Study visit: NATO
Today the Social Science group in Gym 3 went to NATO for a study visit. We took the school bus into Brussels and met our contact person, a woman working by NATO. Our car was inspected, we got badges and went through a security check before entering. The headquarters were rather big and there were several buildings. We went to the Swedish part. Apparently, I did not know this, Sweden has a cooperation with NATO although it is not a member.
We met a man who held a presentation for us which was very informative, I learn't a lot about today's politics and how different institutions handle these matters. After this interesting presentation with question answering was over we went to have lunch. It was a vey big cantina with lots of nice food. We sat together with people working at NATO which was fun because we excahnged information about their work and about our school.
After this we went back to the school and went into the sun to study for the rest of the day. A very nice and giving day. Unfortunately I was not allowed to take any photographs so I had to steal one from google.
Summer times at the castle
For the past week we have been having great weather here in Belgium. The sun is shining, it's 20 degrees outside and everybody can stop wearing layers of clothing. This is the best time to be living at the castle because everybody is outside tanning, skating, hanging at at cafés in town, having picniks and playing around in the sun.This time of year I am so grateful to be living in this country with my wonderful friends!
Evening studies at the castle
I'll let the picture speak for itself, this is a lot what our evenings usually look like!
Food at the castle
I thought I would write a little about food and eating at the castle. Before I moved here it was a big concern for me. Every day we get served breakfast before school which is very good. There is plenty of bread, cerreal, fruit, freshly squeezed orange juice and coffee to go around. After school we have "snack time" and this is a fun time to hang out with your friends and discuss your day whilst eating something small.
Dinner is served at 18:30 and every day there is something new. We never eat the same things as at lunch in school and it is very varied. Every week we always eat fish, chicken, beef... potatoes, rice, pasta... as you can see it is very varied which I think is great. If the dinner doesn't suit your taste there is always a salad bar and bread available.
Sometimes during f.ex. weekends or evenings when we have a lot of studying to do we like to order food. Pizza and sushi are probably the most popular things to order. This is very nice to do if you have a group project in school with some people and need some extra food to keep you going.
In addition to this many students keep a mini storage of food in their room, food bought at carrefour. This is mostly things like noodles, quick pasta, popcorn and such things. Food isn't really a problem at all and if you get very hungry in the evening you can just ask your fellow castle friends on the facebook group if anyone has any food they could sell you.
SSB MUN preparations
On Wednesday it is time for the annual SSB MUN (Scandinavian School of Brussels Model United Nations). Every student in Gym have been assigned a country and a theme to work with. The three themes that will be discussed this year is Trafficiking, Migration and World Rights. I am in the country of France in the World Rights committee.
Today and tomorrow are preparing days when we get to work together with our partners to write an opening speech and study our countries closely in order to be able to participate in debates. A lot of people are excited and nervous about this event as it means speaking in front of a lot of people and also having great knowledge of a country.
100 days
Tomorrow the students in Gym 3 celebrate the fact that there are only 100 days left until we graduate! We ordered "studenttröjor" a while back, hoodies with an emblem for us graduates printed on it, and today they arrived! We are all vary excited. There is also a countdown placed in the reception together with pictures of all of the graduates.
