Founders Day, Merwida and Aquila.

Firstly, on Friday there was a huge event on at Herschel, it was Founders Day. As this is the birthday of the school and it was 85 years old this year, it was a very special and eventful day. On Founders Day there were no lessons at all and we were let out early, which is always nice. The day begun with an assembly. This was most interesting as a direct descendant of William and John Herschel came to tell us all about her family. Having learnt a bit about William Herschel back at home I was fascinated about all this woman told us, it was very interesting.

The school is actually named after John Herschel and not William Herschel as I had thought. John Herschel is William Herschel's son. I was quite surprised to hear actually that almost the whole of the Herschel family had been very interested in astronomy and had done a lot of research and had contributed so much to what we now know today. William Herschel is the most famous of all, because he actually discovered a whole new planet. His son however came to South Africa and did a lot of research on the stars of the Southern Hemisphere. William Herschel had made a map of the night sky in the Northern Hemisphere and with John Herschel's work it was completed.

After the assembly we had a long church service, singing hymns and readings from the bible were given. After that we all headed back to school. There in the courtyard everyone gathered around and sang the school song. Finally, a very long arch was made, with all the students standing opposite each other. The grade 8's had to run through the arch as a welcoming to the senior school. That was the end of the day and we were let out of school at 12.30.

This weekend was a busy one yet again. On Saturday early morning, at about 8.45 Nicky, Katherine and I left for the game farm Aquila. The other two American exchange students were coming with us and also Pascale, Megan's exchange student. The game farm was about 2 hours away from Constantia, but on the way we were going to visit a wine farm owned by Lieza's father, a girl in our grade at Herschel. This wine farm was called Merwida and it was all privately owned. It was the most beautiful wine farm and we got a very extensive tour including some grape juice tasting.


After seeing Merwida, we headed on to the Aquila Game Farm. At the Aquila game farm we all just had the most amazing time. As we arrived and checked in, into our very nice rondavel full on with an outside shower looking up at the stars, we were very happy to see a nice swimming pool and sunbathing area. So for about two hours we soaked up the sun desperately trying to get a tan and lying by the pool. Our first Safari Ride was at 5 o'clock and it was three hours long. I really was most impressed, we saw all of the big 5 and came up surprisingly close to all the animals. I have to say though, the lions were definitely the most impressive to see. Furthermore, we saw hippos, giraffes, rhinos, wildebeest, African elephants and zebras.

I must have taken hundreds of photo's on the safari rides, but I just couldn't get over the fact that I could see these completely wild animals up so close. Here are just a few of them:




The safari drive was amazing and I feel so fortunate to have experienced it. That night we had a very nice meal and then walked back to our rondavel's. We were not allowed to walk around outside at night, just in case there were any animals around. Naturally we went to bed very late again and sadly had to get up the next morning at a half past 5 for a 6 o'clock safari drive. By the next morning we all sort of rolled out of bed, still in pyjamas and just put a sweatshirt on for the safari drive. The early morning was more than worth it, because all of the animals were out this early and we really got to see them so much more.

We stayed at the game farm for just one night, but it was just fantastic. After we had a nice breakfast we left the game farm and headed home. I was so tired that I slept the whole way home.

This was my second last weekend and I just can't believe that the exchange has gone so fast. This also means just one more post. I'll be going to Hermanus next weekend, where Katherine's Family have a holiday home, I can't wait!

Kirsten