Student Exchange 2019: Student Reflections on Week Seven
After a busy first half of term, the students have had a well-deserved break. During this time, they were able to visit different parts of their host country. The October break in Hyderabad included a trip to Pondicherry and Tamil Nadu, and the students in Mombasa had the opportunity to go on safari. The students in Mombasa also moved in with host families for part of the break where they could experience day to day life in their host country.
This week, Sweni Hamid and Inaya Samnani from Hyderabad will be sharing their reflections of the October break and how they enjoyed swimming, spotting animals and learning about the ecosystem. Maaher Bhaloo and Jessica Musoke from Mombasa will then share their experiences of Hyderbadi food. They are slowly adapting to eating spicier food and are even learning to love vegetables!
Mombasa Blog: Sweni Hamid and Inaya Samnani
As October break approached, students of the Exchange programme got more and more excited about the adventure that was to come. The break was the best part of the Exchange so far, giving us deeper experience and perspectives about the people here in Mombasa. At the start of our break we all went to host families, who took us in as their own for one week. While we were with our host families, we felt like we were stepping out of our comfort zone as we were living with another family. From them, we learned about their backgrounds, such as where they came from and how Mombasa became home to them. The experience of going to the host family was quite different. The care and compassion they gave made us made us feel like we were home, and even though it wasn't our actual homes, it was a really amazing experience.
During the second week of break, we came back to school for the other half of the holiday, which was with our fellow students. In this trip we visited Sarova Hotel and Camp Muhaka. At Sarova Hotel we met two amazing people who planned our four-day trip there, which was filled with a lot of joy. We played a lot - and we mean a lot - which was so exciting. We used the pool more than ever where we took part in a lot of bonding activities, such as water polo. The highlight of the Sarova Hotel trip was the safari, which was one of the things that made this trip educationally-fun (which is a word, according to us). In the safari we spotted a whole bunch of new animals we had never seen before and we learned about their habitat. However, due to the heavy rain, we weren’t able to see some of the animals, but we were still satisfied. Moreover, we also had a lot of fun at Camp Muhaka, which also taught us about the type of wildlife there, the way the ecosystem works and a different type of camping style.
This was one of the most amazing trips the Exchange students in Mombasa experienced, which made us better as a team but also let us meet new, amazing people from all around Mombasa. During our October break journey, we had so many experiences that are unforgettable.
Hyderabad Blog: Maaher Bhaloo and Jessica Musoke
Hyderabad is especially popular for two things - food and the Charminar (mosque). We are going to talk about food here.
Hyderabadi food is very different from what we get in Mombasa. For instance, we have learnt to like vegetables - people here somehow make vegetables taste so good! One other point we observed was that in Mombasa the food doesn’t really have many spices added in but in Hyderabad, the food is quite spicy. It has taken us quite a while to get used to the amount of spices in the food. At the beginning, some of us weren’t able to finish any of our meals because we weren’t able to handle the amount of spice in the food. But slowly we have started to enjoy the burst of flavours in every bite we take! During an excursion, we had a chance to visit some of the famous restaurants and we particularly liked the food served in a local restaurant called Hotel Shadab. The food was great -we ate a very famous dish of rice and cooked meat called Hyderabadi biryani. This was very delicious but obviously quite spicy! When it comes to food, Hyderabad is most well-known for its biryani as well as many iconic chicken dishes. The sweet dishes are also delicious but have a lot of sugar. We have been eating jalebi, gulab janum and double ka meetha. They taste like heaven, especially when eaten just after a hot meal! We can also buy food from the Academy's tuck shop. The tuck shops in Hyderabad are a bit different to Mombasa. Here it is open twice a week whereas in Mombasa it is open every day. There is also a wider variety here and we are finding it to be a bit cheaper.
We are quite liking the food and snacks served in Hyderabad. We would be able to fully if we could eat spicier food! Otherwise, Hyderabad city is a haven for food lovers!
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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