The Year 11 student described his 12 months abroad as an experience that opened his eyes to more opportunities. 

“You learn a lot over there. Probably the main thing is to be yourself and how you cope with different situations and just grow as a person,” he said.

Living in the Taiwan capital of Taipei, Mitch stayed with four families across the year and attended Banqiao Senior High School.

“Taiwan was my best option for my interests; my Karate and my cooking. It was where I could gain more knowledge and experience more things.

“School was actually pretty hard because the classmates wouldn’t talk to you. They’re too busy studying for the tests that they have, so it’s hard to make friends,” he said.

Mitch said there are both pros and cons of being a Taiwanese vs Australian student.

“They learn a lot more and they learn harder stuff. But there’s too much pressure, they are always doing school work. They have no social life really and don’t get out as much. They’re always doing something and they’re always overworked,” he said.

Whilst learning their language, Mitch was teaching Year 10 Taiwanese students his language.

“They were pretty intrigued and interested in learning Australian English, because they had learnt American English. My teacher actually asked me if I wanted to teach twice a week,” he said.

Mitch spent his spare time with other exchange students, exploring cultural places and hiking. 

Returning to his quiet hometown is a significant change from Taiwan. 

“Taipei was really busy, it was full of skyrises. No matter what time it was it would still be wide awake, with hundreds of people everywhere, all the time. Here is very quiet and peaceful. It was hard to get back to that and not be in a rush all the time to get somewhere,” he said.

His message to students thinking of going on exchange: 

“Go for it. You learn so much, you get to go inside another culture. The friends you meet, they’ll last a lifetime because you’re all put into the same situation, together and you just learn off each other. You learn deep and worldwide things.”