The American exchange was such an amazing experience. We received notifications of our exchange in October-December, which got all of us very excited. The US exchanges Kylie, Anna, Kyra, Sarah and Saloni arrived in March, and we had a great time showing them around the School and introducing them to our Australian lifestyles. Some of us did not have our host exchange here, but we still were able to enjoy spending time with the other exchange students.

The day we departed Melbourne, was very exciting for all of us as we started the long 24-hour trip at 5.00am on a Saturday morning. The moment we landed everyone was very tired, but as soon as we realised we were in New York, everyone immediately woke up and we started our sight-seeing the moment we arrived at our hotel. Some of the sights we saw were The Empire State Building, The Statue of Liberty, Times Square, SoHo and we were fortunate enough to see a show on Broadway as well as watch a basketball game. Overall, New York was incredible, with this excitement continuing as we travelled to Delaware to mentor exchanges, and for some this included meeting our exchanges for the first time.

The first day of school was like any other, as we were included as if we were any other student attending the school. All the girls and boys who went to Tower Hill made our experience so much more fun. After school, it is compulsory to do a sport every day, therefore, we all chose to do track. Tower Hill School is very different from St Catherine’s, and it was a once in a lifetime opportunity to be able to experience another school.

My exchange Abby and her family were really welcoming and I had a lot of fun with Abby and her friends at school. We all got to experience going to Philadelphia, Washington DC and even enjoyed a tour of the White House. All of our experiences were very different, but we had such an amazing time, and I recommend for anybody in the younger years to think of participating in this exchange as it was such a great opportunity.