Birthdays
The most interesting thing about living at the castle is the way everybody takes care of one another. We wake each other up in the mornings, share food if somebody is hungry and always make sure nobody sits alone at dinner. The one thing that really illustrates this is the celebrating of birthdays. Since we are a long way from our families it can feel boring to celebrate ones birthday at the castle. We always try to make it special for our friends by doing things like baking them a cake, singing for them or buying them dinner.
This week our friend Kalle turned 18! We were a couple of friends who decided to bake him a cake and wake him up in the morning by singing happy birthday.
My Thursday
It might be interesting to know what goes on here during a typical day. I thought I would summarize my day to show what it can look like.
7.15 Get up for breakfast
9.50 My first lesson starts, We had a Leadership course led by our headmistress
11.20 Lunch
Took a powernap in my room
14.00 Art lesson
15.15 Finished school
Went jogging to carrefour with a friendto buy some snacks for the evening
Walked back to the castle and took a shower
Did some studying
These are the plans for my evening
18.30 Dinner
19.30 Study math with a few friends
Arrange a surprise for a friend who turns 18 tomorrow
Evenings at the castle
When school is over, we have had our dinner and hung out with friends it is time to get back to reality. A lot of students do their studying after dinner, around half past seven, and a few hours on. When people don't have homework to do they might watch a movie in the living room, hang out in somebody's room or perhaps make som food.
This week I have a lot of homework to do so there is not a lot of time for watching movies or chilling with friends. Instead me and a friend decided do sit down a few hours after dinner and finish some homework, not bringing any distractions like phones or computers with us. So we went to the students kitchen after dinner and studied for over two hours which I personally find impressing (considering that we stayed off facebook AND our phones).
We decided, like many other boarding students, to do this every week. I just thought I would write about this to give more insight into what it is like to study at the castle. Before I moved here I thought it would be impossible to study, that my grades would be lowered and that there would be no quiet alone time. This was wrong. Sure there are plenty of distractions at the castle and a lot more fun things to do than study but there are also over 40 other students with homework. You can always go to your room and lock the door to study or, like today, join friends in common rooms.
Floorball match
Today there was a floorball match at SSB. Last week me and a friend created an event on facebook inviting the whole school to come cheer for our boys. They, Waterloo Lions, met Tornado Brussels. It was a tough game and the opponents were very good. Unfortunately our boys lost the game but it was still a lot of fun to come down and watch. A lot of students actually came and cheered, kind of made it feel like a high school movie. I took some pictures I thought I would post here. All in all it was a fun day!
Interview: Boarding student
Vilde Holm
Gym 3
Boarding student since 2010
What made you decide on moving to Belgium as a boarding student?
I wanted a change in my life and an opportunity to start something new. I was also interested in learning a new language and engaging with people outside of Norway.
How did you get to know about SSB?
I heard about from other friends that were thinking about moving here and I thought it sounded like fun.
What was it like at first?
At first I was very nervous but everybody were so it wasn’t a problem. People were all in the same situation and open towards each other. The first day people all met and included everybody so it was not a problem to get to know each other. Living at the castle was a lot of fun in the beginning since people were so excited about this whole new living situation. We were all very social and it was great getting to know each other quickly.
What does a typical day look like for you?
I wake up in the morning and shower. Then I go down to breakfast and eat with all my friends. During school hours (8.15-15.15) I’m not really at the castle but after school I go to the castle and eat some snacks during snack time. I study for a few hours and then it is time for dinner. After this people mostly hang out, study together or watch TV. Around 11 people go to bed.
What is your relation to the House Parents?
They are great. They are always there for you when you need them and you can always go to them for help, no matter what is going on or when you need help. They are kind of like second parents and they try to take care of you in the best way possible.
What about homesickness?
The great thing about living in Belgium is that you are close to home. So if you feel like going home over a weekend it isn’t a problem and can always be arranged. I’m not really homesick because I’m always surrounded by my friends and there are always things going on here. There really isn’t any time to be homesick and time really flies.
What is important to think about when you move here?
It is quite important to be social because there are over 40 other students around you all the time. It is important to respect each other at the castle in order for us all to get along. Like not playing loud music when people are sleeping and things like that.
What is the best thing about living at the castle?
I think it is learning to be independent and being able to manage without your parents. I feel like I have gotten a lot more independent after having lived here. It is a once in a lifetime opportunity and I’m glad I took the chance.
The Castle Council
Just like a student council in school we have a castle council at the boarding. It consists of me together with Benjamin Bond and Johan Nikolai. What we do is have monthly meeting with all of the house parents and discuss different things we and them want to change at the castle. This could for example be changing the curfew time or discussing breakfast times.
The things we discuss can vary a lot but it is based on things we hear, personally think and things our fellow boarding students write on our facebook-page. We have a fb-page with all of the boarding students in it where people can, at any time, go in and write something that they want us to bring up at the next meeting.
Today we had a meeting and the way it works is that we create a list of the things we want to bring up and sometimes prepare what we are going to say carefully in order to have good arguments supporting it. We go and meet the house parents and bring up our ideas and thoughts and discuss them with the house parents. Sometimes they agree and sometimes they don't but then at least they are aware of what the students think about living at the castle.
Once the meeting is over, like right now, we write a summary of what we decided during the meeting and post it on facebook so that everybody knows what is going on and can make comments if they like.
I think that having the castle council is a great opportunity both for us, to enjoy living here as much as possible, but also for the house parents to get inside our brains and understand us more.
Christmas Break
Last week we all returned to the castle after a nice long christmas break. Most people went back home whilst some went on vacation with their famililes. I thought I would quickly explain how this works for us boarding students when our different school breaks begin since I myself wondered about this before I moved here.
We all book our tickets home seperately and then talk so our fellow classmates about when everybody else is leaving, what flights they are taking etc. This often happens via Facebook as we have a Group with all of the boarding students in it. So people write f.ex. "Who wants to share a taxi to Zaventem om 9th of January in the morning?" and then people that are leaving at the same time reply. So the most common thing is to go in a taxi together with other students. The similar thing happens when we are going to return from our hometowns, we simply ask via Facebook if anyone else nearby is leaving then too.
Coming back to the castle after the break always involves mixed feelings. We have been home with our families, relaxing and celebrating christmas, and obviously it's not very fun to leave that. But at the same time everybody has been missing their friends here and the reunion is so much fun since everyone shares holiday stories. It quickly makes the anxiety about school starting again go away, because living at the castle is actually a lot of fun.
