Südafrika

We arrived back home in Germany from our 2-month-stay in South Africa on Nov. 26. Like the first one, the second half of our exchange was very exciting.

Let´s start with our half term holiday. We spent this week in Mozambique with our host family. They have a house there directly on the beach. This week was absolutely relaxing. I went running on the beautiful beach, we lay in the sun, ate traditional food, met new people, and had the best time with our host sisters: Ruby, Charlotte, and Vicky. All in all it was a special week at a place we will never forget. The countryside is wild and there are unsealed roads only. There are not many people in this area, but nature is overwhelming.  If you have been there once, you will never forget the long and white beaches without anyone but yourself.

After a long way back to the boarding house the next adventures were waiting for us. As the South African students had to take their exams, they were just studying all day. That allowed us to take part in several trips offered by St Anne’s. The first thing we did was a 3 night stay in the Game Reserve of Nambiti. We went there with the Australian exchange students including the boys from St Anne’s brother school. I never met such open and funny people. It was not only nature and all the wild animals we watched on safari that made this experience so special. It was also the fact that we stayed there with people we could talk to as if we had known them since childhood. This game reserve provides a habitat for many animals. We saw rhinos, impalas, giraffes, elephants and many more. We were even lucky enough to see even 3 cheetahs.

The next big trip was our incredible shark diving experience. It started with a shark awareness presentation and ended with real contact with the sharks. I stayed in a cage, but all the others swam outside. There were about 4 to 5 sharks around us. There were not aggressive or unfriendly at all. They just swam around us and ate the fish the skipper threw into the water, which made the sharks stay close to us. All our initial fear was gone. Now we can see sharks in a different light.

Several other trips like hot air ballooning, a visit to the Warwick markets in Durban, and a canopy tour in the Drakensbergs followed. All of them were unique. During the hot air ballooning we saw South Africa from another perspective. At the Warwick markets we discovered a huge, international street market, where we bought some traditional things for our families. During the canopy tour we had a great view between the trees and ziplining made us feel as if we were flying like a bird.

Between the trips we spent much time with friends at the boarding house. There are so many fun things to do like swimming in the pool or going to the village, which is very close, and drink a milkshake. The huge number of sporting activities were perfect to stay in shape and meet others.

At the beginning of the exchange both of us were not so open. We learned much about how to make new friends. Our English also improved a lot. Now it is so much easier to understand movies and books. We are very happy that we were offered this opportunity and participated in the exchange. It opened our eyes for a different look at the world and people. The goodbye was very hard and emotional. We will have to come back to visit our friends and see this wonderful country of South Africa again one day.

If you are in grade 9 and think about going to South Africa, we can only recommend it! It was the best decision we ever made. The stay there will be wonderful and you will always remember all the things you saw together with your friends.

Clara Menche