Coming to Sydney with for 6 months was the best experience of my life! I had the best time here and don’t regret coming to Australia at all, I actually want to stay here for a few more months...;) If you’re not quite sure yet whether to come on exchange here I can only tell you one thing: DO IT. It will be the best time of your life. Everything’s awesome, the people you’ll meet, your hostfamily, your coordinator, the school, the location. At my school it was very easy to meet new people and make friends. Everyone was so nice to me and included me. Already after two weeks I went ona ski camp with my school, that was great and actually the best way to get to know all the people in my year during that whole week. The ski camp in Jindabyne was one of the best school camps I have ever had! Before skicamp I had only been at High School for 3 weeks and didn’t really knowmany people and didn’t know them well. During the ski camp I got to know so many people and we had so much fun skiing and doing other stuff. I am so happy that I decided to do the camp as I know the people so much better now. I practically know everyone in my year except for only a few people and every single person is so nice. And very important: they let you be part of the group and are very interested. Of course, it was great to experience Australian snow and skiing. The camp was from Sunday morning until Friday evening. During the whole week, we went skiing three whole days: Monday,Tuesday and Wednesday. In the morning we had a lesson with a ski/snowboard teacher and in the afternoon we were free to go skiing with our friends, that was great fun! On Thursday and Friday we did other stuff like Rock Climbing, Archery and High Ropes. In two lessons of half a day each we also talked about drugs, alcoholetc...There was also an evening program for every day like movie nights, trivia nights and even a disco night! So I would definitely recommend to do this camp, not only because its awesome to go skiing and to go to thesnow in Australia but especially because it makes it somuch easier to get to know all the people from school and to make so many new friends! It was an awesome time! Thanks to to my organization for planning this – as a lot of the other kids from other organizations miss out! After that camp, I knew everyone better and started doing things with my Aussie friends also during the weekends and go out at night. I have definitely become more outgoing during this time in Sydney.
My host family here was great, they included me in their family and took me to many places, I spent a lot of time with them, especially surfing with my host brother and host mum! My coordinator was always there when I needed help but we also went bowling and eating pizza with all the other exchange people. During these 6 months I went to Gold Coast, Canberra, the Blue Mountains, camping with my host family and tothe Central Coast. I have been surfing almost every day with my host a host brother who taught me everything. That was one of the best things. I didn’t go on the Outback Safari in the holidays because I decided to stay here and surf and just hang out with my friends and hostfamily. I don’t regret that decision at all even though everyone told me how great the Safari was. All I can say is that it will be the best time of your life and you should definitely come with to Down Under, it’s the best! If you have any questions I’m happy to answer them. Enjoy your time down under! MARCO