This week, Rosie Ye in Year 10 is sharing her experience at the College. 

Rosie came to Armidale in 2020 as a Pathways student. Since the beginning, Rosie has been showing good social skills, humours and capability to learn. It has been encouraging to see her grow in her English ability as well as the development of friendships with both International and domestic students. Despite that Rosie has just started Year 10 this year, we are especially proud when her mainstream teachers commented on how well she has been doing in Year 10 classes and that she has achieved good results in this semester.

Please enjoy.

Rosie Ye (Year 10)

During last holidays, some of our pathways girls got their L driving licences, including me. It was nerve-racking for us to do the test, because we did not live in Australia before we came to Armidale. Some of us failed the first time, because we did not get much preparation for it. Also, the day before we did the test, we were in Sydney shopping and enjoying the food around the city. All of us forgot about the test. It was only the night before the test when we realized it and we were shocked. There is a practice test online that Amy gave us to do. I did it 3 times that night but didn’t pass any of them. I started to think that I would definitely fail the real one. 

In the end, I still got my L on that day. I couldn’t believe that I passed it. I was so excited, because in China, you can only get your licence when you are over 18. Now I am the first one to get my licence in China among my friends. They are very envious of me, because it is a cool thing to be able to drive. Everything was going well until I noticed that I need to take a photo for my licence. My hair was messy and my face was swollen because I didn’t fully wake up that day. 

Last weekend, my driver’s licence card arrived, and the photo was terrible. We started our first driving lesson last Saturday. It was really fun to drive. You feel fresh when you actually sit in the driver seat and control the whole car. We were in a quiet area. I learned how to start a car and adjust the seats, how to use the turning signal, how to turn. 

We also had a lesson with a police officer who came in to teach Year 10 in the boarding house about what you should avoid while driving and what you should be careful of when you have your licence. It was helpful to know these so that we do not break the laws.