Elias Rodriguez (Argentina RCN) was offered a one month placement at a residential school in the UK for the month of July – and the first month of RCN’s summer break – and joined a fellow UWC student – Jacqueline Nkhonjera from Malawi – from Waterford Kamhlaba for the experience.
Elias reports:
‘The time that I spent at Marlborough College was really incredible – and it was my first time being in the UK as well. When I arrived there, Mr James Lyon-Taylor (my new House Mentor) received me showing me my room and telling me about the house and so on. At first, it was a bit complicated to remember the names of all the students in my House (Littlefield) and my new set of teachers.
It was interesting to see some small differences between UWC RCN and Marlborough and to start to learn their ways to communicate. Being in the House was awesome: it was nice to have their kindness every day helping me with my new timetable and stuff, which also made me feel really comfortable in the House.
On the other hand, I was also taking part in classes while the students were preparing for the exams. From my point of view, one of the best things for me was the learning support that I received, helping me with my homework – so I am really thankful for that. I also spent five days in Wales on a creative writing trip, which was fabulous. I had the opportunity to improve my writing and to get to know some amazing people during the trip.
Furthermore I am really thankful to Mr Robin Cockett, who was the teacher in charge of my programme at the College. For instant, being with him I got to know a bit about the history of Marlborough town and other places near to it. I also visited Swindon Academy and London as part of my visit.
To conclude, I travelled back from the UK with my Rektor and he invited me on a fishing expedition with his friends, another teacher from RCN (Hilde) and her husband. I lost a salmon on the Flekke River and ended up losing more hooks than catching fish!
I felt really proud for having this holiday, enjoying each moment of it and taking advantage of everything. Elias.’
Please click here for Jacqui’s report on her time at Marlborough with Elias.
