On the 27th September 2023, a group of 74 students, along with teachers and parents, left Blenheim on a two week trip of the East Coast of the USA. Below are blogs from two students, Sylvie Crowe and Harriet McLauchlan, about their experiences on the trip.

From the 27th of September through till the 12th of October, myself and around 70 of my peers from MGC and MBC travelled the east coast of the USA: New York City, Washington DC, Atlanta, Montgomery, New Orleans, and a brief stop in Houston. This was my first time travelling abroad, let alone without my parents. To summarise the trip, I will quote something written in my notes app during one of the many hours long bus rides: “Travelling is sacrificing the ordinary comforts of life in order to experience the extraordinary”. Tolerating sub par toilets, inconsistently heated showers, and an irregular sleep schedule led to some of the most surreal and spectacular moments of my life. I am incredibly grateful and thankful for the opportunity to go on this trip and to all the staff and parents that made it possible.

Our first stop was New York City, an overwhelming, awe-inspiring, and quite fitting beginning to the trip. We were met with severe flooding, reaching international news and warranting concerned texts from our friends and family back home. We did not let this deter us however, and went on to have a jam packed two days, fulfilling a long personal bucket list of things to do in The Big Apple. My favourite moments included a visit to The Metropolitan Museum of Art and seeing the musical ‘Wicked’ on Broadway. Our visit to The Met involved seeing world renowned paintings from Van Gogh and Monet, as well as larger-than-life statues from ancient Greece and Rome. Although we only had a couple of hours to explore the museum, the pieces I saw were incredible and a huge bucket list moment for me. Growing up I have always been a fan of musical theatre, and therefore the opportunity to see one of the most famous musicals ever on a world stage was incredible. Of course the magnitude and quality of the show was magnificently indescribable, and by the end of the show I would have been ready to watch it all over again. I was in awe of the seamless, perfect, tear jerking quality of the cast, music, and set.

Our next stop, Washington DC, was equally incredible, with the addition of slightly more breathable air and far less stifling architecture. In addition to that, we were met with the most stunning weather known to man, blatantly contrasting with the torrential downpour in New York. As well as studying history - one of the three possible prerequisite courses for the trip - I also study classics, and the neoclassical architecture throughout Washington DC, the forefront of which we saw during our bike tour of significant monuments, was hugely relevant to my study of Roman architecture earlier in the year. A definite highlight of the city for me was the visit to the Washington Monument, where Dr Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his famous ‘I Have a Dream’ speech about 60 years ago, and the Capitol building and Library of Congress. In visiting the Washington monument I was able to truly grasp the magnitude of the historical events that took place there, furthering my understanding deeply. The Capitol building and Library of Congress were both feats of architectural and artistic wonder, art and sculpture dating back centuries lining every wall. Aside from that, the history and political significance radiated from every corner. It is impossible to overstate the surreal feeling of visiting these monuments. Another fond, slightly less grand memory I have of Washington was The Great Laundry Debacle. This hostel was the first on our journey to have a functioning washing machine, and so each night when we got back to our accommodation there was a disproportionately intense race to be the first to the laundry room with bags of dirty clothes. The prize of this psychologically and physically torturous race being the hours-long process of washing and drying our clothes, and inevitably, when the dryer only half worked, draping damp clothes over every available surface of the room, hoping they would dry by the morning. I will forever remember that my last night in Washington DC was spent with a pair of my roommates’ damp socks hanging mere centimetres above my nose.

New Orleans, the penultimate city of the trip and our final overnight stay, was a vibrant and enthralling way to finish off the journey down the country, every street lined with shops flooded by neon lights, and a bus tour showed us the intersection of French and American culture that mirrors the city’s founding. With equally beautiful, but decidedly unique architecture to Washington DC, I was tempted to miss the bus that would take us to Houston airport and wander the streets forever, but alas, fearing Miss Pullin’s wrath, I left after only two full days with the rest of the group. A definite highlight of New Orleans was the steamboat cruise down the Mississippi, where we befriended a group of American girls in their 20’s celebrating a birthday. Their wonder at our accents and enthusiasm towards hearing about New Zealand capped off what an amazing experience New Orleans was. A great joy of the city was how unexpectedly brilliant it was. New York, Washington, Atlanta, and Alabama were all spectacular, however due to the fact that I had no preconceived notions about what New Orleans would be like, my love of the city completely caught me by surprise.

Aside from the myriad of extraordinary experiences, and in spite of sounding trite, the true trip was the friends I made along the way. I knew a good amount of the people going before we even departed Blenheim airport, however the inside jokes and blisters on our feet from trekking through the streets of brightly lit cities will be the thing that forever ties us. As I draft this piece of writing, I sit outside a classic American diner in New Orleans surrounded by a group of people with whom I had held less than a single conversation with two weeks ago, now we sit sharing stories and under salted chips. When at the start of the trip we were all vaguely wary of anyone outside of our year group or respective school, by the end of the 2 weeks none of that mattered anymore. I wouldn’t trade any of it for the world, and am eternally grateful to all the people who made this trip possible. The memories and learning this trip gave me will stay with me forever.

By Sylvie Crowe
Year 12 Student

The Combined Colleges trip to America could be described with many different words: eye-opening, invigorating, informative, incredible, inspiring and encouraging. The trip was a once in a lifetime experience full of fun and learning. A group of 70 something students navigating themselves around a different country on the other side of the world was a steep learning curve, but one we managed to conquer with the help of incredible teachers and parent helpers.

We started our journey in New York City and although the weather was not showing off for us, we made the most of the city that never sleeps. We discovered how to ride the subway and were astonished at the huge buildings that surrounded every street. The 9/11 memorial, Federal Reserve Bank, Broadway show, Times Square shopping, Rise New York and a Mets baseball game were part of the jam-packed itinerary of the two days. We then moved on to Washington DC, where we had my favourite activity - a bike tour around the most famous monuments of the city, each with a unique history and importance we learnt all about. 

Washington DC was a great place to explore and we all crammed in so much learning as we toured the Capitol building and Library of Congress, visited the Holocaust Museum, the museum for African American History and the National Air and Space Museum. The next stop on our tour was Atlanta, Georgia as we flew into the busiest airport in the world. Here, we visited Dr Martin Luther King's birthplace and tomb, as well as the church his family pastored for. 

We also had a visit to the world of Coca-Cola where we all tried over 100 different fizzy drinks from all over the world, some not as good as others! We also had a stop at the National Center for Civil and Human Rights. On the drive to Montgomery we stopped in at Bucees - a huge gas station and a highlight for many, where you could buy just about anything. In Montgomery we visited the Southern Poverty Law Center, where we learnt all the ways that the civil rights movement is ongoing in the USA, the Rosa Parks and Legacy Museum as well as the memorial for peace and Justice which took us through the history of the movement. We had a quick stop to tour a Battleship called the USS Alabama before we arrived in New Orleans, our final stop. 

We toured the Oak Alley Plantation, a place where many enslaved people worked and built the house, helping us to understand the conditions and expectations for these people. We also had a tour on an old fashioned paddle steamer, travelling down the Mississippi River, as well as a bus tour of the damage from Hurricane Katrina. We finished off with a visit to the National WW2 museum, which housed many different exhibits. On our way back home, we had the opportunity to go to the Houston Space Center, where we saw rockets and learnt all about NASA.

This trip was an incredible opportunity and an experience that all of the students enjoyed immensely, as we made new friends, gained incredible new knowledge and continuously pushed ourselves out of our comfort zones. 

By Harriet McLauchlan
Year 11 Student