Exchange report:
Adam Duxbury
Eton College, England

With 570 years of tradition, passion and excellence, Eton College in England is a school deserving of several superlatives. I spent three privileged months of my Hilton career at Eton, and I loved every second of my exchange.

The current princes of England, heirs to the throne, were both at Eton a few years ago. Many celebrities’ sons are currently there and many of the boys’ fathers and mothers rank amongst world leaders in politics and business. I met some incredible people there and the relationships I began during my exchange will continue into my later life..I appreciate every person I met, and every exhilarating moment I spent on exchange.

My housemaster and peers were very welcoming from the outset of my journey. I will never forget my first night at Eton, bombarded with questions about whether it was true or not that I had pet lions, and the exciting introductions. Not many of the boys that I met knew anything about South Africa and it was a privileged position to be able to tell them about the alternative life-style in South Africa and at Hilton. Many of the boys were very wealthy and living in a class of people that South Africa does not really have. I found this different and enlightening.

Eton College has an older history than South Africa’s, which puts into perspective Eton’s ancient traditions that are plentiful and still upheld today. Eton College began as an institution solely for very academic students, but as time went by, the school increased in size and now it has 1350 boys. Admission to Eton is very difficult as it is very academically orientated and even has one of the houses assigned solely to the boys on scholarship at the school. This house has its own library with very old, hand-written books with values of up to ₤500 000 per book (over millions of Rands). Eton boasts an average of over 90 boys each year being accepted into either Oxford or Cambridge universities, which shows the value that top universities see in Eton boy’s academics.

Sport is not a priority at Eton, although when their rugby team toured to South Africa, they did draw with Hilton’s. Eton’s biggest crowd-puller is its very own sport, played only there, which is called The Field Game. It is a very confusing game that is similar to both rugby and soccer and has been played by Eton boys for close to 400 years. The Field Game is what I played when I was there, and it was endearing to see the pride that Eton boys took in playing the game properly and making sure to learn all the rules so as to keep continuity. I played Field Game for my house’s senior A-side, which shows the depth of my house’s abilities! And although a victory was as rare as a sunny day, I enjoyed myself.

Eton’s facilities are phenomenal, and range from a magnificent stained glassed windowed and stone chapel with requisite organ music and harmonious choirs, to private dining rooms for some of the houses, and a huge library. The school is based in Eton Town, and so there are residential houses between classroom blocks, busy streets, shops, McDonald’s, Indian restaurants, tailors and small stores all within metres of some of the houses. The school is constituted of 27 houses, and a private bedroom with Internet connectivity for every one of the 1350 boys at the school.

Although the school and school’s facilities largely dominate Eton Town, there is also the town of Windsor, where the queen’s residence is, just an 800-metre walk from the school. Boys are allowed into Windsor any time on the weekends, and on Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday afternoons. In Windsor, there are pubs, shopping malls, restaurants, hotels, houses, casinos and a huge castle belonging to the queen - and so boys are constantly exposed to ‘the real world’, something that we are often cut-off from at Hilton. Boys are allowed to be in Windsor alone, without any supervision, and so this is often where the boys get up to things that they should not be getting up to. But these are lessons that Eton finds valuable and important in equipping boys for life after school. Boys are also allowed to grow their hair to practically any length, and this is another example of the freedom given to Eton boys.

The school also has its own pub, called The Tap, for the boys in the last two years of school, where each boy is allowed 2 pints of beer or cider a day. Surprisingly, this system is rarely abused, and the idea is that Eton boys can learn that drinking is social, and should not be done in excess. By great fortune Hilton boys somehow understand this innately.

On many of the weekends while I was at Eton, I went into London; a culture far different to anything in South Africa. The affluence, busyness and efficiency of just about everyone and everything far surpasses anything I had previously experienced. Going to Eton was particularly enlightening because it was not just a holiday to another country, it was an opportunity to actually live in a society, and experience everything that people from that society do.

While at Eton, there were countless presentations and shows that boys could attend. Among the most interesting were a presentation delivered to the school by the chief editor of The Economist magazine, as well as a an address by Rowan Atkinson and JK Rowling. As a house outing, we went to see the Cirque du Soleil, an amazing circus production. I thoroughly enjoyed that and it was definitely a highlight of my exchange.

Eton has a very interesting tutor system- each boy is assigned a tutor not by his house and grade, but by his interests and what profession he would like to get involved in after school. I was put into one of the tutor groups for students who would like to study medicine, and although I have no plan to study medicine, it was really enjoyable. In tutor periods, we went through university application processes and possible university choices. I believe that this was very useful for some boys who have decided what they would like to do after leaving school and they were given an opportunity to get a unique and very specialist insight to getting to their desired career. For the boys who don’t have particular ideas about what to do after school, there are other mixed tutor groups that don’t have a ‘theme’.

I hope that other people will get the opportunity to go on exchange, and experience some of the awesome things that we may not be exposed to in South Africa. Finally, my greatest thanks to Mr. Guthrie, the Exchange Committee and Hilton College for affording me the truly phenomenal opportunity of attending such an amazing school and going on such a journey- 3 months never to forget and always to cherish, more of an exordium than an end in itself.