A typical English weekend

Saturday morning was time to repack the bags (repack; for anything that came out of my bag and was just piled up next to it), say bye to Christine who had to leave in the morning and thank her for letting us stay at her house for the amazing first week. When Christine left, Rose was off working in Brighton and Dominic went for a long bike ride, Manon and I got ready. Manon packed her bags while I was ironing the clothes we washed the night before. Around 11.30, we headed to the hockey club to watch the Ladies 4s match (this team is mostly made up of LOGS girls). At 12.30, I had to meet up with the Ladies 2s for their match. I got my Lewes kit and we had our team talk. Because of the rules, I couldn’t play the match as Sanny Toonen, so for the following 70 minutes I was known as Finch; it really took me some time before I reacted to this name, but when someone calls out ‘your name’ for about 3 times and nobody else answers, you quickly get to realise again that Finch is YOU…..

Saturday was one of my pretty aggressive hockey days, which would be something good in Holland, but here in England it’s not really a positive thing. This is what happened: I played left mid for the entire match and about 10 minutes into second half, my player got the ball, so I went after her and got the ball by “tackling her”. The umpire blew his whistle, got a yellow card out of his pocket and sent me off for the full 10 minutes..... The very first time I have got sent off, in my very first important match I played here in Lewes… now that’s how to make a (good/bad?) first impressionJ. I already noticed it in the 2 previous matches, but English hockey is sooooo soft in comparison to Dutch hockey….. I truly think the English should Dutchalise their way of playing (I do think this is the only thing they should Dutchalise)!!!

After my own match, I had to wait at the club for Harvey and his dad Geoff to pick me up (I will stay with the Waller family for the next 2 weeks). Harvey played away with Men 1s and they were a little delayed, so I watched the matches of Men 2s and Men 4s. When Harvey and Geoff came to the club, we went to Christine’s house to pick up my bags. After saying goodbye and thank-you-very-much to Dominic, we went (to a new) home where I got to meet mother of the Waller family, Claire. Everyone is very nice and welcoming and we had a nice cup of tea. They have a very nice and cosy house and I have a lovely roomJ. For dinner, we had typically English, Fish and Chips.

Sunday morning, I woke up around 10.00. When we were all ready, Geoff brought Harvey and me to Claire’s café: The Buttercup Café. It is a very nice café and we had a really good and typically English, an English breakfast! After breakfast, Harvey and I took the train to Brighton where we spent the rest of the day. First, we went to a huge shopping mall with lots of different shops (nope, we didn’t buy anything) and then we went on to the lanes. The lanes are very nice and busy streets with lots of shops and little cafés and bistro’s; the atmosphere there is very good! The weather was beautiful today, so we went to the beach where we had an ice cream and sat in the sun for about an hour, it was absolutely FAB. Brighton has a very large pier, so before we headed back to the train station we walked up and down the pier. Brighton Pier isn’t just a random ‘thing’ sticking out of the mainland, but it is a real attraction (literally!). At the beginning of the pier, there are some small food shops and at the end there is a pretty good-sized fair. Everything in between is more food shops and places to sit. It is pretty amazing out there and I found it pretty special J. For every Dutch person that still needs to form an idea of what Brighton is like: Brighton is a mix of Amsterdam, London and ScheveningenJ!!

Around 4.00 pm, we took the train back to Lewes, to the Buttercup Café, so Claire could take us back home. After dinner I did quite some Dutch work and now I’m working on my blog….

This was our first weekend of exchange and I really enjoyed it!

Xxx <3

Again, 3 FAB days of school :)

Dear everyone,

Wednesday was already our third day of school and again (!!!!) I really enjoyed it. J Let’s not talk about the time we arrived at school that morning….. (we were in class on time though, so nothing extremely bad or to worry about)

Wednesday, first two periods, I had my first lessons of psychology together with Jop and Manon and about 10 other students. It was really nice to have a subject I normally don’t have at school and it was very interesting. After psychology, I had two free periods in which I worked on some of my Dutch work. Fifth and sixth period, just before break, I had biology. When we entered the classroom, one of my biology classmates explained that the teacher wouldn’t be there to teach us, but we would have to make notes on a certain chapter of the book (yes, WITHOUT someone in the room to keep an eye on us….). Any of my Dutch classmates or Dutch teachers reading this would know that at the RLW, there wouldn’t be a chance, not even a tiny one that the students would stay in the classroom and would seriously start making notes until the absolute end of the lesson……. I was absolutely amazed!! (Yes, of course YouTube appeared on the smart board after a while, but at the end of the lesson everyone had made notes!) Finally, after 2 periods of physics, we met up for the sixth form hockey match to compete against Plumpton College, an agricultural college. It was very different but nice to play with a mixed team as the boys, many of whom are training to become farmers were very physical but to my great joy we won! J

Thursday morning, I was ready and set around 7.45! Christine and I had a lovely long walk with Teddy, the dog. We were back home around 8.40 and around 8.55 Manon and I left for school. Since it takes us about 10 minutes to get to school, we were about 5 minutes late for registration…… On Thursday I found out that Thursdays here in England are just as bad as Thursdays back home in Holland. I don’t know why but I’ve always hated Thursdays… After starting the day with 2 free periods, stupid Thursday continued with 2 periods of physics, 2 periods of psychology and 3 periods of chemistry (my hate for Thursdays absolutely isn’t because of the combinations of subjects this day, because I still like these subjects here, but it’s just Thursdays in general). After 4 o’clock, Jop and I stayed at school because we would join my physics class in the astronomy trip to Sussex University where we went star gazing. It was really impressive and unreal to look at the moon (obviously through a telescope) and be able to see so many details.

Today is already our last day at Christine’s house! This morning we were only 2 minutes late for registration!!!!! :D We started off today with 2 periods of psychology, followed by 2 free periods in which I started on this blog update J. 5^th, 6^th and 7^th period I had biology. A biology lesson at LOGS is very different from a Dutch biology lesson! Where a Dutch biology teacher would explain and elaborate on a certain topic, an English biology teacher would tell us for 2/3^rd of the lesson exactly what to write down!

After school, Manon and I walked down High street to buy Manon some shampoo and other stuff that had been taken away from her at the security at Schiphol. Afterwards, we had a nice iced tea and a piece of cake at Costa. When we got back home, we had some tea, did all our laundry: black, white and coloured (everything is clean now and will be ironed tomorrow morning J), had dinner and repacked our bags for tomorrow when we will change houses (more info on that in next update).

I had a FAB (Amy, I know you’ll be reading this :P) first week. I ENJOYED every day of school and I am very curious for how long this will last 0: D….. I absolutely LOVED meeting so many new people and HATE that I still don’t remember all the names (it’s getting better though!!) I’m very EXCITED for next week and truly hope and actually know already, that it will be just as good as last week!

Xxx <3 

That very first impression

Dear readers,

Monday morning it was FINALLY time to go to school!!! :D 9 o’clock at school, registration and 9.15 in class. Now you might think, 9 o’clock isn’t that early and at least it’s 35 minutes later than 8.25. Well, Manon and I managed to be 4 minutes late for registration on our very first day. We were lead to sixth form house by Ms. Rosin where we had registration with our mentor Charlie and were introduced to our mentor class.

FYI: A school day at Lewes Old Grammar School lasts from 9 am till 4 pm. One period is 35 minutes and there are two breaks. A 20-minute break after the first two periods, at 10.25 and a 50-minute (!!!) break after the 6^th period at 1.15 pm. We have registration with our mentor twice a day: in the morning, at 9 o’clock, and after big break, at 2.05 pm.

Jop and I started the Monday morning with a double period chemistry by Ms. Lowden, Christine. We were in class with 8 students of which I was the only girl. It was a really interesting lesson on reduction and oxidation and at the end, after a pretty tough start, Jop and I both knew exactly what Ms. Lowden was talking about! J After chemistry we had small break and 4 free periods. We met a lot of very nice and welcoming people and sat in 6^th form house to meet even more! In my final three periods on Monday I had biology from Ms. Drunis in which we mostly discussed ethics. After school we went home to have early dinner, because that night we went to a play from LOGS. It was a very nice play and the actors, who were LOGS students, were very good and professional! When we came home later that night, after the play, I packed my school bag and put aside the clothes I decided to wear today. This all because I was sure this would save me some time in the morning. I even put the alarm clock 10 minutes earlier!

These measurements soooo clearly paid off, because this morning we were only 2 minutes late for registration… -__- At 9.15, I started on my double period physics. Just with physics it was a really small group, only 6 students this time and again, I was the only girl! After physics and a 20-minute break, Jop, Manon and I met up for our very, very first psychology lesson ever! It was very nice to have a subject I would normally not have at school! J After 3 free periods, I had a double period of chemistry. Jop and I had to leave about 30 minutes before the end of the lesson because I would participate in a hockey match and Jop and Manon came along to support us. We won the match against a school team from Brighton with 11 points against 0 :D. After the match, Ms. Webster, PE teacher, hockey coach and Jop’s host mom took me and some other girls from LOGS to the Lewes Hockey Club for practice with their Ladies. Ladies 4 is a team built up of LOGS girls about my age. After practice and a lot of fun with my new teammates, Ms. Webster dropped me off at home. Tomorrow I'll be attending another hockey match, this time with the 6th form team. 

I am having a really good time and enjoying every single bit! During the past 2 days, I met so many people that it’s really hard to remember all the names. There is hope though, because I already know many more names than I did this morning! J

Xxx <3

Hellooooooooo Lewes!

Dear everyone,

After months and months of waiting, lots of 'see you in 5 weeks' and way too much packing stress, it was finally time to leave for a 5-week exchange to Lewes. Saturday afternoon, 5pm, Manon, my mother and I were finally heading to the airport to fly to Gatwick Airport from where we would take the train to Lewes. 

Around 8.15 pm (local time), we arrived at Lewes Train station, a very cute and tiny station which made me even more curious to the rest of Lewes!

We took a cab to the bed and breakfast where we would stay for our very first night in Lewes and after some trouble finding Garden Cottages we quickly got settled down and went into town for a quick dinner. Despite the three of us were very tired, we decided to have a nice walk along High Street (Lewes' main street). We passed many stores and cafes and were amazed by the cuteness of the village! When we got to Lewes Old Grammar School, also known as 'our soon-to-be school', we went back to Garden Cottages to have some sleep. We decided to wake up at 8 so we could be downstairs for breakfast at 8.45.

Sunday morning, at 8 o'clock (.......) my alarm went off. At around 8.20 (.......) I decided to get out of bed and while opening my suitcase, Manon woke up, looked at her phone and told me: "you know it's 7.20?" Not realizing she was saying 7.20 and thinking what she meant to say was "why. is. it. so. late. and. didn't. you. wake. me.?", I told her: "Yes, I know, sorry. You better get used to it, I'm always late" and quickly hurried to the bathroom, to come out 15 minutes later, feeling so dumb, asking Manon who obviously was still in bed: "Manon, is it seriously 7.35?!?!?!" I'm pretty sure you already know the answer, but just in case someone doesn't expect me to be so stupid, it was: "YES! HAHAHA" aiaiai, I forgot to change the time on my phone -___- (I did the moment I found out though J). After an hour of waiting, we had our first real English breakfast with eggs, sausages, bacon, tomato, toast and mushrooms. It was absolutely delicious!

After breakfast, around 9.45, we went to High street where we met up with Jop and his mother. While the two mothers went to have coffee at Caffee Nero, Jop, Manon and I randomly walked around for a while. We found a very cute market where they sold lots of different things, from second-hand televisions to eatable bones for dogs.

At 12 o’clock, we had an appointment with Mr. Blewitt, headmaster of Lewes Old Grammar School and Ms. Rosit, head of 12^th grade. They are both very nice and enthusiastic! Ms. De wolf came to LOGS as well. After introducing, they showed us around the incredibly cute and cozy school. LOGS is only a small school and the part of the school we go to, including senior school and sixth form only has about 350 students. Apparently, our year only has 38 students! I’m pretty sure everyone knows everyone! J

After a tour around the school and Mr. Blewitt showed us where to go tomorrow morning, I had lunch at Bill’s together with Ms. De Wolf, Jop and his mother, Manon and my mother.

After lunch, Jop and I had to say our final goodbyes to our moms and we went back to school from where Mr. Blewitt brought us to our first host family. For the first 6 days of our stay, Manon and I stay together at the house of Christine and her family. Christine and her husband Dominic have 4 children, 3 daughters and 1 son. The son and 2 daughters already moved out and the third daughter Rose still lives at home. Christine is chemistry teacher at LOGS and she will be my chemistry teacher as well!

Tonight, Jop and his host family and Ms. Rosin came over to have dinner with us. It was very nice and we had a lot of fun!

Tomorrow we will have our first school day at LOGS! All my Dutch friends and family have holiday this week, but I don’t care at all and I am incredibly excited for school!!!!!!! I seriously can’t remember the last time I was so excited for school and it sounds very, very weird, but….. it’s true! :D

Tomorrow, exchange will officially start and I will finally experience what I’ve dreamed about for so many times J

Xxxx <3