March – 2005
Things are going well at my Dutch high school, Ulenhof College. Really, I should be working on homework right now, but I am putting it off to write a little about how school is going. Like any student, I thrive on excuses.
I have not written much about school yet, but I write now because I have a much better footing on things, as opposed to the very shaky situation I had at the beginning of the year. With most any other foreign exchange student to back me up, switching schools and learning a language was similar to adjusting to life on Mars. Actually I don’t have any Martian students to back me up with that one, but all in all, school was hard.
Looking back on the first months, a couple things stick out. First, I remember a lot of people being very curious. Many from my class asked me who I was and about the program with which I came. This was a nice way to get to know my class and get around talking to people. While chatting, I was always asked, “Why the Netherlands? It’s so small.” This is probably just a question of perspective. For my classmates, their country of the Netherlands is familiar so it is hardly exotic or desirable. I usually explained that the country did not make a big difference to me, just so I could escape my parents; I mean, see another culture.
Part of the culture I got to see was how the school was different from high school in the U.S. Besides the absence of the typical freshman through senior system, the school I go to has other differences. The biggest difference is the fact that time between classes is five minutes. Two extra minutes between classes has been the single most positive aspect of my year.
Seriously, there are some really nice differences about the school. The schedule is a lot more like college, with flexible hours and plenty of free periods in between to work on homework or go to the library. One thing I am not sure is positive or negative is the teaching system. In my school, the teachers expect the students to be a lot more independent. This means we are expected to do homework, but we are rarely expected to hand it in. It is a nice way to see how much self-motivation you can muster, but it is easier to get behind.
There are a lot more, smaller differences in school and work. Most students study at least four languages, including Dutch, English, German, French, sometimes adding on Latin and Spanish. Also, the grades from tests do not carry as much weight as semester tests in the U.S. The most important tests are taken the last year of high school, the exam year, and include everything learned in the subject. For a trivial difference, gum is not allowed.
Something else that comes to mind when going back to the first half of the school year is the language. The only Dutch I knew at the beginning of the year was a broken one through ten, pulled out from the dusty memories of third grade Social Studies. At the beginning of the year, the thought of learning a whole language was a little irritating to me. At school, I needed to learn Dutch. Since I had no choice, so I went with it. I was happy to start learning a few words in Dutch, but it took some time before I got the vocabulary and courage to talk.
Eventually, though it seemed too late coming, I made the switch, and I now talk only in Dutch. It really makes a world of difference. When I am sitting with friends at lunch time, I can follow their conversation and even join in. I can do my homework almost all of the time, and I feel much more independent now. The first few months, I needed everyone to talk English with me, but that restriction is gone.
Thanks to learning how to speak Dutch, I have been able to become nice friends with some people at school. It was not always the most comfortable social situations. I unfortunately do not have the ability to make friends in 15 seconds like my eight year old sister. Still, school is something I can always look forward to, even Mondays, since I have good friends. Being able to forward to school on a Monday is really something.
To sum things up, I really like the school I am attending, with its good and not-as-good points. Now, I better give in and finish my homework; tomorrow is another day of school.