THE school year began at Port Macquarie High School with an international flavour, with the school welcoming four students from Hong Kong, France, the United Kingdom and Costa Rica.
Three of the girls are in Year 9 while Maisy Hui is in Year 11. All have settled in well to their new environment with only Megan Whitehouse from the UK experiencing home sickness.
Megan misses home terribly she said but admits the nice weather in Port Macquarie is a consolation. Her dad was recruited in the UK to work in a specialised field and her mum also gained employment. Megan has two younger brothers who have enrolled at Port Macquarie Public School and they too have adapted well to their new school. She smiles when she admits she is getting on with everybody and says she is fitting in well.
“I love going to the beach and the other students love to hear my accent,” she said. “When I finish school I’d like to travel all over the world.”
Costa Rica is a long way from Port Macquarie but for Maria Martinez, Port Macquarie is an improvement.
“It is so different,” she said. “I love the beach. At home in Costa Rica the nearest beach is three hours away.”
Maria has made friends with teacher Ella Lakin, who is on the geography and history staff. Ella speaks fluent Spanish and the two of them can be heard conversing frequently in Maria’s first language.
Her step-dad is Australian and both Maria and her mum are making impressive progress in learning English.
Volleyball is a sport she admits to being interested in and good at but her first love are the subjects science and maths.
“I’d like to study to be an obstetrician,” she said.
Maisy Hui speaks both English and Cantonese and came with her mother from Hong Kong to start Year 11 at Port Macquarie High School. Maisy’s older brother was born in Australia and is currently studying at TAFE in Sydney.
Her parents want her to become more proficient in English and while she is here she would like to learn French as well. By coincidence she has a cousin in Year 12, Felicia Chui, but admits to not having seen her before she came this year.
“Port Macquarie is a really nice place and is much nicer than Hong Kong which is always really foggy,” she said. “In the future I would like to do something related to animals.”
While the other girls arrived at the beginning of term, Marine Jacquet had already enrolled just before school broke up last year for the summer vacation. Marine, who is French, has perfect English and finds it easy to adjust to life in Australia.
Her first impression of Port Macquarie is that it is hot and a little small, but the beaches are cool.
She has two step-brothers and a step-sister, all younger. The twins are seven and her older brother is nine. Her favourite subjects at school are drama, science and maths. She loves all running sports but especially soccer and basketball. Marine plans on studying medicine after she graduates from Port Macquarie High School.
