rm_noureens_reflection

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 * NOUREEN'S REFLECTION **


 * Augusta's Reflection |

My experience in the city of Melbourne has been one that I will certainly never forget. I can remember the first weeks of our last semester at Malvern Central School, when everyone was so excited about the CBD program. It's so hard to see and think that we are at the end of our time in the city, as it has all gone so fast! Being in the city has made me a much more independent person than I was before. We were given much freedom for both our lunchtime and just in general and I will certainly miss that at my school next year. Working with Augusta has made my relationship with her even more great, as we worked very well as a group together and got our work done. I do wish we concentrated more in the city campus, because we laughed a lot and tended not to complete as much work as we could have, but I find that we are working smoothly now and can't wait to share our masterpiece with our fellow students and their parents. Look at what you have done teachers! Now you will be sure to see a few, or many, tears in sight at our end of year graduation!

When you think back to the first excursion of the CBD program, you can actually see how the time has passed, and look at us now! We are in the third last week of year 8 at Malvern Central!

My favourite excursions and mini excursions during my time in the CBD would probably have to be:

The City River Cruise, as it was a great way to see the different parts of Melbourne's city, whilst having a guide to tell us about it's history. I also found it very informative and interesting. Trust me! I have about two pages of notes! It was a good idea, I think, to have this excursion placed right at the start of the program, as it was a good introduction to the whereabouts of particular places in Melbourne.

The Eureka Skydeck experience was an awesome blast because I had never seen Melbourne from such a height and I'm sure I will never forget it, thanks to all the screaming...I thought I would become deaf after having the EDGE experience. All that screaming! Looking back, it brings many memories back to my mind. Seeing Nat about to vomit was a very very funny thing to witness and trust me, I won't be forgetting that for about another century.

Going to the Melbourne Botanic Gardens was a very emotional experience for me. I found it difficult to listen to the stories that our tour guide was telling us about, as they were ones about the Aboriginal history. It was so sad hearing those words come out of the mouth of someone that was Aboriginal himself, and a victim of the stolen generations. I thought it was a good experience to go through though, but I wish I had taken a camera with myself as I truly regret that I hadn't.

There is just about one more main excursion that I liked, and that is our visit to the Old Melbourne Gaol. As soon as I walked into the gaol, I was mesmerized by the amount of information that plummeted from the walls, and into my brain, where it will certainly stay for many years to come. The stories that we were told sent shivers down my spine and made the hair on the back of my neck stand on end. I was also interested in the story that we had to re-inact at the Old Melbourne Courtroom. The story was of Elizabeth Scott, a lady that was hanged for the supposed murder of her husband.

I absolutely loved going to some of the Cultural Precincts in Melbourne with Diane and Augusta. That baklava and halva was delicious! I feel like having some now. We took many pictures on this mini excursion and I thank you Diane for taking Augusta and myself out to an informative, delicious and fun couple of hours.

Being in the city has made me feel more confident with taking public transport around Melbourne. I can now navigate my way through areas in the city without as much help as I would've needed if I hadn't been involved in the CBD program.

I'm sure that I will be disappointed next year with the lack of freedom I will be given compared to being in the city. The many people that went to McDonald's and KFC everyday for lunch would, I think, be rather sick of doing so. The amount of freedom that the teachers allowed us was very generous of them, but I guess they wanted as much time away from us students as possible. I would.

Thank you to all the teachers: Mr. Ebert, Amanda, Ms. Cutler, Diane, Ms. Dubbeld, Dora, Ms. John, Ms. Clayton and Rommi that made this CBD experience possible for me, along with all the other students. I would like to say a special thank you to Diane and Ms. Dubbeld for taking us out to the cultural precincts of Melbourne. I will never forget my time in the city and I feel very grateful that we have you teachers at our school to help us with things that wouldn't be possible otherwise.

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 * Augusta's Reflection |