a couple experiments on reflection. The day is ending now and I read all day a book I got in Kindle since I got from school called 'Hopeless'. We had dinner with all of the family, including Montana's grandpa who lives in a house right next to us (just in case I hadn't mentioned it yet). Hope everybody had a really nice day! Talk to you later!
Hey! Today we woke up and left to Movie World! This is a theme park which was AMAZING. I absolutely loved it. It reminded me of Universal Studios in U.S.A for anybody who was been there already, since it is as if you were inside of a movie. You'll travel past Indian reservations, ghost towns, geysers and wagon trains to put you right in the middle of a western movie set.
We went to the most amazing rides I have ever been to. I used to be really scared of them, so I can't actually believe that I did all of this today. I am going to be posting 3 videos of three rides which were amazing (Superman, Arkham Asylum and The Green Lantern). Fun fact? The superman ride goes from 0 to 100km per hour in two seconds. TWO SECONDS. How amazing is that? It was seriously the fastest ride. (It is the second video and play it from 0:44 because that's were the actual ride starts). I also attached the one of the Green Lantern (first video)which was the first ride we went to when we got here and it has the steepest inverted drop in the Southern Hemisphere. The Arkham Asylum was amazing too, actually it is the first of its kind in the world! There is also a video for you too see guys! (third one). In this one your feet are hanging. You can see the people in a little square down at the bottom right of the video, and you'll see it, it makes it even scarier.
Hey there! Today we went to Brisbane! We woke up around 6:45 and at 7 we left to see Montana's softball game, which was in Brisbane. Unfortunately, they lost but it was a fun game to watch! Later we went shopping and I bought some make up and gifts for home! When we got back I had a nice nap haha and later around 5 we had dinner while watching Pretty Little Liars. Talk to you later!
As you might be able to tell by the title today was a pretty dramatic day. I woke up to go to school and as I got changed I started feeling dizzy. All I remember is that. When I woke up I was on the ground and felt completely confused. Anyway I got dressed up and went to the
kitchen since it was already 7:30 and we usually leave to school at that time. However I made sure to tell Donna and Walter that I had fainted, and they made me stay home. After they both got back from dropping Montana and Tyler at school they both came to check on me and I wasn't feeling okay so they decided to take me to the Robina Hospital. We got there about 11 and around 2:30 they called me to go in. When I got in there I had my blood pressure tested, blood tests, urine tests and x-rays. Everything was okay but the blood tests made my pressure go even lower so I had to stay there until I was alright. Now I am at home, healthy and resting...I must admit it was a pretty scary day, but everything is alright now. Talk to you later!
Hey there! School again today...The day started with music, but it was only for 20 minutes because today is photo day! In St. Hilda's (Australia) they have a yearbook which is just like ours, but it has everybody's photos every year in it as well as the form photo. In year 11 there are more than 130 students, which is quite a lot compared to our year 11, which only has less than 30! Everybody got their individual photo and finally their form photo. The students who did Modern History had a 2 - 3 hour lecture on history. I am now in Physics and I noticed that the lecture started and that I forgot about it! So yeah...I was actually really excited for it because they were going to talk about Nazism and terrorism. Specially for Nazism since we studied it last year in IGCSE History and I really enjoyed it, so I am quite disappointed for not getting the time of the lecture right... Later on we had a house meeting. All of the houses had them and we got congratulated for the swimming competition and some swimmers got spirit badges! (great idea that we could add to out school!) In the end of the assembly we played a game which was about guessing the song (the one who did gor a chocolate) and finally did the house war cry! It was lots of fun! I'll talk to you later!
Today we decided to take the day off and visit one of the theme parks Wet n' Wild! It was better going on a weekday because if not these get really busy. Montana and I went together with the exchanges from Canada, Megan and Hannah. We went to amazing slides, we got a tan, and we had heaps of fun! I didn't take many photos of the park since I just left my phone in my bag because I wouldn't have liked it to get it wet. The park wasn't very crowded and we went on every single slide or ride. We had the best time today and it was sunny and a very clear day. It was really hot, however, so it was a good choice coming to Wet n' Wild today. I am going to go to Movie World too, (another theme park) but maybe someday that it isn't that hot, so I am looking forward to that! When we got here the first thing we did was going to every slide that we saw. Around 12 we had a very nice lunch and later went to a couple more slides that we were missing and then we waited with the exchanges to get picked up while we tanned by the wave pool. We went to a ride (the only one there was in this park) which you can see in the photo below. It is like a curve which simulates a wave. Its called the Surfrider Ride. I am going to post a picture below with what the ride looks like and a video that I found on Youtube too, this might have been the scariest ride that I have been to today. Basically it is a surfboard that glides up and down a 30 meter wave while spinning. The best slide we went to was the Tornado! I am going to post a Youtube video so that you all can see what it looks like!
Around 4 pm we got picked up and went back home. We had dinner around 5:30 and Montana left for her Touch match. It is really hot so I am having trouble sleeping...I'll guess I will try again.
Today after I woke up and was putting my contacts on I noticed that one was missing, so apparently I lost one and I will have to get new ones, which wasn't quite a nice start of the day I must say. However, today was a nice day of school. Each day is getting even hotter and hotter that it is unbearable. Luckily all classrooms count with air con, if not I would've completely melted by this time. I am writing on a school day again since today we had chapel. Chapel today was in the multi purpose center and its theme was 'Valentine's Day'. There were some funny clips, a video made by students asking what this festivity meant to some teachers, a speech, and the reflection. The stage was all decorated with love hearts and in the end of chapel after singing all together Elvis Presley's 'I can't help falling in love with you' hit, we did a fun quiz. There were questions such as 'who is cupid?' or 'In "The Notebook", how many letters does Noah write to Ally?'. The student who picked her hand up first got the microphone and if she got the answer write she was given a lolly or a chocolate. It was a really nice chapel and it was really interesting.
Where I am currently sitting in the Horton Library
I am now waiting for Montana who is at her English tutorials. These tutorials are of a certain subject each day and teachers stay from 3:25 to 5:00 pm to help students who have trouble with a certain assignment or even the whole subject so as to get better at it, which I think is a great idea.
Today I took some more photos of the school. They will be posted here and explained with a caption below.
