Fiza's Life: Different experience than others..

The other day I read a blog post that talks about friendship made throughout football. Kudos to my rakan blogger for the sweet insight about his experience gained. You should read the post by clicking here. It's really touching at times to know that all these friendships that we made while in another country are cherished by others as well. Especially when you have been in a place for so long and your friends feels like a family to you.

So I thought I would write another type of friendship that can be made. This unique experience was one of the reason I stayed in Perth from 2007 onwards. I really never thought that I would be here when I was in high school. I always thought I would either be in London or Melbourne. However, one day my Mom came back with an application form to be an exchange student. That was the day that changed my exposure to the world.

Being in a foreign country as a tourist, an international paying student and an exchange student is totally different. I've been in all three situations. But experience that really changes me was being an exchange student. I got to know the real Aussie culture; from the minute I wake up til bedtime. Ten months living with Aussie family from a family that was living in a farm beside the railway track in Millendon to a family that lives in a very far suburb near a Pearce base in Bullsbrook to a family living up in the hills in Darlington.

~...Some of the snippets of my Aussie families...~

Being friends with the people in Governor Stirling Senior High School though it was scary at first but I really enjoyed it. Who would have thought a girl who goes to a private school back home in Malaysia would end up in a state school overseas. There were fights; that I never normally see in my high school, chocolate fund-raising to go to a band trip to Broome, lunch times around the school and the classic high school dance.

~...Snippets of my friends from school...~

Classes that I enjoyed the most would be Music in Society and Independent Living. We usually cook and make crafts during Independent Living. In music, we usually muck around. We compose songs and play instruments, at that time, I was playing guitar and french horn. I was lucky enough to remember the technique to play french horn and was asked to join the school band. We toured to Broome to play at the Cable Beach while watching sunset. It was so beautiful.

~...Some of the snippets of my tour to Broome...~

Some other activities that I did back in 2007 was to get to know other exchange students from other countries such as Thailand, Switzerland, Germany, Sweeden, Japan, Paraguay and more others. Too much to list down and remember. We had camps together, go out to the beach, shopping at the city, get to know more about each other cultures and we have fun.

~...Snippets of us having fun!...~

An experience with them that I really cherish are when all of us went for a safari trip towards the North West of WA in September through the Outbacks. Some of the places that we went through were Karijini National Park to go through the Hamersly Rangers, Tom Price, Newman,Coral Bay, Monkey Mia, Carnarvon, Shell Beach and Geraldton. We slept under the sky, didn't shower for a few days, kept singing waltzing matilda on the bus and saw the milky way with our own eyes.

~...Some of the snippets of us during North West Safari...~