Exchange to Charlotte Latin School
Courtney Allen
October 16th 2006
 

Exchange had been a dream of mine since I entered the impressive McKenzie Gates on my first day. To embark on a journey so thrilling and spontaneous was just a dream come true. After being told that I would be flying to the United States of America, North Carolina, I remember going to hockey practice with the 1st XI and one of my team mates approached me and said: “Congratulations Huss (my nickname in the hockey side), you are about to set on an experience of a life time.” This has stuck with me ever since and I have to agree with Ian, it really is an experience of a life time. I have been very privileged and I am grateful for the things I have been able to achieve and the things I have been given in life, but nothing compares to the experience I had in North Carolina, Charlotte.

I took my last walk around circular drive visiting all the houses on the way and saying good bye to the friends I had made at Hilton College. I looked at the school I love for the last time for 6 weeks. After jumping on a Boeing 747 and finding my seat I was flooded by millions of thoughts good and bad, funny and sad. This was the start of a pivotal journey in my life.

As Charlotte wasn’t a boarding school I stayed with the Davies family. Richard, the dad, was an old Hiltonian and achieved quite a lot himself at Hilton. It was really interesting to listen and interact with him and his days at Hilton. My host family were kind and hospitable. In staying with them I got the opportunity to travel and experience American life as lived by all. They have a very good standard of living and I really enjoyed their laid back spontaneous kind of lifestyle.

Charlotte Latin School is a day only, co-educational school which hosted about 1200 students, ranging from kindergarten to matric or senior year as they call it. I really enjoyed being in a co-educational environment and I found myself being early for class just so I had time to socialise with all my friends, girls and guys. But on the other hand I really missed boarding school life. The people at Charlotte Latin were very hospitable and friendly. I found it quite easy to settle down thanks to my peers. The friends I have made are irreplaceable and thanks to email and telephone I am able to keep in touch with them. At Latin they don’t strictly keep you in your grades in class. I was doing math with some seniors (matrics), juniors (grade 11’s), sophomores (grade 10’s) and freshman (grade 9’s), so pretty much any one in the upper school who was doing that same subject depending on how clever they are. The other main difference was that there was no uniform and everyone dressed as they wished, boys and girls had lockers and this was a key form of communication. I also participated in some interesting subjects such as forensics (debating and public speaking), engineering, newspaper (journalism for the school newspaper) and yearbook (making a magazine for the school like our Hiltonian magazine). I enjoyed these subjects because they are subjects which you might need to use in life to get jobs and I found them very interesting and useful.

Whilst I was there it was American Football season and I was really intrigued by this awesome sport. I had the privilege of meeting with a few professional players and being face to face with others on the playing field. I also attended a game or two at the Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte; this was really interesting to watch and was very different to watching the bokke play at ABSA Stadium in a number of ways. The school varsity (1st) team – also known as the Hawks - played every Friday and it wasn’t compulsory to watch but the turn out from the boys and girls was really awesome to see. Every Friday night was one to look forward to because of the socialising and because the football team was so good. While I attended Latin I played soccer. Other sports on at the time were cross country for guys and girls and tennis, hockey and volleyball just for the girls. I was able to travel to Washington DC and Charleston with a Spanish exchange group which I thoroughly enjoyed and will never forget. Being able to socialise and make friends with these students of a different culture and life style was such a privilege and my trips produced memories and friends which I will have forever.

Going on exchange has opened my eyes unto what a beautiful place this country really is and how privileged we are to have such a sacred sunset or open fields and giraffe and cows grazing nearby. To attend such an awesome school like Hilton College is really some thing worth taking advantage of. In life we take these things for granted but I have realised how much these places really mean to me and how now what I can do to improve them and I can only hope that I, with my little adventure and knowledge gained, can have a positive input on these two places in particular. Rich Davies, my host dad, said something to me which will remain with me always. He said every morning before we left for school, “Enjoy your day and make the most of it because you won’t get it back.” I think of this every morning as I have seen that my time is limited and there is so much to achieve in this world. This is one of the many ways in which exchange has changed my life.

Before I knew it my time was up. The friends and memories I made in America will be with me forever. I had the most amazing time in America and would have to say that it was the best thing I could ever have done in my entire life to date. Exchange has opened doors for me, challenged me and most of all it has helped me look at life in a new exciting way. I am really grateful for the experience I have had and can only urge boys looking to go on exchange to really go for it and to make the most of it, as it is a life changing experience and one very much worth while.

Courtney Allen