1. I wish we had Saint Nicolas in Australia. The festival of Saint Nicolas is like Christmas part 1. You recieve lollies and presents on the 6th December and have fun by the fire place. Its awsome, and Im quite jealous of the Belgies. At Maredsous, they laid all of the long tables out in the couvitrée (huge open space with a massive window, just like the great hall in Harry Potter) Actually, it looked EXACTLY like Harry Potter, without Dumbledore. They covered the table in Green and Red (the colours of Maredsous) and every now and then the whole school would chant their school song! It was so amazing how much they love their school, and how proud they are to be part of it! The atmosphere was incredible, and so was the dinner. After the dinner we went to the hall, where there was a huge stage and movie screen. We all watched the year 12s do a play and then watched this hilarious movie they made. At that time I was thinking, wow, this has been the best night everrrrr. But no, it got eeeevvvennn better. Everyone jumped up on the stage, got rid of all the chair and the WHOLE school had this huge rave, I think the teachers were drunk, I think that the year 7s were high, and I think that the majority of the people dont remember much. I have some awsome photos of everything that night. It was amazing, and it was a THURSDAY. Crazy Belgies.
2. Weekend. Instead of going home with Gaspard and Dorian, I went home with my other cousin Emilio, who promised me a crazy night out in Bruxelles. It turned out different to what I was expecting but amazing all the same. We left the house at around 10pm then caught the metro into the centre of Bruxelles. We met up with some guys from the school and everyone got smashed. Prettyyyy funny. Together we managed to find ourselves a nightclub, so thinking that it was a normal one we lined up and got to the front. I felt extremely uncomfortable though as the people that surrounded me were made up mostly of middle aged men, who looked at me as though I wasnt meant to be there. I nudged Emilio and his friends so many times and I kept on saying in a high pitched slurred whisper, "Où est les filles??? Où EST LES FILLES???" Then they pointed at a "woman" standing a few metres behind us.The "woman" had hairy legs, huge muscles and... a beard. Yes "she" was wearing a dress and a feather boa, but she was definitely not a "she". The guys then ran away as fast as they could, scared out of their minds. It was pretty rude actually, many people here are extremely homophobic. I thought that the gay nightclub story was incredibly funny, but the guys found it as a traumatic experience or something. We then spent the rest of the night around Bruxelles, and its was actually really good. We returned early the next morning to Emilio's house, and his parents are so cool with that sort of thing. I had a gooood time.
3. The Fashion in Belgium is VERY different to Australian fashion. Its extremely conservative. My luggage consists of the things that I would usually wear in winter in Sydney. I cant wear most of the things that I brought here. I often come downstairs in some outfit that I constructed from the clothes in my bag, and often my family will tell me that it is not 'appropriate' to wear that here. It sucks because I literally wear the same thing all the time. People here get absolutely freaked out when I tell them that Im wearing a jumper with just a bra underneath. They absolutely FREAK out. Its actually a bit funny.
4.School. Maredsous. I really do love it here. I think that I prefer going to Queenwood, but being here is so amazing. There are things that I really wish were at Queenwood. The building. The teachers. The boys. The people here. The crazy festivals. The food on Wednesdays. The couvitrée and a million other things here. Ive always wanted to go to a boarding school, but experiencing one, makes me think that I definitely prefer being at a day school. Though, its really lovely being around people that are so nice 24/7 and they are always happy to help for anything. But the rules get really old, and there is a LOT of study time. Seriously a LOT.
5. At the moment it is exam week and so there are limited classes, the only one I went to today was the english class for the year 7s which was a huge waste of time, So I decided to walk around the villiage, (im definitely not allowed to do this) but im so happy that i did. I have never been anywhere more beautiful! the ground is absolutely covered in red and brown leaves and there are castles everywhere and beautiful old mansions, that look like they are out of movies. I was so happy just walking around, i saw an old man across the street who dropped something so i ran over to pick it up and then we had this huge conversation (in french) about australia and school and it was so nice! and i felt so happy because i think it mmade his day :) i then walked to Mauds house(she is an intern like me staying at another persons house and driving to school every day like me) because she is sick, so i went to visit her, and i stayed there for 3 hours and we talked about everything. I then walked back to school with my music really loud, and i was literally smiling the whole way back.I got back to school and grabbed my wallet and bought some maredsous beer for Chris and Salmon back in australia. AND I WAS ALLOWED TO because im 16 so that was really cool. now im at the computer in study time and it is literally pitch black outside and its only 430 in the afternoon, but i literally cant see outside this window.
6. Its my last day today at Maredsous, and there are heapppppss of problems about me staying with Clemence. Sita has been removed from her house because of some complications, they can not see each other, and apparently Clem has been having some intense psycotic episodes. So yeah, Im not entirely sure about what is going to happen, but Im sure eveything will work out. I am very sad that this is my last day. The people I have met here are so incredible, they are so kind and warm, and I was so sad to say goodbye. I really cannot get over how welcoming everyone was. I thought that I was going to make friends, but not become close to them because I would only be there for a month. It ended up being the opposite, ill never forget how much effort they put into making friends with me, they are so genuine, honest and wonderful, and I dont think I can ever put into words how much I appreciate them. I really hope that I will be able to see them again.
3. The Fashion in Belgium is VERY different to Australian fashion. Its extremely conservative. My luggage consists of the things that I would usually wear in winter in Sydney. I cant wear most of the things that I brought here. I often come downstairs in some outfit that I constructed from the clothes in my bag, and often my family will tell me that it is not 'appropriate' to wear that here. It sucks because I literally wear the same thing all the time. People here get absolutely freaked out when I tell them that Im wearing a jumper with just a bra underneath. They absolutely FREAK out. Its actually a bit funny.
4.School. Maredsous. I really do love it here. I think that I prefer going to Queenwood, but being here is so amazing. There are things that I really wish were at Queenwood. The building. The teachers. The boys. The people here. The crazy festivals. The food on Wednesdays. The couvitrée and a million other things here. Ive always wanted to go to a boarding school, but experiencing one, makes me think that I definitely prefer being at a day school. Though, its really lovely being around people that are so nice 24/7 and they are always happy to help for anything. But the rules get really old, and there is a LOT of study time. Seriously a LOT.
5. At the moment it is exam week and so there are limited classes, the only one I went to today was the english class for the year 7s which was a huge waste of time, So I decided to walk around the villiage, (im definitely not allowed to do this) but im so happy that i did. I have never been anywhere more beautiful! the ground is absolutely covered in red and brown leaves and there are castles everywhere and beautiful old mansions, that look like they are out of movies. I was so happy just walking around, i saw an old man across the street who dropped something so i ran over to pick it up and then we had this huge conversation (in french) about australia and school and it was so nice! and i felt so happy because i think it mmade his day :) i then walked to Mauds house(she is an intern like me staying at another persons house and driving to school every day like me) because she is sick, so i went to visit her, and i stayed there for 3 hours and we talked about everything. I then walked back to school with my music really loud, and i was literally smiling the whole way back.I got back to school and grabbed my wallet and bought some maredsous beer for Chris and Salmon back in australia. AND I WAS ALLOWED TO because im 16 so that was really cool. now im at the computer in study time and it is literally pitch black outside and its only 430 in the afternoon, but i literally cant see outside this window.
6. Its my last day today at Maredsous, and there are heapppppss of problems about me staying with Clemence. Sita has been removed from her house because of some complications, they can not see each other, and apparently Clem has been having some intense psycotic episodes. So yeah, Im not entirely sure about what is going to happen, but Im sure eveything will work out. I am very sad that this is my last day. The people I have met here are so incredible, they are so kind and warm, and I was so sad to say goodbye. I really cannot get over how welcoming everyone was. I thought that I was going to make friends, but not become close to them because I would only be there for a month. It ended up being the opposite, ill never forget how much effort they put into making friends with me, they are so genuine, honest and wonderful, and I dont think I can ever put into words how much I appreciate them. I really hope that I will be able to see them again.