Marion, our French Exchange Student, leaves us at the end of the week. If you see her in the corridor, say hello ... then say goodbye! Check out her message below.
Being an French student at Mac Rob:
When I arrived 3 months ago, I have to admit that I didn’t feel quite confident. I was going to stay in a foreign country, far away from home and from my comfort zone. My first week was … let’s say interesting.
It was multicultural week, and I can assure you that seeing people dancing and hanging out in cultural clothes can be very weird for someone that pictured Australia as a modern country. But don’t worry, the computers in the classroom and the fact that you use phones in class convinced me that you were using a lot more technology than my school in France. To be honest, I’m still not used to the computer in class. It’s so easy to be distracted, especially with the internet.
Anyway, two weeks later, I got my own classes. I was lucky enough to be allowed to take some year 10 classes, such as drama and body balance, and the rest were year 11 classes.
And now, here I am, three months later and only one week away from my departure. I’m so close to leave and yet, I don’t want to. Sure, I miss my parents and friends, but I also have people here, at Mac Rob, that I am proud to call my friends. I’m going to miss having people crashing my classes, I’m going to miss being able to do drama four times a week, and I’m going to miss speaking English all day long. I loved every moment of this adventure, even when we lost to Adelaide in basketball (I think I realised how I got comfortable here when I was cheering “Mac.Rob! Mac.Rob!” with all the Macrobbians to support our team).
I may have had bad days where everything looked bad and all I wanted was to stay in bed and sleep, but most of my days here were full of happiness and laughter. I want to thank you for welcoming a girl who has always felt a little bit shy and turning her into a girl that is not afraid to say what she thinks, because she knows that no one here would judge her. I want to thank you for offering me the experience of a lifetime.
When I arrived in Australia three months ago, I was a French exchange student. I’m now proud to say that, when I’m leaving ‘straya m8, I am a Macrobbian at heart.
