27 February

Hello!

Today, I'm the lucky student who is going to tell you more about our day. My name is Isaline and I've been sleeping at Ankia's house. We woke up to the smell of a delicious breakfast but had to eat it fast because we had to be at school by 8:30. We all went to the administration office where we had to sign in before starting our real day at Collie. When everybody was together, we listened to a little speech from Mr Croft. After that we all went to one of the new classrooms for a media lesson. We learned more about short films there. The next class that we had was English. We watched the beginning of the movie : The black balloon.

After that, the teacher gave us some time to talk some more with our Collie friends. I was really happy to meet some people for the first time, after talking to them for months through social media.

But we had a big day and couldn't stay for long. We changed into more comfortable clothes. We went to Collie river where we were met by Joe, who talked about the spirits of the river and sang in Aboriginal language. He also taught us to first throw some sand in the river before we go in, so that the spirit of the river knows we're coming.

The first activity of my group was kayaking, while the other group went mountainbiking. Of course, I was the only one from my group who fell into the water. After about an hour we returned and had a real sausage sizzle. Then my group went mountainbiking, during which we got the chance to see how beautiful Collie is. Even though it was a road with many ups and downs, we all enjoyed it. When we arrived back at the river, it was really warm so some students went back into the water to cool down. After that we went home. I think that everybody was happy to take a good shower.

 

At 5 pm we met up at the war memorial. A surprise was waiting for me: my friend Liam was there. I can't say how happy I was to see him again after so many months. We held a ceremony with war veterans, Collie teachers and students and their families. It was very emotional to remember the wars, the soldiers and their sacrifices.

When the ceremony was finished we all went to RSL (Returned Service League) where we had a barbecue. It was nice to take some time to chill and eat a great meal with our friends and their families. We were also really lucky because we received many gifts. Every student got a shirt from Collie Senior High School and a beautiful pen with a poppy. But it started to be late and the moment to say goodnight arrived. I cried a bit when we had to leave our Australian friends. I hope that we will see each other again.