Just The Start

Finally it was time to get in the taxi and drive to Schiphol. The moment I had been waiting for so long was there; my exchange to England was about to start. At 7pm I left Holland and flew to London Gatwick, together with Sanny and her mum. When we arrived we took the train to the village and dropped our loads of luggage at Bed & Breakfast Garden Cottages. We went out for dinner and afterwards we had an evening walk to get an impression of the place we are staying for 5 weeks. One word: cute! While walking up the high hill we passed some shops, cafés and Lewes Castle. We also saw our school, the Old Grammar School Lewes.

A lovely stay at Garden Cottages was a good start of the exchange. After a typical English breakfast (scrambled egg, bacon, beans, sausage and tea) we met Jop and his mother at Lewes Castle and had a drink at Caffè Nero, High Street. At 12 o’clock we had an appointment at school with the school’s headmaster. It was a very warm welcome. Mr Blewitt handed us our schedules and we got a tour through the school. We also met Ms Rosin, the head of our department. Old Grammar School Lewes is like one big house. I’m sure I’ll get lost a couple of times during the first week. It is very cosy. There are a lot of classrooms and there is also a theatre room and a library. The building is pretty old and is divided into three parts, so, depending on your schedule, you sometimes have to go outside and walk down the street to the other entrance. After lunch we took some time to take pictures. In front of the school were a few garbage bags and we noticed a piece of paper fully covered with the sentence ‘’I will get in trouble’’. This was very funny and made sense we had to behave well.

Then it was time to get to our first host family. Sanny and Jop said goodbye to their mothers and Ms de Wolf, who is staying in Lewes till Tuesday, got to her hotel. During our first week Sanny and I are staying at a house of a member of staff. She is called Christine and we had a warm welcome here as well. Her husband is called Dominic and she has four children, but only her youngest daughter Rosie still lives at home. Their house is located about 10 minutes walking from school. I immediately felt home and I finally have a dog! His name is Teddy. Jop and his family came over in the evening and we had dinner all together. During our first week we have time to make friends and Friday we may decide at which family we would like to stay for the rest of our time.

Tomorrow will be my first day at school. I’ve never been so excited to go to school as I am now, because actually then the exchange really begins. Sanny, Jop and I will be in year 12, in Holland this is the 5^th year. The subjects I’ve chosen are Psychology, Economics, History and Philosophy. We all will be playing hockey as well. I’m going to enjoy every day, every hour, every second of this exchange!