Google Expedition

Dubai, Washington, England and even Space! Any place you could think of i’m sure we went there yesterday. What? Did you actually go there? Yes we did, with our eyes and mind. It may sound weird, but I tell you it was something realistic and so amazing! All the different places we went to and explored is something everyone would've definitely want to try again and again!

Tuesday afternoon, after a hot interval of playing in the sun, I knew it was time to get my mind back on track. Earlier that morning, all the year 7 and 8 students were announced that there was going to be a google expedition held in the morning for the year 7’s and after morning tea for the year 8’s. I was so thrilled, I couldn't even bother going to tech.

11:30 the bell struck loudly. I paused my play, and sprinted my way to back class. All though, I was getting a bit impatient and I couldn't hold all that excitement myself, so I shared some with my friends by basically doing what normal girls do, laugh and laugh and laugh. “Mrs Tele'a's coming!” I heard a small shout from the side of my shoulder, and I immediately got into position.

Mrs Tele’a then lead us inside the classroom and all the year 8s’ gathered together in the street for a few notices before trying the “Google Expedition.” Unfortunately, we had to do this event in our te reo groups ‘tahi, rua and toru’.  Rua was the first group to try it out and so tahi and toru had to go to into their maths classes and wait for their turn. I happened to be in toru, and it wasn’t really the outcome I expected.

“Woooww!” “Coool!” “Can I see yours?” All this excitement from the other group has really got me even more impatient. They looked so amazed, happy and looked like they were having a lot of fun. It felt like torture seeing them having fun.

12:06. I sat impatiently in maths class waiting for our turn. “Can they hurry up already?” “This is taking too long.” I complained in my head, as well as trying to stay on task with my maths work. “Toru, in the street now.” As soon as I heard that I raised my head and made my way into the street in quick movement. As we all sat together, Mrs Tele’a had told us our instructions before actually doing the real thing.

Google Expedition happens to be the name of the event that was happening. What we were using is something called a google cardboard. It looked very similar to binoculars, but with a smartphone inside. A way to hold it, well the only way to hold it, is if you’re holding a burger or sandwich, except it’s for your eyes not your mouth.

As I held it up to my eyes, I could see the different countries I could explore even the different few places. I even got to see David Attenborough (famous discovery narrator) in one of the places.

The coolest thing about the Google Cardboard is that we could zoom in and zoom out and even spot different insects and animals. I had a lot of fun visiting, different cities and countries.

The google cardboard is something that kids in the future could use as a part of their learning. This could also save a lot of money from going to trips and events. Hopefully there would be a way that you could make your own google cardboard! This is definitely an experience i’d try again in college and share with my friends.