International Exchange in Upper 4

This year, twelve Upper 4 pupils travelled across the world to North America, on a life changing journey!

Eight students have already hosted their exchanges from Philadelphia, and two schools in Toronto. Four more students are still to host their exchanges from Texas and another school from Toronto.

Hosting

It was an amazing experience hosting our partner schools for 2-4 weeks. We travelled across Scotland showing them our incredible Scottish culture. Our favourite places that we visited with our partners included Edinburgh castle, Edinburgh dungeons, Mary Kings close and Calton Hill. We also visited other towns and cities including Glasgow, Crieff, North Berwick and St Andrews. It was incredible to get the chance to show our school and country to our new friends from across the pond.

Fort Worth, Texas

Two of us stayed in Fort Worth Texas, for 3 weeks. After 18 hours of travelling, we finally landed and started our adventure. Our top spots in Fort Worth were the Stockyards (where we watched a cattle drive), Main Street, Six Flags and Yogurt Land. While in Fort Worth we attended Trinity Valley School where we experienced different subjects and cultures, and we made lots of new friends. Overall, it was a great experience, and we can’t wait to host our exchanges!

Toronto, Canada

Seven of us stayed in Toronto Canada for 2-3 weeks. We were spilt between three different schools: Branksome Hall, Havergal and St Clements. Our favourite destinations in Canada included Niagara Falls, CN tower, Blue Jays games and Toronto Islands. We all had an incredible time hosting and visiting our partners. We hope to see them again soon.

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Three of us stayed in Philadelphia and attended Germantown Friends School, for 4 weeks. Some of the places we visited were New York, Washington DC, a Phillies baseball game and the Liberty Bell. It was a great experience, and we hope to visit the city and our partners again.

Over all, we all made lifelong friends! We learned new skills and overcame all our fears and difficulties. We can’t wait to see our partners again soon.