Standing in the boarding lounge I looked back on what I was leaving behind as I waved goodbye to my friends and family. I was leaving my country, my school, my life. I would be traveling across the globe to live a completely different life in terms of society and cultural. A completely different world. For the next three months I would be on my own in an experience of a lifetime. However my journey had only just begun.

During the first term, I was lucky enough to be given the opportunity of going on exchange to a school called Gordonstoun in northern Scotland . Situated in the Scottish highlands, naturally it was freezing but luckily whilst I was there they experienced some of the best weather in years. Gordonstoun is a very international school. Pupils flock from across the globe to attend. You would be surprised to hear that the pupils from Scotland are actually in the minority. For instance in my particular year in my house I had people from America, New Zealand, Egypt, India, France, Kenya, Brazil, Japan and the more obvious England. Therefore the diversity of society and the opportunity to experience different cultures was amazing. This was definitely a highlight of my time.

The major difference which springs to mind between Hilton College and Gordonstoun must be the fact that Gordonstoun is a co-educational school. It is full time boarding as well, although you do get the chance to be a day boy (or girl) but that option is rarely taken up. The school consists of 500 pupils and they are distributed between nine houses which creates smaller numbers in each house which then creates smaller living communities and obviously more comfort within the houses.

One of the main areas of the school I enjoyed was the entire social aspect. There was a social twice a week, on Wednesday and Saturday nights. So quite often there were a few weekends during the term when you were actually keen to stay at school for various reasons. This definitely livened up the boarding lifestyle. With girls around the more boring subjects also suddenly became much more interesting! The UK schools have an academic system where by you study three subjects for the equivalent of matric. They call it A levels. The subjects were definitely more diverse and branched out into very different career options. For example you could take philosophy, psychology and Latin. I took Math's, Art and P.E. In a school day each senior pupil, being a std 9 or matric (which they refer to as a Lower or Upper Sixth) was given at least one or two free periods during the day where they were allowed to proceed in their own activities whether it be going back to the house to “study” or go to the computer room or library.

One of the main focuses of Gordonstoun, and definitely one of there main attributes is there involvement in community outreach. They offer a large amount of free services to the local communities surrounding the school. It is compulsory for every pupil to attend a particular service. Some of the services on offer are as follows: Ski Patrol, Mountain Rescue, Coastguard Service, Life guarding, Environmental Awareness and probably there main attraction, there very own fire station equipped with two fire engines and a work force of about 25 students who are on call 24 hours a day during the school term. Because of being from South Africa I obviously ventured for the skiing option! Although I would have enjoyed being a fireman, you have to be trained for about a year to participate in the main stream of events.

The variety of activities the school offers is unbelievable. For example, the other exchange students and I took part in a 5 day sailing course in the Moray Firth Sea . In the summer term, pupils get the opportunity to sail on Gordonstouns very own 50 foot yacht. However, because I was there in winter the weather was not up to scratch for sailing so we resorted to sailing smaller 6 man yachts.

The sport was very different to what I expected from a first class school. As I'm sure you have gathered the touring teams from the UK haven't exactly been brilliant and neither was Gordonstoun. However they did play passionate football. I think that the whether is a factor but also because they are a co-ed school so they halve their sporting depth. I took part in what was on offer at the time. I got to play some rugby and hockey as well as their main sport, football. The nice thing about the sport was that a lot of the fixtures were away games simple because Gordonstoun is quite isolated compared to the major towns. I therefore got the chance to travel quite a bit around Scotland playing sport in different parts of the country.

But my traveling did have to stop sooner or later. I must be honest by saying that it was definitely the first time when I really did not want the term to end. The friends and connections which I would be simply leaving behind was a huge loss to me. However I haven't lost them forever. Doors have been opened and opportunities aroused. Thanks to the internet I can still communicated with my friends. This is really great because of the ties I have created hopefully will last for ever.

In total I cannot sum up my experience in any number of words. It was truly incredible. I would definitely venture again at the drop of a hat. I'm sure you have heard this a hundred times but I have to say that I had a life changing experience. It is impossible to experience exchange and return the same person. And in the majority of cases it is for the better! For everyone who is thinking about applying for exchange it is definitely an opportunity which cannot be passed up. But for those of you who do not get the opportunity to go on exchange, it is not the end of the world for there will be other opportunities which might come your way. I am merely saying that if the opportunity does arise it would be sorely missed and a huge regret if not taken up for it may or may not come again.