Last weekend was our very first Exeat and in short, it was amazing. The Thursday before, us boarders all had like a bit of a freakout, as we hadn't planned or booked anything, and spent hours (literally) searching for accomodation on the Internet. After weeding through places that operated under the delusion that 'Centre of London' could mean up to 30km away, and some who's reviews were somewhat less than flattering; 'F*** this f***ing place. Where the f*** is the hot water and the rooms are f***ing filthy...'; We resigned ourselves to simply doing a few day trips into London.
Woke up bright and early Friday morning – my day off – thanks to a fire drill at 6:30am, however this meant that I was awake in time for breakfast, which I always seem to miss on weekends and Fridays.
After catching a train into London, we started the day off by walking over Tower Bridge which was pretty cool apart from the cold. Our faces seemed to freeze a bit as we walked past the Tower of London and forming words was starting to get hard. I really regretted not bringing gloves (well they were hot pink in colour...) We walked along the Thames for a while and saw the sun for like the third time since we arrived in cold, gloomy England. We stumbled across the Borough Markets which were so so cool! Then we sought refuge from the cold in a small cafe where we had our lunch. Unfortunately my doener days are over, but the felafel wrap substitute was pretty delish.
After lunch we went to Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre and did the guided tour. It was so amazing to actually visit a place that I’ve heard so much about and the Museum was sahhh interesting. Wow that kind of sounded sarcastic, but it actually was amazing. We took awesome photos with a bear (not a real one alas) and Yve and I spent over an hour using magnetic Shakespearean words to make a list of rules regarding sons. Hysterical. Don’t worry, we took photos. During this time I somehow became semi-obsessed with the phrase ‘Suffer ye mutual brow’. I’ve no idea why I found this particular combination of words so funny, but I must admit, I still have to suppress a giggle writing about it.
And after the Globe, we went back to the Borough Markets and bought brownies, cake etc which was absolutely delicious. We then ended up at Buckingham Palace, and did a bit of shopping before meeting up with Georgie to have dinner in China town. I guess reasonably priced, easily available asian food is something we just take for granted in Melbourne. You don’t notice how much you miss it until you go overseas. Once in Germany, I went to a Chinese restaurant and got sushi... coz you know, Japan is just a city in China... duh. cool story hansel.
(P.S. I literally first realised the true sarcastic implications of that phrase 2 days or so before Christmas. All those times that I thought I was telling my biffle actual ‘cool stories’... lies, ALL LIES)
Anyway, I really enjoyed a change from the heavy fatty school food, delicious though it is.
Saturday was even better than Friday. Yve, Caitlin, Greer and I went to catch a train into London. Turns out that it’s not just metro who likes to cancel trains. We ended up having to catch a bus and then a train from a fairly dodgy station which had urinals in the girls’ bathroom. And yes, I did double check the sign on the door. Twice.
We got off the Tube at Westminster station and walked along taking photos of Big Ben, the Houses of Parliament and Westminster Abbey. We rocked up to a random cafe for lunch, but we didn’t eat much. The soup was out of a Maggi container and tasted weiriirddd and my bread roll – well you could hit it with a hammer and it would probably shatter, it was that stale. Hate to be a food snob, but blergh. Ended up with a wrap from Pret a Manger.
The tour of Parliament took about an hour and a half, and was really exhausting. The building is so so beautiful, being originally built as a palace, and when we first walked through we were like oooh don’t those seats look comfy! Isn’t it great that we won’t have to stand the whole time! Ooh how lovely’ But then it was like uhhh no... you’re not allowed to sit. Not even in the House of Commons. Well I spose they’re very selective there. Like... your mum is the epitome of common, but even she can’t sit. (yeah I went there)
But overall it was really interesting and absolutely incredible! The floors, the roofs, the throne, the paintings and decor. I really enjoyed the tour.
Afterwards we went to Harrods. Just wondering... is there anything that Harrods doesn’t sell? And don’t tell me lions, because that 'Christopher' lion chap was totally bought there back in the day.
There were lollies, designer jewellry, clothes clothes clothes, scarves that costed over £500 - that is when they were on sale, handbags, perfume, food, icecream icecream, cupcakes, sparkley cupcakes, shoes, chocolate etc. It was fun but really crowded.
Then I ditched Yve, Greer and Caitlin who were heading back to High Wycombe and met up with Izzy, Georgie and Aisling for dinner. And afterwards... oh hang on... what did we do? It's totally slipped my mind. Oh right, now I remember, something to do with London's west end. OMG WE WENT AND SAW CHICAGO which was absolutely wonderful and just really great. The music and dancing was terrific!
Then we feasted on Mcflurries for 99p and went back home (that is, Godstowe). Such a good night.
And on Sunday... we kinda slept. and ate food. and worked in the evening. TMI? I know, I know, I probably shoulded post such things on the internet..
yep, that was my weekend. What'd you get up to?
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Thursday, January 20, 2011
Third Week
Ok, so it's the third week here at Godstowe and I've finally caved to pressure and started a blog. Yep, and I'm totes going to update it regularly (Just like that journal of mine which is currently hibernating at the back of my draw). Who knows, I may even manage a weekly update.
Anyway, just a quick summary of what I've done since Christmas.
Left on Boxing Day, endured a disgustingly long flight to Germany, stopping over at Kuala Lumpur. Got picked up from Stuttgart by the most amazing girl I know. Finally saw my favourite German family again. Had awesome German food. Drank coffee. Slept. A lot. Went to a bar with German friends. Appreciated the lower drinking age on behalf of Louisa and friends. Schwaebisch Hall, Crailsheim and the like. Discovered that I was lactose intolerant. Had lunch at Robert's work - it was awesome. Drank coffee. Got sick (thanks Louisa). Felt like absolute shit. Went to Nuremberg - AMAZING. Stepped in katze kacke. So did Lous. Hung out with Jenny <3, Helped cook delicious stuffed eggplants. Drank coffee. Was very very happy. Saw German grandparents who are awesome! Lost 2kg. Set of fireworks NYE. Singed my hand. Felt really sick and wanted to just sleep. Woke up. Caught a train to Stuttgart with Louisa. Had really good coffee. Talked and Talked. Said goodbye. Cried. Caught a flight to London Heathrow. Met a lot of rude people in the airport. Got a bit lost in the airport. Got stressed out in the airport. Finally got to Paddington. Met Yve, Georgie, Aisling, Greer, Caitlin. Went to hotel. Felt better. Ate Chinese and watched Mary Poppins.
The hotel was pretty good; old quaint and charming; and we got free breakfast. I had eggs and mushrooms and tomatoes. Yummy.
Then on the 2nd day of 2011, after discovering that even on Oxford Street, shops were closed on Sunday mornings, we all headed back to Godstowe. It was on this day that I first met 'The Hill'. First impressions weren't that great. I was tired, grumpy and a little sick, and dragging 25kg behind me. The Hill was most uncompromising, very set in its ways, and didn't do anything to make our first encounter easier. However since this day, i've had a very up and down relationship with Hill. Sure, we've still got issues we need to 'work out', but at the same time, I feel like it's helping me in the 'long run'.
Anyway, Godstowe is a really pretty school, compromising of really old beautiful buildings. For the first night, I joined the others in Highlands (the boarding house for the younger girls) and we cooked pasta and watched Misfits. I really enjoy that show, but it does have a tendency to be quite crude. Which can lead to awkward situations such as if said show was making inappropriate sound effects... and a hypothetical boarding mistress decides to come in and introduce herself and talk to us...But overall it was pretty good just to relax and catch up with the others. The actual schoolgirls wouldn’t be arriving until the 5th so we had some space to just chill.
The next day (3rd Jan), we met the Headmaster, David, who is actually a top bloke. [imput from Yve: ‘He so is! He’s the best!’] He’s really easy going and friendly and knows each of the girls by name. (and like Yve said... he does kind of remind me of Santa). So we finally organised who was doing what and I chose to work in Turner with 12-13 year old girls.
The last three weeks have basically been taken up by getting to know the girls and working. The hours are normally mornings and evenings, which means that i have the middle of the day free. Yay. But it’s so tiring working until 10pm and having to start work at 6:45 in the morning. But Thursday is my sleep in day, so I get to lie in bed and listen to Georgie doing all the work. Good times. And Friday – my day off! Last Friday we all (except Izzy) went down to Yates – the bar/pub/club and had a great night out. So yeah, coolio schmoolio, the work’s ok, and on weekends we do cool activities such as making rockets, putting gunpowder in them and then blowing them up in a park. Or see a Pantomine. Either’s cool.
Last Thursday we went down to the Doctor’s to have the customary ‘New Patient’ check up. It was kind of depressing, because it was mostly just with this machine who took height/BMI/etc and it was like BAMMM 5 kilos. Five for you! And none for Gretchen Wieners. Bye. We all seem to be feeling the effects of the plentiful and yummy food.
The school is currently recovering from an ‘epidemic’ of sorts. And no, I’m not talking about Bieber fever... the girls are so obsessed I don’t think there’s much hope for them. Same goes for the girls who have the hots for Jacob, or even get chills when thinking about their favourite sparkly icy cold vampire. No, those girls are beyond saving. However recently there’ve been a lot of girls coming down with a sort of gastro. Poor Yve and Caitlin, who are in charge of Highlands have had about 14 girls sick. So far Turner remains unaffected, so I hope no one here gets sick.
I felt really sorry for Rose, who just arrived on the 16th and got sick straight away. Not the best welcome to England.
The girls are really lovely, if occasionally a bit mischievous. My own tiny room is actually alongside a dorm containing 7 fourths (13 yr-olds), so I do hear it if any shenanigans go down overnight. Last night I heard a faint humming sound coming from the wall, so I went to go check that the girls had turned the fans off in the showers. They had. I was actually hearing the girls pretending that their dorm was an aeroplane just taking off, with the dorm captain giving orders as the pilot. Girls after lights out... just crazy.
I should probably briefly mention the joys of Primark/Topshop/Zara, but to be honest, I find the latter two slightly depressing due to my lack of funds available for simply shopping! But Primark... PRIIIMARRRKKK. It’s almost like a battle call! £1, £2, £3, £4 even £5! There’s just so much stuff. That being said, I have to say that I’ve only bought a few things from there so far. Just a small cardie and tights. But somehow I still feel really close to this shop... almost at home. Could it be... have I found... My new Big W???
Whilst everything here is really nice, I don’t think I’d ever want to be a girl in a boarding school. For one thing, you have no freedom. Showers are at this time, homework must be done from this time til that time. Snacks, reading, mealtimes - everything kinda operates to a schedule.
Another thing that would bother me is the absolute lack of privacy. Every morning I do a room inspection, which isn’t just checking if the beds are made and if the rubbish is off the ground. I’m also supposed to look in the wardrobe and through the coat pockets to make sure that no one has lollies or snacks or anything they shouldn’t have. Yesterday I had to go through everyone’s ipods and check to make sure that they have no videos on them (Girls aren’t allowed any movies or music videos etc on their ipods. It means they stay awake at night watching them. There was also a crackdown on it last year when they found girls watching Skins on someone’s ipod. Yeahhhh no girls, you’re 13). But then I also had to look through all the short clips that they’d taken themselves, ‘just to make sure’. It was just uncomfortable, because I’d hate it if someone went through my stuff.
But overall, it’s a lovely place and everyone is very friendly. Tomorrow the other boarding gaps and I are off to London for a day trip, and possibly again on the weekend, because we have an Exeat (all the boarders go home). It’s going to be STEAK SAUCE!
(we’ve also been watching a lot of HIMYM in our time off. God I love that show.)
So right now I’m off to look up rad and cool stuff to do in London. Yeah, just be jealous coz you know you want to come too.
Maybe I’ll even go for a long run after we’ve organised everything... haha LOL JOKES I’m going to have a nap. Viel spass everyone
xx
Anyway, just a quick summary of what I've done since Christmas.
Left on Boxing Day, endured a disgustingly long flight to Germany, stopping over at Kuala Lumpur. Got picked up from Stuttgart by the most amazing girl I know. Finally saw my favourite German family again. Had awesome German food. Drank coffee. Slept. A lot. Went to a bar with German friends. Appreciated the lower drinking age on behalf of Louisa and friends. Schwaebisch Hall, Crailsheim and the like. Discovered that I was lactose intolerant. Had lunch at Robert's work - it was awesome. Drank coffee. Got sick (thanks Louisa). Felt like absolute shit. Went to Nuremberg - AMAZING. Stepped in katze kacke. So did Lous. Hung out with Jenny <3, Helped cook delicious stuffed eggplants. Drank coffee. Was very very happy. Saw German grandparents who are awesome! Lost 2kg. Set of fireworks NYE. Singed my hand. Felt really sick and wanted to just sleep. Woke up. Caught a train to Stuttgart with Louisa. Had really good coffee. Talked and Talked. Said goodbye. Cried. Caught a flight to London Heathrow. Met a lot of rude people in the airport. Got a bit lost in the airport. Got stressed out in the airport. Finally got to Paddington. Met Yve, Georgie, Aisling, Greer, Caitlin. Went to hotel. Felt better. Ate Chinese and watched Mary Poppins.
The hotel was pretty good; old quaint and charming; and we got free breakfast. I had eggs and mushrooms and tomatoes. Yummy.
Then on the 2nd day of 2011, after discovering that even on Oxford Street, shops were closed on Sunday mornings, we all headed back to Godstowe. It was on this day that I first met 'The Hill'. First impressions weren't that great. I was tired, grumpy and a little sick, and dragging 25kg behind me. The Hill was most uncompromising, very set in its ways, and didn't do anything to make our first encounter easier. However since this day, i've had a very up and down relationship with Hill. Sure, we've still got issues we need to 'work out', but at the same time, I feel like it's helping me in the 'long run'.
Anyway, Godstowe is a really pretty school, compromising of really old beautiful buildings. For the first night, I joined the others in Highlands (the boarding house for the younger girls) and we cooked pasta and watched Misfits. I really enjoy that show, but it does have a tendency to be quite crude. Which can lead to awkward situations such as if said show was making inappropriate sound effects... and a hypothetical boarding mistress decides to come in and introduce herself and talk to us...But overall it was pretty good just to relax and catch up with the others. The actual schoolgirls wouldn’t be arriving until the 5th so we had some space to just chill.
The next day (3rd Jan), we met the Headmaster, David, who is actually a top bloke. [imput from Yve: ‘He so is! He’s the best!’] He’s really easy going and friendly and knows each of the girls by name. (and like Yve said... he does kind of remind me of Santa). So we finally organised who was doing what and I chose to work in Turner with 12-13 year old girls.
The last three weeks have basically been taken up by getting to know the girls and working. The hours are normally mornings and evenings, which means that i have the middle of the day free. Yay. But it’s so tiring working until 10pm and having to start work at 6:45 in the morning. But Thursday is my sleep in day, so I get to lie in bed and listen to Georgie doing all the work. Good times. And Friday – my day off! Last Friday we all (except Izzy) went down to Yates – the bar/pub/club and had a great night out. So yeah, coolio schmoolio, the work’s ok, and on weekends we do cool activities such as making rockets, putting gunpowder in them and then blowing them up in a park. Or see a Pantomine. Either’s cool.
Last Thursday we went down to the Doctor’s to have the customary ‘New Patient’ check up. It was kind of depressing, because it was mostly just with this machine who took height/BMI/etc and it was like BAMMM 5 kilos. Five for you! And none for Gretchen Wieners. Bye. We all seem to be feeling the effects of the plentiful and yummy food.
The school is currently recovering from an ‘epidemic’ of sorts. And no, I’m not talking about Bieber fever... the girls are so obsessed I don’t think there’s much hope for them. Same goes for the girls who have the hots for Jacob, or even get chills when thinking about their favourite sparkly icy cold vampire. No, those girls are beyond saving. However recently there’ve been a lot of girls coming down with a sort of gastro. Poor Yve and Caitlin, who are in charge of Highlands have had about 14 girls sick. So far Turner remains unaffected, so I hope no one here gets sick.
I felt really sorry for Rose, who just arrived on the 16th and got sick straight away. Not the best welcome to England.
The girls are really lovely, if occasionally a bit mischievous. My own tiny room is actually alongside a dorm containing 7 fourths (13 yr-olds), so I do hear it if any shenanigans go down overnight. Last night I heard a faint humming sound coming from the wall, so I went to go check that the girls had turned the fans off in the showers. They had. I was actually hearing the girls pretending that their dorm was an aeroplane just taking off, with the dorm captain giving orders as the pilot. Girls after lights out... just crazy.
I should probably briefly mention the joys of Primark/Topshop/Zara, but to be honest, I find the latter two slightly depressing due to my lack of funds available for simply shopping! But Primark... PRIIIMARRRKKK. It’s almost like a battle call! £1, £2, £3, £4 even £5! There’s just so much stuff. That being said, I have to say that I’ve only bought a few things from there so far. Just a small cardie and tights. But somehow I still feel really close to this shop... almost at home. Could it be... have I found... My new Big W???
Whilst everything here is really nice, I don’t think I’d ever want to be a girl in a boarding school. For one thing, you have no freedom. Showers are at this time, homework must be done from this time til that time. Snacks, reading, mealtimes - everything kinda operates to a schedule.
Another thing that would bother me is the absolute lack of privacy. Every morning I do a room inspection, which isn’t just checking if the beds are made and if the rubbish is off the ground. I’m also supposed to look in the wardrobe and through the coat pockets to make sure that no one has lollies or snacks or anything they shouldn’t have. Yesterday I had to go through everyone’s ipods and check to make sure that they have no videos on them (Girls aren’t allowed any movies or music videos etc on their ipods. It means they stay awake at night watching them. There was also a crackdown on it last year when they found girls watching Skins on someone’s ipod. Yeahhhh no girls, you’re 13). But then I also had to look through all the short clips that they’d taken themselves, ‘just to make sure’. It was just uncomfortable, because I’d hate it if someone went through my stuff.
But overall, it’s a lovely place and everyone is very friendly. Tomorrow the other boarding gaps and I are off to London for a day trip, and possibly again on the weekend, because we have an Exeat (all the boarders go home). It’s going to be STEAK SAUCE!
(we’ve also been watching a lot of HIMYM in our time off. God I love that show.)
So right now I’m off to look up rad and cool stuff to do in London. Yeah, just be jealous coz you know you want to come too.
Maybe I’ll even go for a long run after we’ve organised everything... haha LOL JOKES I’m going to have a nap. Viel spass everyone
xx
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