One year ago, I decided to apply for an exchange program in Australia. Then in September, I finally received the confirmation from the BJR that I would be able to go to Melbourne in February for 11 weeks. I got to live with a very nice host family with four host siblings, two dogs and one cat. They welcomed me warmly and I got to call it my home after only a short time.

Next year, I will welcome my exchange partner in my home here in Germany. She will stay with me and my family for two months and will visit the school with me here and hopefully like it as much as I liked my stay with her.

When I was in Melbourne, I totally dived right into the culture there and tried to experience as much as possible.

The biggest part was the school there. I visited a private school and had in total six subjects. They were called English, German, Math, Science, Psychology and Australia and the Modern World, which is similar to history. The school day started at 8.30 am and finished every day at 3.30 pm. The special thing about my schedule was that I almost had all of the subjects daily.

Additionally, I had the chance to play in the First Volleyball team at my school. They had practice twice a week and it was very exciting and also instructive to see the different ways of playing and practicing from a different country.

My school had a very strict clothing policy with a uniform made out of a skirt or dress for the girls and shorts for the boys. Until last year, it was strictly forbidden to wear earrings, make-up or your hair down. Another very different thing about the school were the assemblies. There were year-specific, that means that the whole grade met in the assembly hall almost every week and important things were discussed.

But my life there did not consist of only school. After school ended or on weekends, I went swimming in the pool in the back of our house, went shopping with friends, participated in different sports or just watched footy with my host family. Footy is a sport that is very similar to American football, but with slightly different rules. Personally, I think that the Australian version is more exhilarating.

In my stay there, I got to learn how to surf and how to play cricket when I was on holiday. It was in this small town called Pambula, which is a small town in New South Wales.

Before the easter holidays, I went to a camp with my school two hours away from Melbourne as a so called student leader. Everybody slept in cabins and got to do exciting activities like creeking and caving. I saw a lot of huge spiders, scorpions and kangaroos there, all of the animals which Australia is known for.

All together I had the best of times there. I met a lot of people who all welcomed me so nicely. I am so grateful for having been given this chance to explore the world and meet amazing people. The only regret I have is not being able to stay for longer. I would advise everybody to try and do the same, because there is nothing to miss and everything to gain.