My Year at John McGlashan College

Tuesday 6th December 2016

This has been my first year at John McGlashan College as a Year 9 international student. It was great fun studying here. When I first arrived, I saw farms, hills and trees everywhere from the window, and thought it must be a good place to study.  


International Students 2016.  Joe Mu (Author) on left
International Students 2016.  Joe Mu (Author) on left

Before school starts, we had Year 9 orientation. On the first day of school, I was really excited but a little bit nervous. Everybody was nice to me, and I made a lot of friends soon.  Few weeks after that, we went on the rail trail. We cycled for about 150 km in 3 days. It was great fun.  Also, we had athletics between school houses.

Sweat and mud, in term 2, we had cross-country race around Ross Creek. After a heavy rain, and the track was muddy, and the creek was a bit flooded. But it was still a great memory and also, great exercise and competition.

Term 2 was also the beginning of the winter sports season. Sports such as rugby and football began.  We all had fun playing winter sports.  Also, we always went to watch the 1st XV’s rugby game, so my best memory from the whole year was the time the 1st XV’s played against Otago Boys in term 3 and beat them!!

In term 4, the exam term, we studied for six weeks and had the Year 9 exams. And this was my first exam in New Zealand, so I was excited but a bit nervous before it.  After the week eight exams, the Year 9 outdoor education week started.  We went tramping, fishing, and did community service in Ross Creek.  We walked for around 20 kilometres in two days in the mountains around Dunedin from Watati to Waioura then back to school. We cooked dinner and the breakfast by ourselves.  It was great fun!!

This year was great at John McGlashan College. It was really good having such nice friends and teachers, also fun having those activities.