From 18^th March to 9^th April, Adelaide from St Aidan's Anglican Girls' School, Brisbane spent time with us in Hong Kong. As her host in Hong Kong, I was responsible for taking care of her for three weeks.

Before Adelaide's arrival, I was quite nervous since Adelaide was the only student from St Aidan's visiting Hong Kong. I was worried that she would feel lonely throughout the journey. I was even more anxious when I knew that the two of us had extremely different hobbies and likes from her information sheet. Luckily, on the day of her arrival, I realized that she was a very easy-going person and she got along with me and my family once we met.

Adelaide went to school together with me for a whole week before the Easter holidays. She followed me to different classes and extra-curricular activities throughout the week. I introduced quite a number of my friends to Adelaide and she certainly made a lot of new friends. Upon chatting with Adelaide after each lesson, I found out that we school life in DGS and AGS share quite a lot of similarities. For instance, both schools provide a large variety of other learning experiences for students, including sports, music, service etc. We also share common subjects such as science and economics. Although the curricula in Hong Kong and Brisbane are quite distinct, Adelaide managed to participate actively in class. Another common practice that we share is that both schools adopt IT learning. Adelaide told me that AGS provides each student with a tablet-notebook, while similarly, DGS provides each student with an iPad for learning. With endless chats about similarities and differences between Hong Kong and Brisbane, the whole week of school ended in a blink of an eye.

Throughout the Easter holidays, my family took Adelaide to most of the famous tourist spots in Hong Kong, namely Stanley, the Peak, Central, Cheung Chau and more. Of course, we would not miss the two places that every student loves, Disneyland and Ocean Park. Adelaide and I visited Ocean Park with some friends of mine, including a friend who was also hosting an exchange student from Hawaii. The trip was filled with fun and laughter. Besides visiting tourist spots, we also gave Adelaide chances to try out the large variety of food in Hong Kong. Besides the homemade dinner we had throughout the week of school, Adelaide also had a chance to try out Chinese, Indian, Western cuisine and more.

Times flies. Adelaide's stay finally came to an end. To me, being a buddy and host of an exchange student was a great learning experience. I learnt more about how to cater to others' needs first before thinking about mine. Throughout the trip, both of us learnt a lot about the lifestyle, culture and habits of each other's homeland. I am looking forward to learning even more about Brisbane during my trip to St Aidan's Anglican Girls' school in July.

By Joanne Chan 4Z (1)