Sunday 10th July.
Landing at Melbourne airport after a short flight we were greeted by Mike Silcock and Euen Larsen, the Director of Boarding and weekend housemaster respectively. We collected our bags and headed off to the car for the hour or so long journey to St Patrick’s College, Ballarat. During the car journey we were informed what the job would entail and the daily routine of the school.
As we arrived in Ballarat it started to rain, we were told this is the standard welcome to Ballarat. We were given a quick tour of the town and I was surprised to discover that virtually all the main shops were on one street that runs for 7km through the centre of the town. After a quick tour of the school from the warmth of the car we were shown our accommodation for the next year and went for lunch in the local pub.
After lunch we headed to the Western Oval to watch our first game of footy. I’m not going to lie, I had absolutely no idea what was going on. We ventured out into the sub-freezing temperatures to meet a couple of parents as well as the weekday houseparent, Tam Westwood. We tried to find shelter from the wind but this search proved fruitless, so we headed back to the car and back to school to finish unpacking and get an early night.
Monday 11th July.
Today was spent having a tour of all the important locations within the school such as the payroll office and the kitchen. We also got our school kit which would make up our uniform for the majority of occasions. We then headed into the bank to setup our bank accounts so we could receive our pay and setup Medicare so we could pay reduced doctors’ fees. The boarders returned later that day and we were there to welcome them back and introduce ourselves and learn their names.
Tuesday 12th July.
Today was the first day of school so that involved waking the boys up at half 7 for breakfast at 10 past 8. After breakfast we head to the staff briefing which was an interesting experience being in our first staff meeting. After this we were given our first task, planning that afternoon’s rugby session. After lunch I took the minibus out for a drive to Eureka stadium a location I would be visiting often to drop the boys off for footy training.
That afternoon there was footy training so it was a test to see if I could remember how to get to the stadium. I am proud to say the we arrived there without incident but the return journey was not so successful after taking a wrong turn. However, this didn’t bother the boys as they were able to catch new Pokémon. After some helpful directions we arrived back at school only 5 minutes late for supper.
In between dropping the boys of for footy and picking them up we had rugby training. Whilst collecting the equipment we need it started to rain, which then turned into hail, which then turned into a full snowstorm. Standard weather for Ballarat at this time of year.
That evening was spent supervising study and filling out more paperwork we had been given that day.
The next couple of days followed the same routine of wake up duty in the morning, being on call for the rest of the day and heading into town to hand in completed forms.
Friday 15th July.
After a normal day of work, we had a night off, so Mike treated us to a cinema trip to see The Legend of Tarzan. We were told to meet him at an ice cream shop. Here they didn’t do the standard ice cream in a cone they did a 1 litre tub, which is definitely worth the $20 spent on it. The film was very good but portrayed Tarzan very differently to the original Disney film I watched when I was younger.
Saturday 16th July.
This morning consisted of an early start at 6:15 to catch the bus to Geelong Grammar who were the opposition for today’s rugby match. This was a big match for the 1st XV as a win all but guaranteed a home semi-final in a couple of weeks. In what was a close match St Pat’s won 28-29 after a converted try in the final play of the match. Unfortunately, I wasn’t there to see the end of the match as I had to return with the U16’s team who had comfortably won by 70 points.
After returning to school I went with Mike to watch Ballarat rugby club play. Unfortunately, I didn’t catch the result.
That evening the majority of the boarders went to laser quest, I didn’t go with them on this trip but by the sounds of it they had fun.
Sunday 17th July.
Sunday’s are a very casual day until 5 in the afternoon when the boarders attend mass at the local church. I guess this is karma for mocking the boarders at Malvern to have to go to Sunday Chapel.
Today marks the end of the first week at St Pat’s and what a great week it has been.
Week 2
The first 5 days of this week were very similar. They consisted of the normal daily routine as well as planning what I was going to be doing during the September holidays.
Saturday 23rd July.
Today the 1st XV were playing at home so luckily there was no early bus to catch. The weather conditions were some of the worst I’ve seen rugby played in and unfortunately the weather did not help the pitch which ended up as a mud bath. The end result of this was that towards the end of the match both teams looked the same due to the amount of mud they were covered in.
I am pleased to say the 1st XV recovered from being 0-17 down after 18 minutes to win 26-24.
That evening the boarders trip was to the cinema to watch a choice of the new Ghostbusters or Finding Dory. There was a pretty equal split of boarders to each film so I drew the long straw I got to watch Finding Dory, which is very funny.
Sunday 24th July.
Today followed the normal routine of boarding duties and Sunday Mass and supervising study in the evening.
Week 3
The first 4 days of this week were standard days. I attended my first PE lesson today with a year 8 class who were playing racquetball. This was a very good experience as I got to see how a lesson is taught from a different perspective. Further lessons are in the planning. The only stand out moments were; my Medicare card arriving and my Working with Children card arriving.
Friday 29th July.
Tonight we had the Boarders Family Mass and Dinner. After an hour long mass service in the school chapel we headed into the dining room where it had been decorated in Thai style. Due to it being a Thai themed meal the dress code was normal uniform but with the most outrageous tie you could find. There were some pretty shocking ties. I am certain some Granny went to bed wondering where her curtains had gone. The food was outstanding.
Saturday 30th July.
Today was the big day for the 1st XV rugby side, the semi-final against Marcellin College. St Pat’s had already beaten Marcellin at the start of the season but unfortunately the boys were unable to replicate this losing 10-13 after extra time having come from 0-10 down at half time.
Tonight the boarder’s activity was Tenpin Bowling. A lot of fun was had by all the boys. After the bowling there was pizza back in the house.
Sunday 31st July.
Week 4
The first 5 days of this week were pretty much the same. Nothing too interesting happened apart from on Wednesday and Friday night.
Wednesday 3rd August
After a standard days’ work I headed to the cinema to watch the premiere of Suicide Squad at 00:01. Due to the late start time this meant I did not arrive back at school until 02:30, but I still made it to my first duty at 07:30.
Overall I thought the movie was very good even though it had been slated by the critics in their reviews.
Friday 5th August
Tonight we had a night off so we decided to go out into Ballarat and experience the night life. We started off our “pub crawl at Irish Murphy’s. In total there was about 6 people in the pub, one of whom was already drunk and sitting with random people. We then decided that due to the fact that the town seemed dead the cinema was a better option. At the cinema I watched the new Jason Bourne film, which was very good but not quite as good as Suicide Squad personally.
After the movie we headed to another pub/club called The George. The owner is a good friend of Mike’s so comes with high recommendations. It had a group performing live music from a mixture of era’s such as Brian Adam’s hit Summer of ’69 to Kings of Leon’s Sex on Fire.
The music stopped at around 01:30, so we headed off to find if anywhere else was open. We found one place called the Karova Lounge, a place which I will not be visiting again.
We arrived back at school at 0200 only to find the gates had been locked so after a quick climb over the wall we arrived back at school to end the night.
Saturday 6th August
Today I was able to have a lie in due to not going with the 1st XV to their 3rd/4th place play off at Scotch College in Melbourne against Geelong. Unfortunately, despite beating Geelong 3 weeks previously the 1st XV lost 24-26 in what I am told was a very good match.
The rest of the day consisted of supervising the boys in the house.
Sunday 7th August
Today was a relaxing day consisting of supervising the boys in the house and after a week off going to mass at the local church.
I hope you enjoyed reading about my first 4 weeks at St Patrick’s College. In the near future I am heading off on a camp with the Year 8’s for 3 days at the end of August.
Then in the September holidays I am meeting friends in Melbourne for 3 days, then heading up to Cairns to hopefully complete my PADI Advanced Open Water diving course. Then fly back down to Melbourne and drive from Melbourne to Adelaide along the Great Ocean Road.
Once again thank you for taking the time to read about my time in Australia. I most likely will not write another blog about my time here at the school until after the Year 8 camp but may post some miscellaneous posts such as bucket lists or advice about taking a gap year.
Any tips for the blog or travel advice would be greatly appreciated.
Josh
Landing at Melbourne airport after a short flight we were greeted by Mike Silcock and Euen Larsen, the Director of Boarding and weekend housemaster respectively. We collected our bags and headed off to the car for the hour or so long journey to St Patrick’s College, Ballarat. During the car journey we were informed what the job would entail and the daily routine of the school.
As we arrived in Ballarat it started to rain, we were told this is the standard welcome to Ballarat. We were given a quick tour of the town and I was surprised to discover that virtually all the main shops were on one street that runs for 7km through the centre of the town. After a quick tour of the school from the warmth of the car we were shown our accommodation for the next year and went for lunch in the local pub.
After lunch we headed to the Western Oval to watch our first game of footy. I’m not going to lie, I had absolutely no idea what was going on. We ventured out into the sub-freezing temperatures to meet a couple of parents as well as the weekday houseparent, Tam Westwood. We tried to find shelter from the wind but this search proved fruitless, so we headed back to the car and back to school to finish unpacking and get an early night.
Monday 11th July.
Today was spent having a tour of all the important locations within the school such as the payroll office and the kitchen. We also got our school kit which would make up our uniform for the majority of occasions. We then headed into the bank to setup our bank accounts so we could receive our pay and setup Medicare so we could pay reduced doctors’ fees. The boarders returned later that day and we were there to welcome them back and introduce ourselves and learn their names.
Tuesday 12th July.
Today was the first day of school so that involved waking the boys up at half 7 for breakfast at 10 past 8. After breakfast we head to the staff briefing which was an interesting experience being in our first staff meeting. After this we were given our first task, planning that afternoon’s rugby session. After lunch I took the minibus out for a drive to Eureka stadium a location I would be visiting often to drop the boys off for footy training.
That afternoon there was footy training so it was a test to see if I could remember how to get to the stadium. I am proud to say the we arrived there without incident but the return journey was not so successful after taking a wrong turn. However, this didn’t bother the boys as they were able to catch new Pokémon. After some helpful directions we arrived back at school only 5 minutes late for supper.
In between dropping the boys of for footy and picking them up we had rugby training. Whilst collecting the equipment we need it started to rain, which then turned into hail, which then turned into a full snowstorm. Standard weather for Ballarat at this time of year.
That evening was spent supervising study and filling out more paperwork we had been given that day.
The next couple of days followed the same routine of wake up duty in the morning, being on call for the rest of the day and heading into town to hand in completed forms.
Friday 15th July.
After a normal day of work, we had a night off, so Mike treated us to a cinema trip to see The Legend of Tarzan. We were told to meet him at an ice cream shop. Here they didn’t do the standard ice cream in a cone they did a 1 litre tub, which is definitely worth the $20 spent on it. The film was very good but portrayed Tarzan very differently to the original Disney film I watched when I was younger.
Saturday 16th July.
This morning consisted of an early start at 6:15 to catch the bus to Geelong Grammar who were the opposition for today’s rugby match. This was a big match for the 1st XV as a win all but guaranteed a home semi-final in a couple of weeks. In what was a close match St Pat’s won 28-29 after a converted try in the final play of the match. Unfortunately, I wasn’t there to see the end of the match as I had to return with the U16’s team who had comfortably won by 70 points.
After returning to school I went with Mike to watch Ballarat rugby club play. Unfortunately, I didn’t catch the result.
That evening the majority of the boarders went to laser quest, I didn’t go with them on this trip but by the sounds of it they had fun.
Sunday 17th July.
Sunday’s are a very casual day until 5 in the afternoon when the boarders attend mass at the local church. I guess this is karma for mocking the boarders at Malvern to have to go to Sunday Chapel.
Today marks the end of the first week at St Pat’s and what a great week it has been.
Week 2
The first 5 days of this week were very similar. They consisted of the normal daily routine as well as planning what I was going to be doing during the September holidays.
Saturday 23rd July.
Today the 1st XV were playing at home so luckily there was no early bus to catch. The weather conditions were some of the worst I’ve seen rugby played in and unfortunately the weather did not help the pitch which ended up as a mud bath. The end result of this was that towards the end of the match both teams looked the same due to the amount of mud they were covered in.
I am pleased to say the 1st XV recovered from being 0-17 down after 18 minutes to win 26-24.
That evening the boarders trip was to the cinema to watch a choice of the new Ghostbusters or Finding Dory. There was a pretty equal split of boarders to each film so I drew the long straw I got to watch Finding Dory, which is very funny.
Sunday 24th July.
Today followed the normal routine of boarding duties and Sunday Mass and supervising study in the evening.
Week 3
The first 4 days of this week were standard days. I attended my first PE lesson today with a year 8 class who were playing racquetball. This was a very good experience as I got to see how a lesson is taught from a different perspective. Further lessons are in the planning. The only stand out moments were; my Medicare card arriving and my Working with Children card arriving.
Friday 29th July.
Tonight we had the Boarders Family Mass and Dinner. After an hour long mass service in the school chapel we headed into the dining room where it had been decorated in Thai style. Due to it being a Thai themed meal the dress code was normal uniform but with the most outrageous tie you could find. There were some pretty shocking ties. I am certain some Granny went to bed wondering where her curtains had gone. The food was outstanding.
Saturday 30th July.
Today was the big day for the 1st XV rugby side, the semi-final against Marcellin College. St Pat’s had already beaten Marcellin at the start of the season but unfortunately the boys were unable to replicate this losing 10-13 after extra time having come from 0-10 down at half time.
Tonight the boarder’s activity was Tenpin Bowling. A lot of fun was had by all the boys. After the bowling there was pizza back in the house.
Sunday 31st July.
Week 4
The first 5 days of this week were pretty much the same. Nothing too interesting happened apart from on Wednesday and Friday night.
Wednesday 3rd August
After a standard days’ work I headed to the cinema to watch the premiere of Suicide Squad at 00:01. Due to the late start time this meant I did not arrive back at school until 02:30, but I still made it to my first duty at 07:30.
Overall I thought the movie was very good even though it had been slated by the critics in their reviews.
Friday 5th August
Tonight we had a night off so we decided to go out into Ballarat and experience the night life. We started off our “pub crawl at Irish Murphy’s. In total there was about 6 people in the pub, one of whom was already drunk and sitting with random people. We then decided that due to the fact that the town seemed dead the cinema was a better option. At the cinema I watched the new Jason Bourne film, which was very good but not quite as good as Suicide Squad personally.
After the movie we headed to another pub/club called The George. The owner is a good friend of Mike’s so comes with high recommendations. It had a group performing live music from a mixture of era’s such as Brian Adam’s hit Summer of ’69 to Kings of Leon’s Sex on Fire.
The music stopped at around 01:30, so we headed off to find if anywhere else was open. We found one place called the Karova Lounge, a place which I will not be visiting again.
We arrived back at school at 0200 only to find the gates had been locked so after a quick climb over the wall we arrived back at school to end the night.
Saturday 6th August
Today I was able to have a lie in due to not going with the 1st XV to their 3rd/4th place play off at Scotch College in Melbourne against Geelong. Unfortunately, despite beating Geelong 3 weeks previously the 1st XV lost 24-26 in what I am told was a very good match.
The rest of the day consisted of supervising the boys in the house.
Sunday 7th August
Today was a relaxing day consisting of supervising the boys in the house and after a week off going to mass at the local church.
I hope you enjoyed reading about my first 4 weeks at St Patrick’s College. In the near future I am heading off on a camp with the Year 8’s for 3 days at the end of August.
Then in the September holidays I am meeting friends in Melbourne for 3 days, then heading up to Cairns to hopefully complete my PADI Advanced Open Water diving course. Then fly back down to Melbourne and drive from Melbourne to Adelaide along the Great Ocean Road.
Once again thank you for taking the time to read about my time in Australia. I most likely will not write another blog about my time here at the school until after the Year 8 camp but may post some miscellaneous posts such as bucket lists or advice about taking a gap year.
Any tips for the blog or travel advice would be greatly appreciated.
Josh