First Week of School

Wednesday was the day that our adventure at Herschel Girls' School could begin. Dress code: blue dress with off-white sleeves, off-white socks and brown shoes. This uniform hasn't changed since 1922! Rules: no make-up, no nail polish, no jewellery, except small studs or a small necklace with a cross, hair tied back, and MANY more. Herschel is in many aspects very different from Rijnlands. At 6 o'clock in the morning, my alarm went off and I started getting ready for my very first day of school. When we arrived at Herschel, there was great assembly, which usually takes place every Monday. During assembly all the Herschel girls come together in the theatre and the teachers and sometimes also fellow students speak to the school. After assembly the lessons started and Elise and I decided to follow our own exchange partner for the day in their classes and do our own subjects for the rest of the week. On the one hand I immediately felt part of Herschel, because my uniform was connecting me to the rest of the school. But being at a school for the first time and not knowing where everything is, on the other hand, makes you feel like "the new girl". School ended at 15:00 and Loren's mom could only pick us up at 16:30, so we had to wait at school for a little bit before heading home.

The second day at school was very different. The boring subjects were replaced by subjects as art, drama and consumer studies. From then on I had every lesson together with Elise. We got to know the exchange girls from Chili a bit better, which was very nice. What really striked me was the drama classroom. An average classroom would exist of a table and a chair for each student and a desk for the teacher in the front of the classroom. The Herschel drama classroom, however, has four sofas filling the room with comfortable cushions.

The last day before the weekend - Friday. On Friday Herschel was hosting the National Debating Competition of 2012, and during most of our lessons we were allowed to watch the debates. The first debate was between Argentina and Japan and the second debate was between Argentina and Canada. I was fairly impressed by the speakers of Canada and Argentina. Also, the Scottish debating team was present, wearing their traditional kilts. Also, there was a grade meeting on Friday, in which two teachers and a student talked to the whole grade about their futures and about grade problems. On Fridays, we end earlier than usual, so after school Loren, Lauren, Elise and I went to Cavendish mall, together with a friend of Lauren and one of the Chilean exchange girls. We went for sushi at Salushi's and afterwards we had a smoothie at Kauai. It was a lovely day.

During my first week of school I realized that life at Herschel is so different from the life we know at Rijnlands. The uniforms are obviously a huge difference, but also the behavior of the students and teachers is very different. I get the feeling that it is more competitive here, because the teachers are already preparing the students mentally for their grade 12 exams and putting a lot of pressure on them.

On Friday night, Loren and I went to the youth gathering at Loren's church.