By Georg

Hello, my name is Georg, I’m an exchange student from Austria and I have spent half a year at Golden Bay High School.

At first, I didn’t know exactly why I chose New Zealand as my exchange country and to be honest, I hoped to arrive at a paradise for surfers on a hot tropical island. However, none of these dreams became a reality and on the contrary, in Golden Bay there are no waves to surf on and it is definitely not a tropical island!

Nevertheless, there hasn’t been one day that I have regretted my decision to come here. That’s especially because of all the extremely nice people I’ve met and all of the wicked things I’ve experienced in this half-year. Five months have never passed so quickly in my entire life.

It was on 1st February that I started my trip from the other side of the world and as I write this, it is June and my journey is nearly over. Of course, I’m looking forward to going back home and catching up with all my friends and family, but I will miss New Zealand a lot and there is part of me that doesn’t want to leave.

New Zealand has become my second home in no time at all. I especially want to thank my host family, the Couper-Scannels, for being such a lovely family and allowing me to stay at their place. They showed me a lot of beautiful places, took me everywhere around Golden Bay and made a little Kiwi out of me.

I also had a great time at Golden Bay High School where I made heaps of new friends – thanks to 12B. All of the students welcomed me into their school which I thought was very cool. I think you guys are awesome! Thanks also to Mr Compton who helped me with all my little problems, and thanks to all the teachers who made my time here very pleasant.

I’ll realize how much I miss New Zealand when I’m back in Austria. I’ll always remember the good times I had and hopefully will come back some day to catch up with all my New Zealand friends. I also invite you to visit me whenever you travel through Austria and I will welcome you as warmly as you welcomed me.

Georg

By Leon

Hi, My name is Leon and I’m an exchange student from Germany. I have been in Golden Bay almost a year and now have only one week left.

When I first thought about going on an exchange, America was the only country I wanted to go to. However, for some reason, I got to change my mind and a couple of weeks later I found myself on a 100,000 hour flight to New Zealand ?.

Now, having spent eleven months on this rather green island, I can say there hasn’t been a day when I have regretted my decision.

OK, now I only have three days left here to finish this. Aaah! Aaaah!

I should start talking about my exciting experiences and how friendly all the people are and how much I love my host family. I have had a lot of exciting experiences such as dislocating my shoulder on the trip to Rotoiti with the Yr 9s last year and doing the 134m bungy jump in Queenstown in the holidays (which was way too short for $100).

The people are indeed really friendly! Well, most of them are. And how much I love my host family? Lots!!! I would like to say thank you to them. I honestly had an awesome time staying with you guys. So thank you so much for doing such a great job! I would also like to say thank you to the Yr 13s for being such a great group of people. I wish everyone who reads this all the best and a happy life.

Byeeee..Leon

By Yuria

Hi! My name is Yuria. I’m 17 years old and I come from Osaka in Japan. I arrived here in January.

I didn’t know anything about Golden Bay before I came here and at first, I was surprised at lots of things here. I have never stayed in such a beautiful place. Life here is nice and relaxed. I love it!

The good things I’ve noticed about Golden Bay are that I can drink water from a tap and it tastes good. Also, I can see very beautiful stars in the night sky – even the Milky Way in summertime, and the people here are very kind. Most people say hello to each other around here.

In April I went to Murchison, on a kayaking trip with my P.E. class. At first, I didn’t want to go on the trip because I hadn’t done any kayaking before I came here, and I thought it was too dangerous for me to do. But my instructor was very kind and looked after me well so the trip was a good experience. Kayaking became a highlight. I also enjoyed the swimming and athletic sports days.

This year, I had such an awesome time in Golden Bay, with great experiences and wonderful memories.

I’m so lucky to have stayed here and I would like to thank everyone.

I want to come back some day!
Yuria

By Sofia

Hey ho, I’m Sofia. I’m German.
I’m sitting here right now and have to write this by tomorrow, my last day in school.

If I look back, it seems like much more than five months since I have been here. In this short time, such a lot has happened, a lot of beautiful, funny, crazy and often silly things. I can’t believe it sometimes. And this school was also part of it. First it was a big shock for me, the silly Steiner-School-student from Germany. I met lots of laughing, funny students, speaking something which seemed like Latin to me. I never learned Latin. Everything was so different!

It was really hard for me. I had to realize that things would be more different than I expected, but one day, I just got over it. After my first term in year I changed to year 13 (to try something different), which meant no more chemistry anymore (yeeaaaaaah!) and going out for study and at lunchtime.

If I wrote now that I have enjoyed it and I like New Zealand, and I will miss everything here and I feel horrible because I am leaving, that wouldn’t really explain what I mean. In fact, I love it here, and I don’t want to go. I don’t feel like going home, I feel like leaving home.

A big thanks to my host family, who never gave up on teaching me good manners and quiet moving. We had millions of funny hours. Big thanks also to Mr. Neild, Ms Butler, Mrs. Little, Mr. Bayliff, Mr. Slow, Ms Adam, Mr. Compton, and Bronwyn, the best weaving teacher and such a beautiful person. Year 12 and 13, I think it was too short a time to get really connected, but I really enjoyed it. You are quite funny guys! Keep smiling. I wish I had really big arms to hug the whole country, and never let go, that’s how I’m feeling right now.

But, I don’t have such big arms, (maybe this is good), and I need to go home.

Thank you everybody!
Sofia Mayer

By Martin

Hi! My name is Martin. I came to Golden Bay on the 5th of July. By now my stay here is halfway over but it feels like I just stepped out of Nelson Airport.

My sister has been here as a “Woofer” after she finished school about 11 years ago. She “discovered” Gay Dodson’s farm for my family, as my brother came here two years later. Like me he really enjoyed the stay at the farm.

I think everyone should try to do a student exchange programme in a different country because experiencing different cultures and lifestyles is just GREAT!

I enjoy school here a lot more than in Germany! A big advantage is that you can choose your timetable individually and the classes are small! A disadvantage has been that there are no regular music lessons for the whole class and no school orchestra.

During my time here I went on two very nice trips. First I went to Rotoiti with the Year Nines, where I had a lot of fun doing river rafting and snowboarding. Then I went tramping with my Outdoor Education class in the Cob Valley.

All in all I’m very happy to be here!
Thanks to everyone. I’m looking forward to the rest!

Martin

By Chinatsu

Hello, my name is Chinatsu Nakai. I’m a student from Osaka in Japan. I’m 17 years old and belong to Year 12 and I came to Takaka on January 27th.

At first, I was nervous about going into a host family as I’d heard many rumours about host families in Japan.

Golden Bay High School is so different from my Japanese school. My school is really strict, but GBHS is not. At GBHS everyone is friendly, including the teachers.

When I went to the old Clifton cemetery with my host family for the first time, I was very surprised because the beach was so beautiful and I had never been to a beach before! My host parents love to take a walk on the beach and I have loved it too. The view of the Takaka area is really lovely. From my home in Japan, I can’t see any mountains or beaches at all. It is very different.

A highlight of this year was the Rotoiti trip with Year 9. It was much more fun than I had expected. What I enjoyed was skiing, riding on the Flying Kiwi, abseiling and the group activities. The Year 9 students and teachers were so kind and friendly. When I was skiing I fell down so many times from the big lift. It was very scary!

I love my host families! If they were not my host family I wouldn’t speak English so well. They are so kind and such fun. They took me to Golden Bay beaches so many times. I loved the beautiful beaches. I enjoyed playing the piano too.

Without Naemi I wouldn’t have been so happy. She helped me so much.

I’d like to come back here in the future. Thank you Mr Compton, Ms Price, Mr Durkhan, and all my other teachers.

See you again!!
Chinatsu

By Naemi

Hi! My name is Naemi and I came to Golden Bay on 27th of January this year but now it is nearly time for me to go back to Japan.

I really don’t want to go home because school in New Zealand is so different from school in Japan. We have to study hard for University Entrance exams and my school, Kun-ei, doesn’t have many extra events. It has just two or three events and a lot of exams! There is no swimming sports day, LipSync, drama production, School Ball, cross-country, Fun Day or camping. Nor does Kun-ei have subjects like outdoor education and photography. I hadn’t developed photos, kayaked, or tried rock-climbing before I came here. They were good experiences for me. They were fun and they were sometimes difficult for me too!

I like Golden Bay so much. My host family took me to lots of beautiful places so that I could get to know Golden Bay. I really loved Wainui Bay and the sand dunes at Kaihoka. They are such pretty places.

I’m jealous of you because you can go to beautiful beaches whenever you like. My hometown in Japan doesn’t have any beaches.

And…..and….I really like cows and sheep - especially their calves and lambs. They are sooooo cute. I’d like to take some back to Japan. They are smelly though!

I would like to thank everyone who has helped me, especially the Year 12 students, Mr Compton, Ms Price and Mr B. Thank you for your help. I enjoyed my time at Golden Bay High School.

Finally, I really, really want to say thank you to my host family.
Thank you for everything! I’m so glad I could stay with you.

Naemi

By Janika

Hey, I’m Janika and I’m from Germany. I’ve been here in Takaka for almost half a year and my time as an exchange student is nearly finished.
When I was in Germany, about a year ago, I was thinking of where I could spend half a year in another culture and that I should go to an English-speaking country was pretty much the only requirement. England? USA? Canada? Australia? New Zealand? . . .
England seemed not far enough away, USA was stupid because I wasn’t allowed to choose where I wanted to go and I didn’t want to end up in the desert in the middle of nowhere! I had already visited Canada some years ago because I have relatives there and I didn’t want to visit the same country twice. So . . . Australia or New Zealand . . . I decided that it would be cooler to work and travel around Australia when I’m older and that New Zealand – the country furthest away from Germany – was probably a good choice for spending half a year in school. To be honest, I didn’t know anything about New Zealand, just that you’ve got kiwis and a great landscape, in which ‘The Lord of the Rings’ and ‘Narnia’ took place.
Finally my agency helped me to find the right school. All I wanted was a small school which was close to some nice beaches . . . Golden Bay High!
After this decision and the loss of heaps of money, it was already time to say goodbye to my life in Germany and to go on a plane, looking forward to something I hardly even knew anything about. It was kind of scary actually! After ages of flying and changing planes, I arrived in Nelson, where my dream half-year began . . .
I was and am soooo glad to have the best and nicest host family I could imagine. They didn’t just give me a home, they also made me feel ‘ at home’ and made me a part of their family. They tried everything to make me feel better and to entertain me. I loved them right from the beginning.
School was quite exciting on the first few days, but after some weeks it just became normal and . . . to be honest . . . pretty easy!!
I really enjoyed school life here! It was so relaxed, with a nice atmosphere in all the classes. Also, that the teachers were more like friends to the students was new for me, because you don’t really get many of that type of teacher in Germany.
Tramping and Orienteering with the Outdoor Ed. and P.E. classes, Work Experience in Christchurch, cooking delicious meals and desserts, planting trees, snowboarding at Rainbow Ski-field . . . I’ll remember all these great experiences I had with the school!
Now my stay here in New Zealand is nearly over… just a few weeks until I fly back to Germany. The time I spent here was awesome! I met so many new people, learned so much more about New Zealand, had so much fun and made friends for a lifetime. I would definitely do it again, any time (if I had the money).
So . . . thank you guys for the warm welcome and the whole last few months! I’ll really miss you but I’ll come back some day to visit you all.

See you soon! Cheers
Janika - Yr12

By Sayaka:

Hello, I am Sayaka, from Nagano, Japan. I came to Golden Bay on the 28th of January. I was surprised that it was so light so late in the evening, (until about 9.00 pm!) At first I thought it was 4 o clock! I’ve seen sheep and cows once before in Japan, but they are everywhere to be seen around here! It’s great, because I can’t experience that in Japan. The town where I come from is quite small for Japanese standards. In fact, it is very similar to Takaka, but without the beaches. I love the beaches of Golden Bay. They are so beautiful! I often go to the beach with my host family. It is one of my most wonderful experiences.

The most surprising thing at GBHS is the number of students. I’ve never before been in a class with hardly any students. For example, in my maths class there are only six students, including me! Everyone is nice, friendly and kind. That is the main reason why I feel comfortable in this foreign country.

I’ve learnt a lot of things at GBHS and I try to make the most of them. I’d like to say a big “thank you” to all the teachers and students of GBHS, especially Mrs Heywood and Mr Compton, the Year 12 students and my host family.

I am happy to have lived with my host family. Jess and Chris.You two are really like a brother and sister to me. You’ve made me laugh and feel happy. You helped me a lot of times at school, Jess. Thank you also to Wendy and Patrick for helping me to improve my English. I am so pleased that you are my host family.

Thank you! I love you!
Sayaka

Golden Bay High School
12 Waitapu Road, Takaka
Golden Bay, Aotearoa/New Zealand

Phone: 0064 3 525 9914
Fax: 0064 3 525 9067

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