Preparing for something as daunting as spending 3 months alone in a foreign country, was almost nothing compared to the wild mix of emotions I experienced on September 6, 2008. O.R Tambo airport was quiet but I could still pick up the holiday mood in the atmosphere around me, which made my departure from South Africa that much easier. Being the first person to attend Woodberry Forest School, I really had no idea what to expect. The more I thought about the three months that I would be spending there, the more worried/yet extremely excited I became. Walking through the boarding gate, I was ready to take on my challenge. I knew that saying goodbye wasn’t an easy process but the prospect of meeting so many new people compensated for that. I had heard many stories about Virginia and they didn’t do much to comfort me as my imagination started to take over. The doubts and earlier worries I had whilst getting ready for exchange were totally blown away from my first hand experience of school life in the forests of Virginia and ultimately America.

The 19 hour flight gave me time to reflect on everything that I had wildly imagined myself doing and I was starting to feel slightly nervous as I was slowly reaching my destination. On Arrival to Dulles international in Washington, I was greeted by various U.S security officials and they all had two things in common: They seldom engaged in conversation and they certainly had no sense of humor. It wasn’t exactly the welcome I was expecting but luckily this wasn’t my first visit to America and it certainly wouldn’t be my last either. Once I had passed the rigorous interrogation by customs officials it was time to meet my driver from Woodberry. It was a drive that seemed to take forever but in that time I was given a glimpse on what to expect from during my trimester there.

Driving through the entrance at Woodberry for the first time is something that I will never forget. Green, thick forest surrounded me and then all of a sudden the school grounds appeared out of nowhere. The school itself was similar to that of Hilton but seemed to be the over the top American version. There were numerous fields near the bottom of the school campus for all the sports that the school offered: American football, soccer, lacrosse, baseball and athletics. Buildings that looked like they belonged in either a university campus or in a roman town engulfed me as we drove “up the hill” to where the actual school buildings were. The buildings were a combination of red brick and white roofing which were designed to look like the “Jeffersonian style building”. The school was overwhelming with its immaculate golf course and sporting facilities and I was psychologically preparing myself for my first introduction to people that I would never forget for the rest of my life.

When we reached what was the top of the hill, all the new boys were congregated outside the main building. Feeling slightly out of place I was introduced to Mr. Coleman who was in charge of admissions into the school and from there I was introduced to my mentor who showed me the ins and outs of how the school functioned. More importantly, he helped me settle in. For the next few days I was slotted into the new boy’s orientation week where they helped introduce the new boys to life at Woodberry. The school had 15 prefects with a head and deputy head prefect selected from that group. The prefects were a friendly way of enforcing the rules and keeping them going within the Woodberry community and they had the power to decide whether a pupil who has offended the schools honour code should receive a hearing or not. The honour code is exactly that, it’s a boy law that everyone has to follow which has been part of the schools tradition for many years. I thought it was a remarkable system because it allowed boys to live with one another but yet have respect for them as individuals. The honor code follows the basic human morals of I will not lie, cheat or steal and if convicted of any of those then you would most likely be asked to leave the school and there were absolutely no exceptions. This is where I think that Woodberry had an amazing advantage because it brought out the best in people but still reminded them that they had been given a wonderful opportunity in life.

I found the first few days hard but as soon as I had settled in, I soon became enveloped into the American way of life. Everyone seemed to want to know more about me and I was often bombarded with hundreds of questions, some of them sounding a little like Do you have a pet cheetah? Do elephants walk on the streets? Why aren’t you black? It sometimes bewildered me how much they knew about their country but how little they knew about everything else around them. I quickly made friends and no sooner had I got there than had the pressure start to build. The school work was a lot harder and they gave double the amount of homework as they do at Hilton each day. It was hard for me to adapt because as with everything they always find a way to make it more complicating. I was lucky to only have 4 classes at most a day because it gave me free time during the school day for me to do a little “exploring” and catch my breath as life flew by. It allowed me to interact more with the school facilities and gave me chances to make sure I made use of everything that the school provided to make the experience more seem a lot more “homely”
Being able to play American Football was probably one of my greatest highlights of exchange but playing it on the computer and actually attempting it in real life is a totally different story. I had huge ambitions for my Football career but they were unfortunately short lived as I was quickly brought back down to earth at the sheer size of some of the boys. The game is truly a collision sport but it kept me busy as we had practice every afternoon for at least 2 hours and games on a Friday or Saturday which usually lasted 3 or more hours. Football also made me a closer circle of friends and introduced me to people outside my house which was a great thing to have. It also provided me with the long bus rides to other schools and seen as though I played for their oldest team, we sometimes had fairly large crowds to watch us. It took me a long time to learn the technicalities of the game but once I did, I really appreciated the long hours the coaches spent to create and analyze moves the way they did. The one thing I was hugely impressed with was the patience and understanding of all the people at Woodberry because no matter how many times I got something wrong, they always did their best to improve and motivate me to success.

Clinton Alexander, who was my house master and the head coach of the football side, was probably the kindest and well hearted man I have ever met. He always seemed to be in a happy mood and totally dedicated himself to coaching football and bonding with all the boys in the school. Along with him were the many teachers and even ground staff that most notably made sure that I was always alright and that everything I needed was catered for. The weeks started flying by and I no longer felt like an exchange student but rather an immigrant American student. As time progressed I was included into many more outings on the weekends, I was often taken to the universities where I could watch college football in stadiums to the caliber of Absa Park, or even just for a weekend with one of my friends in the suburbs of Virginia. Woodberry is located in a small town called Orange which hardly provided for anything worth visiting. The two nearest towns which you could compare to Howick, was Culpepper on the one side and Charlottesville on the other. Then if you really wanted to experience the true American city life, you could go and visit Washington. I only visited Washington on three occasions but luckily I made up for that with the tours that the school organized for me.
In my last few weeks at Woodberry, the school organized for me to go on a tour to the nearby universities as to try and entice me to study there. What I did not realize is that just within a few hours’ drive of Woodberry, there were more than 11 extremely respectable universities. We had private tours of each individual campus and were sometimes allowed to drop in on a few of the lectures. From these tours I came into grips with the real world scenario of life: the competition is brutal. In Hilton and South Africa we are protected by our own little cocoon called society, unaware of what is actually happening in the world around us. Woodberry opened my eyes to this because it made me realize that at the moment I would struggle to gain entrance to many of the universities there, purely because they ensure that they go the extra mile. That is where I think that many of us fall short because life in South Africa does not exactly push to the brim of your ability and extend you past your capability, it protects you and almost in a way shelters you from the hardships of life.

 few things constantly enter my thoughts whenever I hear “America”, or “exchange” such as: every Friday night there was something called a “pep rally” which the cheerleaders organized and incorporated a theme into it. Our equivalent would be war cry practice, but at Woodberry, there were no rules as to what happened within them so you would often hear one or another boy or even teacher being slated for something that they did during that week. I was unfortunately picked on during one week and at the pep rally I was asked to sing “I’m a Barbie girl” in front of a crowd of about 500 ranging from parents to teachers to the boys themselves. It put me out of my comfort zone but I gained acceptance out of it as many boys who do not complete the task that they are asked, are often shunned out of the community. Probably the most extravagant night I have ever been involved with was the bon-fire night. This was a ceremonial ritual which took place before their huge American football rivalry game. Thousands of people came to witness this spectacle and the whole night was filled with nothing but madness. Running down a hill and throwing a lit torch at a bon-fire as high as the Crookes building were amongst the nights festivities. There was less structure as well at Woodberry, because things such as laundry could be given in whenever you wanted and it would be returned to you hung on hangers and ready for you to slip into your rack. Also, with internet in your room, and most of the boys having at least a play station 3 there was always some sort of important tournament, like Fifa 09, happening somewhere in the houses.

Being part of the Exchange program is something that will never leave my thoughts and memories and I would particularly like to thank Mr. Guthrie and Mr. Hale (my tutor at Woodberry) for everything that they have done for me in the subsequent year. I will forever be indebted to Mr. Guthrie, Mr. Lovatt and the Exchange board selectors as they have given me an opportunity that was truly life changing. Exchange for me was a learning curve in sense that no matter what I was doing, whether it be rock climbing in the indoor center, sitting in an American history lesson or even sitting in a stadium full of crazy Americans, I would always be learning something new. I learnt many things about myself on Exchange which I believe in essence is part of why one goes and if there was one thing that I can take away from my time at Woodberry, was that it taught me how to apply myself to something and see it through to the end. I strongly suggest that everyone eligible to still apply for exchange should do so because it is truly a life changing experience, but apply for the right reasons because you are always an ambassador for Hilton and ultimately and ambassador for your country as well.