I made it so far a little over a week in Holland, now it was time for the real challenge, what would be taking up the majority of my time here, high school. From the first day I saw so many differences I wasn’t quite sure what to think. But before that, riding the damn bike to school everyday is crazy. It’s only thirty minutes, but against wind and rain it gets hard. My legs have been sore every day, but I’m hoping to get in good shape from it all, ha. The first thing I saw in the schoolwas just how high tech and modern the school was. The walls were covered in beautiful art, I’m not sure if they were of the students, or bought. Either way it was very pretty, which just that is a lot more than from home. It had a round design so that the smoking area was in the center, with a tiger lily pond, benches, and a garden. The whole school was decorated very nicely with more paintings, posters, and just nicer all around. They had auto window shutters, simple classrooms, and everything always seemed very tidy.
I also noticed all the fashion differences. The biggest one I have made a huge deal about is the guys, they ALL have gel in their hair. I haven’t seen so much gel in my life. Almost every boy does it, and it drives me crazy. They also wear a lot more V-necks, jewelry, and boots. Most of all that I’m not used to from home. As for the girls, they come to school a lot more dressed up than what I am used to. Some wear heels, business jackets, tights, dresses, lot’s of jewelry, and skinny jeans. I haven’t seen those so in style since junior high. So I go to school with my Toms, bootleg jeans, and a plan grey shirt and get all these weird looks. Thankfully I brought some of my old debate clothes, so I wore those and fit in a lot better, I almost feel like I need to buy completely new clothes. After riding my bike for a half hour I feel like a mess, I don’t understand how some girls look perfect after coming to school, it’s crazy to me. Oh, the girls also all have purses as bags, I have seen almost no real backpacks, and it’s very odd.
One thing as far as social means that I have noticed is that in the hallways and cafeteria the genders are completely separated. Boys stay with boys, and girls with girls, there are mixes but it’s rare. At home it was not like that at all, so that’s been different. In the class people are more about their own work, the teacher is more of a guide just offering help if you need it. I haven’t been able to understand most of the lessons, but I’m getting a bit better. One class that I thought was hilarious was English class. Of course the language is English, but when my teacher started talking in a British/English accent, I started laughing out loud. For some reason I expected an American accent, but I was surprised. He even said ‘smashing’ once, it was hilarious. When I was asked to read, I read way to fast and the whole class freaked out, it was pretty cool. I was told that my voice was beautiful. If teacher’s are sick, they just don’t show up, instead of getting subs. There’s a lot of free periods, so students are always walking around or doing study. The whole feel is just very different and more independent.
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