first day of school

8/23/22

hallo! today was my first day of school in the netherlands ! I was a little a lot nervous. I queued a few songs and listened to them while I was biking to school.

- "Scarlett" Holly Humberstone

- " Vroom Vroom" Charli XCX

- "Dreams" Cranberries

- "Overdrive" Maggie Rogers

The bike ride was only 5ish minutes so it's super easy to get there. When I got there, a lot of kids were waiting in lines for their books. I kinda just stood around for a few seconds and then asked a few girls to help me get to Meneer van Velzen's classroom. They were super nice and talked with me for a little.

I went into his classroom and found a seat. And then I was a little freaked out cause everyone was just talking with each other, but it wasn't too bad. Meneer van Velzen started off class by introducing me as an exchange student and said that I didn't know Dutch ( I think, he said this all in Dutch so I'm not really sure) and then the whole class gasped which was kind of funny. Then we went around and did introductions and said three sentences about ourselves. I said "Ik ben Amelia. Ik ben achttien jaar. Ik kom out Houston, Texas in the US." And then, the kids gasped again cuz I was 18 which was funny. They were all 15 or 16.

Meneer van Velzen explained things, but it was all in Dutch so it kinda just went over my head. The students were all super nice and said my Dutch was good which was way too nice because half of them are already bilingual and fluent in English. Also, I don't know if I should say this, but when the Rotex said they went to high school in Europe, they couldn't tell who was popular or not because everyone looked cool. But, for my class, I could definitely tell who was more popular and who was less. So yeah, that was interesting. Anyway, whenever I found the students to be a little intimidating or class to be kinda scary I would just remember that they are 16, literally my younger brother's age, so I have nothing to be scared about.

After class, there were a few students that helped me get my books and show me around which was so sweet of them. Also, I got so many books? Like over 20, which is insane for one year. The classmates that helped me also biked me home which was so nice.

I have another relaxed day tomorrow with my classmates. We're going to a lake and doing outdoor activities which will be fun !

- Amelia