A room
A while back i took some photos of my friend's room. This is a big room in the castle on the second floor. I thought it might be interesting to see what a room can look like, other than my room which I have written about before. I am sorry about the bad quality of the photos.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Christmas at the boarding
About a week ago all of the boarding students were invited to a christmas workshop. It took place on a saturday afternoon and the houseparents had put a lot of effort into making this successful.
There were different sations one could go to. You could choose to make christmas cards for people back home, bake pepparkakor, decorate the castle, make marsipan snacks or simply enjoy the christmas music and socialise with your friends. There was a lot of nice food for us to eat and julmust was available for everybody. To make this even more fun the houseparents let their children join us so they helped us with our baking and played with us. It was a lot of fun and now the castle is very cosy, everybody received a christmas light (ljusstake) to put in their window. The corridors are now lit up by christmas lights and students have bought/created their own christmas calendars. It almost feels like at home.
Halloween at the Boarding
On the 12th of November the annual Halloween party took place, something organised by students. It is a lot of fun and the whole of Upper Secondary (Gym 1-3) is invited.
Here at the castle people spent the whole day getting ready and planning their halloween-outfits, people really went all in on being best dressed. While we were doing this Marie-Laure, one of our House Parents, took the opportunity to take some photographs of us and so did I. It was a great night and as always really fun to be with all of the classmates outside of school.
Routines at the castle
This is a short and general summary of some of our routines and rules here at the castle.
At the castle we have certain times that food is available to us. All of out meals are served in the food court, the same place that the whole school has lunch.
7.15-8.00: Breakfast.
8.15: Most classes start at this time.
11.00-13.00: Lunch, depending on when your lunch break is scheduled.
15.15: Usually when the last lesson ends.
15.15-16.15: Snack time/Mellanmål for the boarding students.
18.30-19.30: Dinner.
This is usually what an average day looks like and in between these times we do our homework, hang out with friends or do extracurricular activites.
However, as boarding students we have to take responsibility for ourselves and some of the chores are on our own shoulders. Once a week our rooms are vacuumed and cleaned but we have to make sure our rooms are not to messy and that things are in their right place. Every second week we are given new bed linens so we change that ourselves. Cleaning our clothes is something we don't get helped with. There are several washing machines and tumble dryers available for us so we can clean our clothes whenever we like. If we feel hungry at other times than the common meal times we are able to use the boarding kitchen on the first floor to make our own food, noodles for example. Another responsibility we have is to get up in the morning and not miss any lessons.
Since there are 46 students living at the boarding it is necessary to have some rules of when we have to be back home.
Sunday-Thursday: We have to be home by 23.00
Firdays: We have to be home by 02.00
Saturdays: We have to be home by 01.00
During the weekend we can ask for permission to sleep over at a friend's house but then we need the permission from both that family as well as our own parents. If it is to be approved it has to be sent in before noon on thursday and then we don't live at the castle during that/those days and follow the other family's rules.
This may all seem complicated and hard to get, and I also thought so in the beginning, but once you've lived here for a while it really comes naturally and routines fall into place.
Study visit: Brugge
I asked my friend Otto Cardell in Gym 2 if he could help me summarize their study visit to Brugge.
All of Gym 2 went to Brügge for a study visit on the 9th of September. I had not heard much of Brügge before, the only thing I knew was that they have a pretty good football team (Club Brügge). But as it appeared, Brügge was really a noteworthy town.
Our trip begun with a 1.5 hour long bus trip which was kind of fun since the bus driver played loud music the entire trip. When we arrived at our destination and got off the bus we were given a snack bag each as well as 10 euro for lunch which was very generous. While we ate our snack we started our walk by walking through a small community that looked almost like a town in medieval China. We crossed several small bridges and passed high medieval houses that almost looked like buddhistic buldings.
When we finally arrived in the central quarters of Brügge it felt as if you were pulled back 500 years in time. All of the buildings were low with small decorations. Here and there were signs hanging that said things like ”Carpenter” or ”Bakery”. Pretty much all around the inner city there were canals flowing between houses and it really made you understand why Brügge is compared to Venice.
The first thing we went to see was the enormous church. We got to know before hand that we were going to ascend 366 steps of stairs to reach the top. I can assure you that it was a lot more than it sounds! After about 250 steep steps one started using one’s hands to be able to climb. When we reached the top we were met by a mighty view. With the church bells just a meter over our heads you could look out over the thousands of densely built houses that practically covered all ground space, this made it look like a huge puzzle with rooftops in different colours. Before we went down the 366 steps the church bells began ringing, which made it even more majestic.
After this it was time for lunch. I spent my 10€ at Subway with some other boys in my class. This might not have been the most charming place where one could take the opportunity to eat when in Brügge but never the less it tasted good.
Before we went to eat lunch we were divided into groups and each group got a quiz paper about Brügge. The task was to, during the lunch break, walk around in Brügge and try to find the answers to questions like ”What does french fries cost at Grote Markt” and ”Who made the famous statue in ”Our Lady’s Church?”. The group with the most correct answers would win a price and my competitive side took over, obviously I wanted to win. I can admit to using google at a point. We were far away from winning in the end so it didn’t really matter.
Our study visit was ended by a sightseeing trip on a boat through the inner quarters of Brügge. It didn’t really matter that you couldn’t understand much of the Guide’s bad English since you could reach over and feel the water, pretending to be in Venice. Around 5 o’clock we took the bus back to Waterloo with loud music in our ears.
As you probably understood the study visit to Brügge was very successful and I really hope that we will go on similar trips in the future!
The castle in the evening
It is starting to get quite dark here now in the evenings, this is what it looks like around about the time we eat dinner. If you look at the first picture you can see the windows of the food court, the windows on the first floor facing the school The windows on the back of the school where lamps are lit inside is where our rooms are.
Rooms at the castle
Inside the castle there are many different things. There is a food court, art-room and conference rooms among other things. Today I thought I would explain a little about how we, as boarding students, live and about the private rooms. In the castle there are currently 46 students living in both singe and double rooms. When I moved here I asked if it was possible for me to live in a single room as I need my own time away from other people and that is how I live now.
On the ground floor of the castle there are the things I first mentioned, like the food court. When you go to the first floor you will find a washing room, a kitchen for the boarding students, a living room with a television and then the student corridor where 19 students live. On the second floor you will find showers, toilets, another living room and the student corridor with 27 student's rooms.
I live on the second floor in a single room. When I first arrived I did not know what to expect from the rooms but I was very pleasantly surprised to see that the rooms are quite big, have windows, a sink and mirror as well as some furniture like a bed and a desk. Some people have chosen to buy more furniture or things like carpets and posters at IKEA which is quite close to Waterloo but other have chosen to leave the room as it is since we get everything we actually need.
I chose to change some things in my room but basically all of the furniture in the room was here when I got here so I've only added some details to make it more homey. I feel very much at home at the castle and my room is almost like a small apartment. It's nice to be able to always be with other students and not feel lonely but at the same time it is possible to go into your room and be alone.
This was the way my room looked when I arrived, before I changed anything. This is the way my room looks now:
My room is just one example and I will show other student's rooms and let them talk about it in other posts as well.
The castle (boarding)
Close to the actual school, the actual boarding school is situated. The boarding students here live in a beautiful castle, a 19th century chateau. Inside the castle there are currently living 46 students in both single and double rooms, mostly singe ones. Inside the castle there is a fully equipped kitchen, living room with couches and a television, a washing room with washing machines and tumble dryers as well as toilet and showering facilities.
One could say that the castle is like one big house for the 46 students living at the school. Of course there aren't only students living at the castle, there are so called House Parents that live here with us. Inside the castle there are 5 houseparents with their families and about 20 metres away from the school there are 2 more houseparents living in a house with their children. I will write more about the inside of the castle and the houseparents in other posts but I just thought I would show some pictures of my, and 45 other students, home.
Picture 1: The front of the castle
Picture 2: The side/back of the castle
Finally a picture to show how close the school is to the castle.
