"BONJOUR" TO ZACHARY ZEKAS (YEAR 10)

"Bonjour" to our new exchange student Zachary Zekas (Year 10 Carden) who lives in Vulbens in the Haut-Savoie region of France. Vulbens shares a border with Switzerland and is only 20kms away from Geneva. Zachary will be attending Sacred Heart for four weeks and will be helping the Years 7-9 French students whilst the Year 10s sit their Exams. 

Zachary says Vulbens is a big city in the Alps that is known for fancy food (such as cheeses) and skiing because it is in the mountains. He said he likes the small villages in the area where the people are very friendly.

He chose to come to Australia because he has always been fascinated by the country and has already noticed that school is quite different. Zachary said that Australian schools have different hours with less teaching time, less people in the class and he finds it easier to learn. In France, they are in class with all of the same students for the day. Zachary likes how you have different students in each class in Australia and that we have different learning levels (e.g. mainstream and advanced/ATAR and General). 

He also chose Australia because his dad had lived and worked here previously. He is staying with the Ogden family, his dad’s best friend from university, who have children at the College.

He has found the people friendly and has visited Perth before. He finds our Aussie accent really interesting and said that some of the words we use are new e.g. "capsicum" vs "bell pepper". He also mentioned that compared to home, Perth has a pretty flat terrain and he found the food quite similar. 

Zachary is looking forward to the school holidays when his dad will be visiting. He will also be seeing his cousins and hopefully travelling inland to see more of WA.

We hope Zachary continues to enjoy his time at Sacred Heart and will catch up with him again before he returns to France.