Thursday, 16th December, everything must come to an end

We weren't able to sleep in for very long because we had a long journey ahead of us. After having my LAST English breakfast in Great-Britain we drove to Holland. We arrived at Jelmer's house around 16:00. I had something to drink and greeted the rest of the family. After about 15 minutes I was driven home by Jelmer's father. When I arrived home I saw my mum in the kitchen, so she saw me arriving. I greeted her and thanked Jelmer's father for driving me home. And there I stood, finally home, after a great six weeks.

Wednesday, 15th December, saying goodbye

I was a bit sad because we had to leave Reed's and all the new people we met here. Luckily the day itself wasn't sad at all, so I was able to forget the sad feelings a bit. I was also anxious to see my parents and friends at home of course. The lessons lasted until lunch and we had some good opportunities to say goodbye to students and teachers. After lunch Jelmer's father came to pick us up. The problem was though that I had my 'Secret Santa' at 15:00. Luckily it was no problem at all and I was able to go there. We gave each other the presents we bought and headed to a party. This party was organized by two tutors, so there were about 15 children and 2 teachers. We played a game that we also play in Holland on a very young age: 'de stoelendans'. The students weren't very happy about the choice of the teachers but they were more than willing to play along. After the party I said goodbye to all the people at the party and my tutor. My tutor group also gave me a card with their best wishes, the card was designed and hand-made by my tutor. Afterwards I headed to 'the Close' and we drove to the hotel where we were to stay the night.

Monday and Tuesday, 13-14 December, last two normal days at Reed's

On these two days Steve was planning to attend some theatrical performances at his school, which lasted until 20:30, this gave me the opportunity to spend most of the day at Reed's. On Monday we worked really hard at D&T, trying to finish our pool table in time. We also had our Christmas lunch at Reed's. As desert we had, of course, some Christmas pudding. I didn't really like it (like most foreign people). After school we worked a bit longer on our pool table and hung around a bit at the Sixth-form house. I got picked up at 20:45. On Tuesday we worked on our pool table, but it didn't seem like we would have enough time to finish it at Reed's. That evening there was a Christmas dinner planned for the boarders. I was very happy that Mr. Balls approached me earlier that week and asked if I wanted to join the boarders with their dinner, so that evening I did. The dinner was about the same as lunch, but we were allowed to get more than one portion (some people were very glad about this). I got picked up again around the same time.

Weekend, 11-12 December, last weekend in Great-Britain

On Saturday I had to buy a present for 'Secret Santa', this is about the same as our Saint Nickolas where you buy gifts for one other person. This was a tutor group activity, so almost no-one at the school did this every year. I left for Guildford to see Jelmer there around noon. We walked around a bit, had some lunch and I bought my present. I bought some kind of upper-arm muscle trainer. I haven't seen anything like it in the Netherlands and it seemed like a great present. On Sunday there was a Christmas service organized at the Guildford Cathedral. It lasted for about an hour and contained many carols and speeches. The Cathedral was very big and located next to the university. After the service I headed back to family Roy´s house with Steve and Daniel, who also attended the service.

Part 2 week, 9-10 December, nothing much

The last part of the week were two quiet days. We had no exams during these two day, so we were able to enjoy our last Thursday and Friday at Reed's. Although I think that Jelmer enjoyed himself more than I did. I think this because Jelmer, as he is a boarder, was able to go ice-skating and watch movies in the evenings. I was not able to these things. At school we made some very good progress with our DT-project. After Thursday and Friday we only need to make some finishing touches. We are waiting for the base (the coloured layer of fabric on the pool table) and we are planning to do some final sanding and coating on Monday and Tuesday.

Part 1 Week, 6-8 December, still very cold

The start of the week went quite slowly. Nothing special happened on Monday. On Tuesday we had, like I said before, our Saint Nickolas party. Charlotte Buijs, who was also at the party, insisted that we were to sing a Saint Nickolas song. So, like all men, we listened to the woman and sang a song. After the party we headed to business studies. Our teacher for this subject is mr. Petell. Apparently he is also a fan of Saint Nickolas and he was even able to sing a few Dutch Saint Nickolas songs. The lesson was loads of fun and it seemed to end quite quickly (like almost all fun things). On Wednesday we had another quiet day. During our chemistry class we had to do a mock exam, but because the Reed's chemistry (unlike the Reed's economics or business studies, which are really easy for us) is quite hard we asked our teacher if it was alright if we made an open-book exam in the library. Although all the other students disagreed the teacher told us it was fine. After lesson we handed our exam back to the teacher and headed to the sixth-form house to enjoy our afternoon. We didn't have any lessons during the afternoon because 'games' were off. The pitches were still frozen, so only the indoor sports were on (swimming, squash, etc.).

Weekend, 4-5 December, parents in Great-Britain

This was a great weekend. My parents picked us up from Reed's and we headed to the same hotel as we stayed before. On Saturday morning we had a big English breakfast, which was very tasty, and we drove to Oxshott station. Here we took the train to London Waterloo. When we arrived in London we walked around a bit. Our first stop was the London Eye. My dad wanted to go on the ferris wheel, but there was a large crowd waiting to get tickets and one as well to get into the attraction. So on a democratic basis we outvoted him and decided to move on. On recommendation of Steve and Jelmer we went to 'Ripley's believe it or not'. This is a museum where they show all kinds of fascinating and strange items and customs. After the museum we walked around a bit and had some late lunch. After lunch (it was getting quite dark already) Jelmer and I wanted to go ice-skating at the Tower. When we arrived (we took the Underground) we found out that it was very busy and that we were only able to go onto the ice from 8:30 onwards. We were quite sad and stayed for about 10 minutes looking at other people ice-skating. Than we decided it was time to go back to the hotel. We took the journey, which was quite long, back and finally arrived at the hotel. We had some dinner and went to our rooms. On Sunday we went to Sainsbury's again for some shopping. My parents and brother bought some food and other things (including Christmas crackers) and I bought Jelmer's Saint Nickolas (Sinterklaas) present. We were to celebrate Saint Nickolas on Tuesday. When I was dropped off at family Roy's house and when my parents left I felt very satisfied of the weekend.

Part 2 Week, 2-3 December, SNOW DAYS

On Thursday I woke up around 6:45, but it was terribly quiet in the house, so I walked around a bit. Steve heard me from his bedroom and told me that we were having a snow day (no school!) because the school busses couldn't get through Sandylane (the street on which Reed's school is located). They weren't able to do so because of all the snow and ice here. I was very happy about this and slept for quite a while. When I finaly woke up again it was actually almost time for lunch. On Thursday I enjoyed the snow a bit, but I mostly spend the day indoors relaxing. On Friday, although we were having another snow day, I went to Reed's. This was quite a long journey. Steve wasn't able to drive me to Woking station because of the weather, so I had to take the bus. After taking the bus to Woking station I took a train to Guilford and than one to Oxshott (there are no train lines from Woking to Oxshott). Finally arriving at Oxshott I had to take a 15 minutes walk through the woods to Reed's, this wasn't too bad because everything was covered in snow and it was a lovely sight. Finally arrived Jelmer and I decided, after a while, to go to Cobham. Here we had some hot chocolade at the Starbucks. After which we headed back to Reed's again. After having some dinner at Reed's my parents picked us up. This was around 9:30. This was also the start of an other great weekend, this time with my own parents.

Part 1 Week, 29-30 November and 1st December, the start of a cold week

On monday it was very cold when I got in the car. I already heard about the forecasts that there would be heavy snow during the day. I believe it was around -6 when I got into the car at 7:15. It was a regurlar day at school, ony every time we had to go outside to go fromone class to an other it seemed like everyone was running to get out of the cold as quickely as possble. The suits aren't very warm. During the afternoon it did indeed snow, but on tuesday the eall snow came. We were in the sixth-form house when we saw a massive amount of snow falling from te sky. It was a very impressive sight. We had of course huge snowball fights during tuesday and wednesday, these were loads of fun. We were also quite lucky with something else; the school thought it was becoming too cold for the suits, so they permitted us to wear our own clothing on tuesday and wednesday, this was very nice because these are much warmer than our suits.

Weekend, 27-28 November, weekend with family Quist

This was the reall start of the weekend with family Quist. Jelmer's parents and his brother, Martijn, came to visit us, his sister couldn't come. On saturday we went to Mercedes World. This was an absolute blast! We did a driving lesson, lasting 30 minutes. After which we got into a car, driven by a Mercedes driver, and went around a circuit. We also experienced some drifting and some other advanced driving skills. We were, of course, not allowed to do these things ourselves. After doing both these exciting things we walked around through the building, looking at some cars and even a movie. This was all great fun, but of course nothing compared to what we did on forehand. I believe this was a very succesful day! On sunday we headed to the house of friends, family Quist knows them from their time in Ireland. We had a great time, the people were very nice and we had a wonderful lunch. After our visit we did some shopping at Sainbury's, this is a huge shop that sells all kinds of things, food, electronics, name it. After doing some shopping the parents of Jelmer droppedme off at the house of family Roy, indicating the end of a great weekend!

Friday, 26th November, the start of a great weekend!

School seemed to go very slowly today. This was of course because I wanted it to be weekend very badly. When I finally heard the school bell I was overjoyed, although this might be a bit exaggerated, I was still very happy. Jelmer and I stayed in the sixth-form house for a while, playing some pool and talking to (by now) familiar faces. When Jelmer got a text from his mum saying that they arrived we headed to the parking lot. Strangely though we couldn't find them there. We were only able to do so after receiving another text explaining where they were. We headed to the Close and we were soon on our way to the premier inn (the hotel we were going to stay). We stayed up until quite late that day, probably because we were both very excited about the upcoming weekend. We were going to Mercedes World!

Thursday, 25th November, NO skiing trip...

Today was a normal thursday, we didn't have any D&T today (just like any other thursday), so we weren't able to make any progress on our pooltable. After school I usually have my afterschool activity, which is my skiing trip. It was quite a shame that I wasn't able to join today. I wasn't able to do so because I had an important Latin test the same day. We weren't able to fit it into our day programme, so we were forced to make it after school. I think I made my test rather well, which I am very glad about.

Wednesday 24th November, Hockey match

I was told that today's hockey match would be quite easy. The team played this school before and they won the previous match. We took the bus to the other school and prepared for our match. We played not too bad, but definitely far from good. We had an advantage of 2-1 during half-time, but immediately after we played very bad, while the opponents played a very good game. We lost the match 6-2. After the match we had some tea and food. Afterwards we took the bus back to school, where Steve was waiting for me.

Monday - Tuesday 22-23 November

These two days weren't very interesting. I started both like any other: I had some breakfast at Reeds, attended my classes, did some work at Reeds and headed back to family Roy's house afterwards.

Weekend 20-21 November

Saturday was a nice day. I was planning to take the train to Guildford from Woking station. I would meet Jelmer there. I only arrived a bit late because for some reason the trains weren't going to Guildford (they were to all other stations), so I had to take a bus, which took 15 minutes longer. Finally arrived in Guildford I had some lunch with Jelmer and we walked around a bit. It was a shame that Jelmer had to be back before dark (this was before 17:00), so we headed back quite soon. I took the train to Woking and Jelmer the train to Oxshott. Sunday was supposed to be a fun day, but it turned out to be a bit boring. Jelmer and I were planning to tag along with the rest of the sixth form boarders to a Harry Potter movie. The problem was that Jelmer wasn't able to find mr. Michaels (the person in charge of the trip), so he wasn't able to tell me where we were seeing the movie until it 12:30, which was only 25 minutes before the start of the movie. Sadly the cinema was 45 minutes away from Woking by car, so I wasn't able to go to the movies.

Thursday 18th November, A new skiing trip

The start of the day was just like any other, I had, as usually, issues with getting up. School was fun, but so are all the schooldays at Reeds, we made some more progress with our DT project; it actually starts to look like a pool table. After school I quickly went to the parking lot to get on the bus, which would take me and the rest of the Reeds skiing team to the slope. I was surprised that we didn't go to the same place as last week. Apparently it was some-ones birthday last week and we went to a slope with real snow for this reason. This week was a normal week, so we headed to a slope which was covered with soft fibre mats. It was quite hard to ski on this, because you have far less control. Gradually I started to learn how to ski on these fibres and at the end of the day it wasn't as bad as I thought in the beginning.  Luckily it rained before we arrived; this improved the skiing conditions a bit.

Wednesday 17th November, Hockey match

I was quite excited when I woke up, this was because we had an important hockey match and I was thrilled to play. School seemed to last an eternity, but at 12:40 the bell finally went. I had a quick lunch and at 1:15 I was ready, just like the rest of the team, to be picked up by the coach with the Reeds bus. Hockey is a great way to socialise with the other Reeds students, I have met many different people this way. We played very well and we won the match with 2-0. After the match I had to hurry up because Steve was waiting for me at the parking lot.

Monday 15th November, Extra hockey practice

I started today just like every day. At school we made a lot of progress with our DT project. After school I headed towards the practice field for some extra hockey practice. We had this because we were having an important hockey match that wednesday. After my after-school activities I headed back to Family Roy's house with Daniel and Steve. After dinner I went along with the whole family to watch Andrew's swimming competition.

Saturday 13th November, Football match

I woke up quite early, even though it was my weekend. I went along with Daniel and Steve to school around 9:00, this was because Daniel had to be at Reeds for a tour for parents. Jelmer and I played some pool until we were fed up with it. We than decided to go to Guildford, on our way there I received a text from Steve. He received 3 free tickets for a football match. He asked us if we wanted to join him. We were very eager to do so, so after we had some lunch in Guildford we headed back. We met with Steve at Woking train station. We bought day tickets for our way to London. Our destination was the Westham United stadium. We watched the match, which unfortunately ended in a 0-0, and headed back to Woking. When we arrived at the station we decided to get some dinner at the KFC. After dinner Jelmer took the train back to the station near Reeds, called Oxshott, and Steve and I took the car to family Roy's house. Afterwards I could definately call this day a success.

Thursday 11th November, Skiing trip

I started today just like any other day. I packed my sporting equipment, my bag and grabbed my coat. When we arrived at school we had a regular breakfast, some cereals and some toast with jam. Our first class was science. And so was our second class, and our third. And when we thought we finally saw enough science for a centaury we had our science exam, which wasn't as much fun as you might think it would be. After school I tagged along with Mr. Vernon, he is a chemistry teacher (not our chemistry teacher) and a hobby skier. We took a bus to a artificial sloop. It was quite amazing, because it felt like I was skiing on an actual sloop, with real snow. We got back around 5:15, after which I was picked up by Steve, after we went to the supermarket to get some supper for Friday we headed back to Woking.

Wednesday = Games day!

I woke up quite early this morning, because my host parents predicted that there would be loads of traffic. I had breakfast, like the previous two days, at school with Jelmer and my host brother, Daniel. After breakfast I went to my tutor group, at Reeds we are meant to go to these sessions every morning before school and after lunch. Today was not a regular session, because we had chapel service. This is every Wednesday. The theme of the service was 11 November, which is a day on which English people reminisce the fallen British soldiers during the first WW. Our first class was D&T, Jelmer and I are busy building a miniature pool table, and even the students are quite impressed of our skills, which is also quite rare. After our regular lessons we had a games afternoon. During these afternoons everyone of the school play all kinds of sports, I was invited to play some hockey. There was even a match which I was asked to join. It was Reeds against Kingston Grammar School (KGS), we tied the game, 3-3. After the match I headed back to Woking, the place where my host parents live, and continued my work on Dutch, and English work.

First day at Reeds

Today was my first day at Reeds school. It was just like I hoped and expected it to be. Jelmer and I had loads of teachers to meet and work to do to get settled in, but we were almost done with these things quite quickly. We got our schedule, we met our tutors and we visited the classes of the subjects we had chosen. The subjects changed a bit this morning, because Mr. Atkins explained to us that PE (physical education) is not the same subject as the PE we know from the Rijnlands. PE at Reeds is the theoretical part of sporting, which is the opposite of what we have at home as PE. We were lucky that Mr. Atkins was able to warn us for this misunderstanding and we ended up choosing General Science instead of PE. After school we went to Mrs. Lams office, so we could finish our settling in. This took about an hour, after which it was time for me to go back to the house of family Roy.

First day in Great-Britain

Today was my first day here in Great-Britain, and just like any other Englishman I started off with a big, tasty English breakfast. We had breakfast together with Jelmer's family inside a pub next to our hotel. After lunch I went to family Roy. This is the family I will be spending my next 6 weeks with. The whole family is very kind, and they all seem very helpful. Around noon we went to Reeds, at Reeds we went on a tour with family Quist and Mrs. Lams. After our guided tour I said my goodbyes to family Quist and headed to my new home, well for the next 6 weeks. I settled in my room, which is quite small, but large enough to sleep in. Later that evening I had dinner alone with Mr. Roy, because Daniel, Andrew and Mrs. Roy were off to a swimming match of Andrew, he seems quite the athletic.