9-10 December

Thursday wasn't too eventful during the day, however ice-skating had been planned for all the sixth-formers. I had already checked with Mr. Michaels to see if I could go and luckily I could. It was the first time I went ice-skating this winter and it was a lot of fun. It wasn't a big rink and I was using ice-hockey skates (I usually use other ones), however it was still a lot of fun. Mr. Pytel (business studies teacher) and Oliver were both amazing at ice-skating and it was really fun to watch. Friday was just a regular school day and we just followed all the classes. There wasn't much to do in the evening either, so I just spent my time on the computer and playing a bit of pool and watching TV with some people. However, I was very excited that it was finally weekend!

6-8 December

The weekend had finished and all the snow had pretty much disappeared, due to rain and the temperature. So it was a normal school day, no snow day. Not much happened on Monday, we just followed our regular classes. We did realise during DT that we really had to hurry up with our project or we might not be able to finish it. Tuesday was a lot of fun, because it was our St. Nicholas party! We'd missed it on Friday due to the snow day and decided to do it today. I'd alrady made my poem for Maurice on Monday, however he hadn't, and quickly 'made' one in his free period. During 8th period we had our party and it was a lot of fun. There were 3 other Dutch people and Mrs Lams. We had some hot chocolate and treats as we opened our presents. After that we had our business class with Mr. Pytel. He was also a great fan of St Nicholas and made us sing some songs. Wednesday wasn't too eventful. Maurice and I had to do a chemistry test, which we thought was way too hard for us to do without a book, so we were able to do it with a book and computer and we handed it in later. There was also no games on Wednesday due to the amount of snow that was still on the rugby pitches.

5 December

Today was Sunday, so our final day to relax. Nothing much was planned for today, just a quick visit to Sainsbury's (supermarket) and then I would get dropped off at Reed's. So, we had some breakfast at 9:30 and then packed our bags and put them in the car. Luckily I still sort of knew the way to Sainsbury's, so we got there quickly. We then went into the shop and got what we needed. I chose my St. Nicholas present for Maurice to give to me. after our shopping Maurice's parents dropped me off at Reed's and then they left. For the rest of the day I didn't really do much, just relax a bit in the sixth form house.

4 December

We had to wake up quite early this morning, because we were going to London today! We had some breakfast, which was surprisingly much nicer than a few weeks ago, which was nice. We then quickly went back to our room and then left for london. We went by car to Oxshott station and then took the train to London. The train ride took about 45 minutes during which Maurice decided to sleep and I listened to my ipod. We then arrived at Waterloo Station and first we decided to have a look at the London Eye, so we walked to it and inspected the queue. it wasn't too long, however, not all of us wanted to go in, so eventually we didn't. Maurice had also heard from Steve that Ripley's Believe it or not museum was also pretty fun. I'd already been there once and it was loads of fun, so we decided to go there. We eventually found it and went in. It took us a good few hours to get through it, but i for one really liked it, even though I had already been there before. It was already around 5 o'clock and we'd had no lunch, so we decided to get something to eat and then head back. We arrived back at the Premier Inn after a really fun day in London. We relaxed in our room for a while, then had some dinner and then went to sleep.

3 December

After a nice relaxed day yesterday I woke up today knowing it would be another snowday. There wasn't particularly much to do today, so Maurice would come to Reed´s by train at around 12. I had some breakfast and went to the 6th form house. When Maurice had arrived we were discussing what to do today. I wanted to at least go somewhere, because if we stayed at Reed's all we could do was prep or clear snow. So, we decided to go to Cobham like yesterday again. Luckily, I knew how to get there and it took us some 20 minutes to get there. Once we arrived we had a look at some shops and then went to Starbucks. Seeing it was a blistering hot summersday, I had a frappucino. After Starbucks we went home, which for some reason took way longer than the way to Cobham (even though we took the same route!). After arriving at Reed's we played some pool and went on the computer. At around 9:30  Maurice's parents and his brother Sander arrived and we could quickly leave, as Maurice and I both had our bags ready. We were staying at the premier Inn again we had stayed at the first time we came here. I was very tired for some reason and fell asleep immediately when I hit the bed.

2 December

I woke up this morning and I immediately looked out of the window and everything was covered in snow. Then I heard someone knock at the door. First I thought i had just imagened it, but after I had heard it for the second time I quickly got out of bed and opened the door. It was Mr. Gray, who told me there was no school today, due to the snow! I was thrilled, however, I couldn't jump back into bed and have a nice lie in because we had breakfast at 8:30 and a meeting at 9. I got dressed and went to the sixth form house. I then had some breakfast in a very quiet cafeteria. At 9 we had a meeting, at which Mr. Michael told us what we were supposed to and were able to do today. There was a walk to Cobham in the morning, which I decided to participate in. It was a lot of fun and I had a nice warm hot chocolate at Starbucks. When we got back we had to do some prep, which I then did. After prep we had snow clearing, which all the 6th formers had to participate in. However Mr. Michael was not in charge of this and didn't really care, so every one including me made themselves scarce to not have to do snow clearing. The rest of the day I just relaxed and had some dinner. Conclusion: I love snowdays!

29-30 November + 1 December

The weekend had finished and it was once again Monday. It was already getting pretty cold and my tutor (Mrs Evans) said that the English were obsessed with the weather and that they expected snow tomorrow. The rest of the day wasn't too thrilling, I didn't have any tests for Holland this week, which I was very happy about, so I could really relax this week. Tuesday had finally arrived and when I woke up the first thing I did was look out of the window to see if it had snowed; and yes! it was snowing! I heard it was a mufti day (no uniform) today, which made it even better. It wasn't snowing too much, but just enough for a little snow to settle and make everything white. I also heard that some of the Dutch kids were going to be celebrating “Sinterklaas” on Friday and that I had to buy a present for Maurice. I also had a look at the weather forecast for tomorrow and it predicted more snow. Then Wednesday came and this time it was snowing really badly. A good 10 cm of snow had already formed, however there was still school. It was, however, once again a mufti day! After lunch, because there was no games in the afternoon, Maurice and I decided to go to Guildford and buy presents for “Sinterklaas”. We already knew what we wanted, so we bought our presents and quickly went back to school before it got dark. Maurice was immediately picked up by Steve and I went back to the Sixth form house and eventually to bed.

28 November

It was Sunday and the weekend had almost finished. We once again could not have a 'real' lie in and got up at around 9 o'clock. I had the same big English breakfast as yesterday and we went back to our room after breakfast. We could relax for a short while before we had to leave to visit some friends we know from my school in Ireland. Vanessa and I were together in senior infants, William was in junior infants, and after that year they moved back to England.  They live in Tonbridge, which is about 45 minutes away from the hotel we were staying at. When we arrived it was very nice to see them, because I hadn't seen them for ages. I also met Bart, their dog, again who is very hyper but funny. We played a bit of football, watched some football on TV (Chelsea-Newcastle) and went on the computer for a little while. After lunch we had to leave again and we dropped Maurice off at his host family and then we drove to Reed’s. I arrived back at the Close at around 6 pm, and my parents and my brother Martijn had to leave soon afterwards, so that they wouldn't arrive back home too late. The weekend had finished.

27 November

Maurice and I wanted to have a lie in on Saturday morning, because we had gone to bed quite late, but that wasn’t really possible because breakfast was served till ten, so we were still very tired when we got up at nine. We had a nice English breakfast, which like the dinner the previous night was better than at the other Premier Inn, I thought. We went to our rooms and went on the internet to have a look at what we could do that day. We already knew that Mercedes-Benz World looked very nice and after having a look at the site we decided to go there. When we arrived it all looked very impressive. There was a big racing circuit and a huge building with inside a lot of Mercedes cars and lots of other things to do and see. It was possible for anyone over 1.50 m. tall to take a driving lesson, so that is what we did first! It was loads of fun, only it was an automatic, which made it 'easy'. However, when I was talking to the instructor about the World Cup I almost lost focus and nearly missed a stop sign. After our driving lessons we had a look in the car museum and after that went on the racing circuit with a racing driver. This was so much fun and very exciting. After our fun day we had dinner at the Pizza Hut and went back to the hotel. It had been a great day!

25+26 November

On Thursday I woke up thinking it was a normal uniform day. However, when I came to school, everyone was wearing casual clothes. Maurice told me that you could wear casual clothes if you paid 1 pound. So I quickly went back to my room and changed my clothes. When I went to tutor class I had to recite a poem, so I did a Dutch one, which was pretty funny. I also had my big Latin test, but fortunately it wasn't that hard and I think I did very well. My IB test also went pretty well. My parents were also coming this weekend and we were already planning things to do, like going to the Mercedes-Benz world, which looked fun. Maurice was going to stay at the hotel with us, so we were really looking forward to it! Then finally Friday arrived and Maurice and I were very excited for the weekend. Not much had happened at school that week and I expected my parents and my little brother to arrive at around 6 pm. However, they were already there at 4 while Maurice and I were still playing pool with some people. We quickly went to the Close, I packed my bag and we all headed for the Premier Inn in Epsom. We had a very nice dinner (much better than the other Premier Inn) and afterwards Maurice and I went on MSN very long and watched some TV. After that we went to bed.

22-24 November

It was a nice couple of days here at the beginning of our third week. I feel that we have finally settled in here. I understand most of the customs and all the classes are becoming routine. We had a physics test on Wednesday, which didn't go as well as some as the other tests. I had rugby practice on Wednesday too, which was a lot of fun again. I am still missing football, though, and I hope I can play it again soon. I have, however, played with the football that I bought a few times, only it would be fun to play a match. I also had to study really hard for my Latin and IB tests, especially Latin, which was really important. So I went to sleep on Wednesday, hoping it would be easy.