Australia

My alarm clock was supposed to wake me at 8 o’clock and it would have done so, if not Bonnie (a german shepherd) came down into my room and jumped on my bed licking my face. As I got dressed and went upstairs, Emily asked me what I wanted for breakfast and made some toast with honey and tea for me. After we dropped my sister and brother off at their grandparent's, we made our way to school. I finally got to see the place where I will go to school for the next 5 months. I took a look around Burnie before I came to Tasmania via google earth, but I wasn’t able to see the school. And at that day I understood why: The school is made of many buildings, not just one like I was used to in Germany. There is a building for every grade and additionally one for Performing Arts, one for Art and one for IT. And of course the sports hall. Especially the Performing Arts building and my home rooms caught my attention. And I was impressed! In 2009 there had been a fire in the school so a part burnt down. The damaged buildings have been replaced by new and very modern classrooms. When we came alongside the Year 10 home building the principle introduced me to a boy, Harry, who, she said, would be in my music class and is in the school council.
Our home building is also great, kept in bright colours and you don’t feel like in school, but like you are in a nice, modern (and quite big) flat. After, I guess 1 and a half hours we finished and the principle left me to the secretaries, telling them I would take the obligatory subjects and Art, Music and Maths Methods, since I could choose 3 subjects additionally. We got an enrolment paper, we should hand in back on Monday. I was amazed by this school and on our way back, Emily and I talked about the differences I realized and how she experienced school. After we picked up the kids we went to visit Emily's mother and especially her sister, who still lives with her parents and had just come home after she toured through Asia and Europe. They welcomed me and so did their dog Wallie while we looked at some pictures on the TV. She had done some amazing things, like riding on an elephant. I got really tired and I almost fell asleep on the couch if Shyla would not have been there to keep me busy by wanting to play with my phone. When it was finally 3 p.m. I called my parents in Germany and had a brief talk with them about the school, how the flight was and just everything that has been happening so far. The rest of the evening was relaxed; we watched a bit of TV and ate dinner. That was delicious: We had some oven potatoes with sour crème and salad. Oh, and shrimps. I have never really liked them before, but Emily’s are incredible. I went to bed early still being very tired.
Although the first days were all very special, you cannot write that feeling down, that you got. I at least can’t! You take so much in – so many things that are different and some things that are similar or even the same as in Germany. So, from that perspective of course everyday had something very special to it. But to write about it… We were ‘just’ getting some groceries and then meeting up with my host grandparents and the other exchange student. I had some vegetable ‘Quiche’: Never eaten it before and not sure if it is written the right way, but it was good. There they first told us, that we would be going up to Cradle Mountain for the week-end. I had no idea what or where it was, but, hey, I would love to find out! The one thing mentioned most in context with Cradle Mountain was snow. We would/should see some snow up there! When we finished, we went on a small shopping spree to get some things more or less desperately needed, like some cash, or an Australian SIM-card as well as some black shoes to wear to school. We were just leaving the shopping centre when Dianne and Pernille wanted to look around in another shop; Emily, my new siblings an I waiting outside for what seemed like an hour. And my phone rang. Well, it was about 3 p.m. again. Happy to hear their voices, even my brother’s in the background, I just blurted out everything that came into my mind. This time I even talked to my sister, since she was back from her holidays. Though we agreed on continuing later (for me in the evening, for her at about midday). We, of course, had another fantastic dinner and I talked to my sister, me talking about my new school, mainly, and her telling me what she got as birthday presents. But apart from that, Friday just went by.

After 1 and a half day of travelling, sitting in airplanes, waiting at airports we were landing in Melbourne. I don’t count Sydney because I could not realize any extraordinary change, any difference from Europe or Shanghai. But when we descended around Melbourne first thing I realized was, that the clouds where really low. I have never seen clouds so close to the ground. The next thing that caught my eye, as we came closer, was the vegetation: The trees and wild meadows are strange. Very strange. I have never seen these kind of trees! Landing in Melbourne went well and a Lady from the agency I was on exchange with helped us get the boarding card for Burnie. Luckily! Because we had overweight. Long discussions followed, the lady at the counter even talking on the phone with the australian branch of the agency. In the end we had to pay for it and would get the money back later. We got on the plane, a mini plane! I have never been in a plane this small before. The landscape and the sea were beautiful as we flew past it. I could spend the whole day in a plane flying around. Well, landing in Burnie went well my host family waiting for me and my small host sister being really excited! Actually more excited than me, I would reckon. All of them hugged me right away and were very welcoming. After we had some lunch we went to our 'new' home. My host mother showed me around, but we didn't spend to much time there, since we went to buy some chicken for dinner and then headed off to my 'grandparent's house'. And again my host mother showed me around: Greyhounds, sheep, and cats. My host grandfather trains and goes to races with the greyhounds, as I was told. I was also introduced to ‘my uncle’. I was really tired, so I relaxed in front of the TV in a very comfortable armchair, my sister on my lap. I wasn’t hungry, so I didn’t eat anything for dinner, although the others did and asked me more than once if I wanted something. At about 6 o’clock we started our way home and I was actually happy about that. I unpacked some things and asked at what time I should get up the next morning, since we would be visiting my new school. 8 o'clock should be fine, I was told :)

So, after a lot of paperwork (a lot!) I am finally off to Australia. Though that was, by now, 3 months ago, but by now I finally managed to access this blogg. Well, I guess I will start off by letting you know how I came to going on a student exchange year...
In August last year our teacher was going around giving us leaflets which encourged us to go and check out different agencies, which organized student exchanges. One Saturday morning a whole lot of them gathered at a school close to where we lived so my parents and me went and took a look. From then on, everything raced by basically. I decided to go to Australia or New Zealand since I have always wanted to go there (don't really know why, though). Well, here I am! The hardest time was probably when we had to wait for an answer from the agencies telling us whether I was put in the program or not. In the end it all worked out and, like I said, after heaps of paperwork I was off to Australia, living the adventure :)