My name is Timothé Lucas, I am from France and I spent my last six months in New Zealand at Macleans College.
Before I left France, I was nervous about meeting my host family and I was scared to be alone and worried about making new friends because cause my English was not really good.
Macleans College found me a lovely family near the school. I was living in a house with an amazing sea view. Two days before the start of school I attended an orientation programme and the international department staff made me feel welcome and explained the house system and school expectations.
Then was the first day of school and I met my House Leader, my Form Teacher and my subject teachers. I was stressed to know my new school mates, but they directly came to me to introduce themselves. I was in Year 11 but had one Year 12 Outdoor Education class.
My host family had a holiday home by the lake, and we also visited other parts of the country. I did some wakeboarding, surfing, water skiing and even barefoot. After one month in the school, I had to choose some extra-curricular activities, I chose to play rugby in the 5th grade team with my year 12 friends. And I started to live like a real kiwi. I was really included in some group of friends even if I was here only for six months, they invited me to hang out with them. I used to have some really good times, for example on Saturday I was normally playing rugby at 9.30 am and after my game I went home to have a shower and straight after I was going to see the 1st XI game with my mates. And that was my life until the end of my trip. Because I was always around English speaking people my English really improved.
I would like to thank all my teachers, the international department, the school and of course my friends and my family who helped me to improve my English and to have all those good moments during my trip.
