Scandinavian school of Brussels - blog

Yesterday some girls in my class went out to dinner to celebrate our friend Erika who turned 20 this tuesday. We went to a really nice little resturant in Waterloo called L'Amusoir (if you go there, try the steak, it's amazing!). We had a really nice time and Erika enjoyed herself so much and got some very nice presents. We spent the evening talking about what we are going to do after graduation, which is so interesting to talk about. It is going to feel so funny when we all leave SSB and everyone starts a new life somewhere doing all kinds of different things.

 

Tomorrow, as you may know, is the last day in school before our easter break which lasts for two whole weeks. I am going to Sweden to meet my family and friends, I have also quite many thing to do during the holiday, like signing papers for the driving test which I will do this summer, apply for schools in Sweden for the autumn, apply for jobs for next year and for this summer and study for ¨högskoleprovet¨ (help!). But I am sure that it is going to go fine and I am really looking forward to meeting my family and friends in Sweden since I haven't seen them since Christmas. 

 

So, this afternoon I will be packing my bags to go home. Which also will be a mission since this is my only chance to take home all my winter/skiing clothes. I don't understand how I will be able to pack and get home all of my things to Sweden before the graduation... 

 

Beautiful Erika yesterday at her birthday dinner!

It thought that it was about time to show you guys how I live. I haven't shown you any photos of the rooms in the castle yet and I guessed that some of you could be interested in how they look. I will start by showing you my room but I will also go around to some of my friends rooms and take some pictures of them so you can see different rooms and how every person has put their personal touch to it! I hope you enjoy!

 

In my room, I have a sort of enterance room where i have a sink, my warderobe and so on: 

As I told you all before the weekend, the boarding students went on a daytrip to Antwerpen. The bus left at 09.00 and we arrived in Antwerpen about an hour later. All the students and two of our houseparents met up with Christina Newport at the central station and she took us along on a guided tour of Antwerpen. Since me and my friend hade gone on the tour last year, we didn't have to participate in the tour and went shopping instead. The tour went on for about an hour and 30minutes and those who went on the tour said that they thought that it was very interesting and that it was fun to get a deeper knowledge of Antwerpen as a city. 

 

Some friends and I went shopping together, which was great since Antwerpen provides great stores that don't exist in Brussels or Waterloo. Later in the afternoon we went to eat some lunch at a nice italian place in the middle of the city. Afterwards, we kept on walking around in Antwerpen going into some stores and looking at the beautiful buildings. 

 

Antwerpen is a great city and if you come to Belgium you should really give it a visit. It only takes about an hour with train from Brussels and you arrive in the middle of the city around all the shopping, the zoo and around loads of lovely resturants. 

 

Here are some photos that I took during the day: 

How did you hear about SSB?

-          Well, my brother’s friend attended SSB some years ago and lived at the boarding school and said that it would be a great experience for me to go.

 

Why did you choose to move to the boarding school?

-          Some of my friends went abroad the year before I did and they all lived in host families. Some of them had problems with them and it can easily affect your experience in a bad way. I thought that moving to a boarding school would be a fun and interesting experience.

 

Was it scary to move all by yourself?

-          Absolutely! I didn’t want to think about the fact until I sat in the taxi from the airport. At that point there was no return and I think it’s very good to go abroad by yourself. When I think about it now, it seems like such a silly thought you know? You really have to make an effort to NOT make friends at SSB. There is no one without friends here!

 

What makes SSB stand out compared to other schools you have attended?

-          As I said before, the boarding school versus host family was pretty important, but most important was that SSB was a Scandinavian school, therefore I wouldn’t have to take a gap year during upper secondary and attend upper secondary four years instead of three.

 

Are you looking forward to graduate?

-          That’s a tricky question actually. Of course I want to graduate, that is something that you have kind of dreamed about your whole life. On the other hand I don’t want to leave SSB and my life here. In one way I don’t feel finished with upper secondary. These three years, especially my year at SSB, has been so much fun in so many ways.

 

Haha! guess what me and my friend Batman are doing this friday evening, we have loaded up with plenty of goods to keep us buisy! I hope you all will have a nice friday evening/night!

 

Yesterday was as I said an In-Service day at school, so we didn't have any school. So I spent the day studying with my friend Stephanie, when the day turned in to evening and we were still studying, we started to feel sorry for ourselves and decided to go out to town and get some chinese food. So we walked in a snowy and sunny Waterloo  to a place called Yoko Wok, which is about a 20minutes walk from the school. 

Tomorrow the boarding is going to Antwerpen together, which I am looking forward to. So I will promise you all an update in the upcoming days so I can tell you all what we did and show you guys some pictures!

 

Yesterday it was so snowy here in Waterloo, there were plenty of kids and teachers that weren't able to make it to school because of the weather and the traffic. As a reslut, SSB made an announcement on facebook saying that school ends at 14.00 and that tomorrow (which is now today) we are free from school! So today, all the students are at home and I think that none of them really took this as bad news.. 

Another fun fact is that we have an in-service day tomorrow, and have therefore no school tomorrow either! In other words, you could say that we have a weekend, in the middle of the school week. I do not complain :)

 

So today, I have been taking it pretty easy, I slept in and have gotten some homework done, which feels really good! 

I hope that all the students (and the rest of you guys) are having a good day and enjoying a snowy Belgium!

 

Last wednesday the countdown for graduation started!! I can't believe that there is so little time left in school. It really makes me think about what I am going to do next year. I am really looking forward to graduate, but in the mean time it is abit sad and scary to think about leaving all my friends here and starting a whole new life and taking responsibility. But now the countdown has officially started until the graduation of 2013!!!

 

 

A couple of weeks ago I celebrated my 18th birthday here at the castle. It felt weird because I have never celebrated my birthday without my family before so I wasn't sure how it would be like. In the morning before school, my friends came into my room with a baked cake singing for me! I was so surprised and I must say that it was a great start to my birthday! In school i got a package in the mail from my parents, wishing me happy birthday. I also recieved some beautiful flowers from a friend of mine, I was so surprised and happy :)

In the evening I took my friends out for dinner at a Italian resturant in town. We had a great time and the food was fantastic! I got some amazing gifts from my friends, like a beautiful watch, a box from a series I watch and I also got a ticket for the Rihanna concert in Stockholm this summer! I felt so spoild but I think it is fair to say that my friends are the best!

 

So in whole, my birthday was great and I couldn't have celebrated it in a better way. It would have been nice to be with my family, but in the meantime, I see my friends as family and I am so happy that they were there to celebrate with me! 

 

Hello! Its been a while since I last wrote in this blog and I am sorry for that. I have had loads of school work and I have also been ill with the flu! But I am feeling alot better now and am going to give you all an update on what you have missed!

 

As I told you before, a majority of the students in the gymnasium went to Val D'Isere together for a week during the holiday. We had so much fun together and the weather was really nice aswell. There was a skiing competition called Frostgun, which we also attended. When we came home from the holiday, everyone was so happy and had had a great time. I am sure that the teachers weren't so pleased to see that we were so tired from the trip (after traveling in the bus for 14 hours), but I am sure they understand!

 

Looking back at these photos, I really miss Val D'Isere and hope to be going back there in the future. I think that it is so great that we were so many students who went there together. It really shows that we have a good time together and that we all are very close!