The Gala - John

Coming to the gala I was extremely nervous because I had to give my speech but when I came I felt much better because we were the first ones there and as usual the last to leave.

The gala went really well and it's a great way to give recognition to the people who fund the programme, it just shows the dedication of these people and how much the believe in young people, like me. I had a great table where I had conversations about many random topics, I thought the food was great and I got a good response to my speech.

Other than my speech, the highlight of the night was definitely having a dance off with my group and fist-pumping as everyone left. What a wonderful night!

The Blonski's - John

Staying with the blonskis was great because the family were so welcoming and amazing, we entered their home as strangers and came out as friends.

I think the entire group had a lot of fun in the house , I really enjoyed watching transformers on the 3-d tv and the food we got was amazing. Unfortunately because of the snow we had no electricity to do anything on Sunday however the family went to another house and made us a meal for us coming back from chapel, overall it was an amazing experience and I definitely recommend it!

Winnacunnet High School - John

In my opinion, the high school was great. I loved the experience of actually going and getting an understanding of school in the USA.We went to the school at 7am which was a big difference from our school time! After we met our partners from the high school, we got a tour of the school which was really big and different to my school. After the tour, we went to Sociology class and we were asked a lot of questions by both the students and teacher.
I enjoyed meeting new people there and I love how everyone is so fascinated by people from other countries. I almost felt famous because of the attention we got! I think this was a vital experience for the group because of the buddy system Sian and Jonny asked us to do. We were encouraged to partner up with people who we haven't socialised as much with and everyone gave great feedback off their partners.
We all thought the experience was great and I could definitely recommend that people on this programme keep visiting this high school because of the warm welcoming we got!

Winnacunnet football rules!