Student Exchange 2019: Student Reflections on Week Four
The student exchange programme is reaching the halfway mark and now the initial settling in period is over, it’s time for the students to dive deeper into their host cultures. This week, both schools took part in endeavours to help the environment to learn more about the local world around them, and sports was also an important feature of the week.
Aashna and Saniya in Mombasa will first be sharing their reflections on the week. They have been impressed by the spectacular views and also spent time taking in the sights and sounds of the local market.
Maleeha and Nadia in Hyderabad took part in a talent show where they had lots of fun and enjoyed seeing the teachers participate as well!
Mombasa Blog: Aashna and Saniya
“Only those who risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go." – T.S. Eliot
In the last month, we have explored a lot of new places around Mombasa such as places of worship, Yules, Marikiti, Naivas and Fort Jesus. It seems unbelievable that it has already been a month since we came here because time has flown by so quickly.
To continue our religious practices, we have been able to attend our places of worship. Compared to Hyderabad, some religious practices are slightly different and this difference has enabled us to explore more about our religion. Another place we visited was Yules, which is a restaurant located by the beach with a spectacular view of the Indian Ocean. We bought deras, which are long, flowy dresses, and we also purchased anklets and bracelets from the vendors at the beach. Furthermore, as a part of our ‘Explore Mombasa’ enrichment we visited Marikiti and Fort Jesus. Marikiti is a huge market where a lot of spices, fruits, vegetables and clothes are sold. At Marikiti we interviewed a few vendors to learn about their background. Through this we learned about different types of people and their way of living. After visiting the market,, we went to a restaurant named Barka where we tried traditional Kenyan dishes. As part of our second excursion we went to Fort Jesus. This monument was built in the 16 century and is in the form of a human body. We explored different artefacts such as stamps, swords, utensils and historical clothing at the Fort. Lastly, some of our classmates took us for an outing to an Indian restaurant called Bollywood Bites. We enjoyed eating pani-puri, a south Indian dish, and a few other Indian foods, which reminded us of home. We took a lot of pictures so we could remember all the places we visited. We had a great time. We hope to explore a lot more of Mombasa in the next two months!"
Hyderabad Blog: Maleeha and Nadia
Talent Buzz is a talent show lead by residential students and was held on 29th September. Approximately 40 students had signed up for this event to showcase their talent. The show was held in the evening and we were so thrilled and excited about it. The production, music and lighting was brilliant and there were lots of beautiful performances! This event was one of the greatest and most fun-filled since we came to the Academy in Hyderabad. There were so many different varieties of acts and performances like dance, beat boxing, singing, playing instruments and even poetry recitals. One of the greatest highlights of the event was that it was a platform for creativity and diversity - the performances had so many different styles ranging from traditional dancing to modern pop dancing.
We got a chance to perform with some of the other students from Mombasa. We did a mash up of several songs and danced together. One of the students, Kaleem, even won an award for playing a guitar solo. We enjoyed all the performances, but if we had to pick one it would be by a student in DP2 who did a contemporary/ hip hop style of dancing.
Whilst the event was amazing, the planning and rehearsals were were like a rollercoaster ride for us. We experienced different emotions during our practice sessions. We fought, laughed, and we are pretty sure some people cried too, but in the end, we enjoyed performing on stage. The highlight for us was watching performances by some of the teachers - teachers performing on stage is something we rarely see in the Mombasa campus! Another thing that we noticed here was that in Hyderabad, people dance individually or in groups but in Mombasa we perform as a residential block. Both academies are very talented and we had a lot of fun and laughter. Overall, this was a fun experience and we look forward to having such cultural nights more often!”
Stay Informed
The students have certainly had a busy week! Stay tuned over the coming weeks to see how the students are getting on with out weekly student blog posts and galleries – and be sure to check our social media pages on Facebook and Instagram!
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