Dubai exchange pupils reflect on their two weeks in the Mitre

The thoughts from the Dubai exchange pupils who stayed in the Mitre with us for two weeks at the beginning of the Lent term:

Dear Mrs. Parish and Mitre girls,

Thank you so much for making me and Siobhan feel very welcome during the 2 weeks of our exchange. I really enjoyed myself and found it very easy to adapt quickly. The people were very friendly and made sure I went to all the correct lessons. The food was really good as well! Staying as a boarder in Repton UK was definitely a new experience for me and I'm glad I had a good time there. I hope I have the chance to visit again sometime in the future!

And other reflections on the experience ....

When people ask me to compare the two Repton Schools, I really don’t know what to say. In a sense, they are so linked, but at the same time they are very different. Despite any drama which might have happened during those two weeks, I have to say (and I think I’m speaking for all of us) we all had a great time.
It wasn’t easy for everyone getting up at early 4 am to get to the airport on time, as we saw with Misha, who slept through two alarms she had put herself; but in the end we were all there on that Saturday the 24th of April to catch our nasty early morning flight.
After a journey on plane and bus, which partially seemed like an eternity, we finally arrived in Repton. Repton is (I’m not sure if you all know) not only a school but also a village and the school and boarding houses are spread throughout the village; very different from what we are used to here in Dubai, as you are much more connected and involved in the every day life of people.
We were all welcomed, unpacked, got given the timetables and other essential things to manage through and spend some time with our exchange partners.
Grubber. It seems to be like the life of the School. The essential meeting point of anybody and the first start up for anyone new to the school. The Grubber is kind of a small sweet shop, where you can also sit down and (as Repton pupils like to call it) “chillax”.
During the first week we mainly started getting used to the surroundings, meeting new people and starting to get more involved in the Repton UK daily school life. Asad for example was accepted to play in the U15 Cricket B – team and through this experience I’m sure he got much better and increased his level of skill. My personal highlight was singing ‘Wonderwall’ (A song which is really significant for me) in Chapel on the first Friday and recording the song on the last day. Singing in front of ca. 650 people and recording the song was something I always wished for but never thought it would actually happen, so it was indeed a great time and I can only thank Mr. Kew, Ms. Allen, Ms. Hill and Mr. Clark for this great opportunity.