New Subject

Hi there, I just want you to know that I changed from Spanish to classical civilization. I choose civ because it was there weren't many other options and it is the closest I could get to latin. We actually have an excursion to a lecture coming up next week Tuesday in London aout the Odyssee. It is really weird to just join the lessons while they are in the middle or end of a topic, because it is sometimes a bit hard to understand what they are talking about when you have missed the information they covered before the break. It is however great fun. From 6:30 to 8:30 pm there is prep time, in which you have to work and study. After that, the internet is open up to midnight. Email does seem to work all dayhowever, and skype too, even when youtube, facebook and twitter are blocked.

A Further Impression

In the boarding house live about 40 people, and our entire year consists of about 260 people. The school terrain is really big, and there are many buildings, each home for different subjects. Right now I am typing from the IT-building. The classrooms here are not numbered like at the Rijnlands, but they all have names of people who supported the school. You can imagine that it is hard to find rooms like Goodwin or Caulcutt. At Reed’s each student is in one of the four houses, named after people who funded Reed’s school back in the time the school had been established. Everybody is also in a tutor-group of about 12 people. Each schoolday we have to be in her room at 8:15, to talk about school. A tutor is almost the same as a mentor in Holland. I am in the group of the English teacher at Reed’s. On Wednesday after school there is hockey practice. I had some problems taking the hockeystick to Reed's, so I have to use a spare one. Charlie and I will also join the Cadet on Mondays. This term there isn't any cricket, so that was a bit disappointing, but there will be hockey matches on Saturdays. That leaves four days to catch up with the Dutch work, which is a lot because of an upcoming test week. I follow only three subjects, so I have a lot of gaphours in my schedule.

I will try to make some pictures of Reed’s in the weekend and upload them on Sunday, but I can’t promise anything.

Quick Update

Hey everyone, this is just a small update from Reed's.
Right now, I have just finished my first day at school. I am going to follow science and psycology lessons, and my third choice was spanish. I had to choose between psycology and latin, and ever since I have latin at the Rijnlands, I decided to go with psycology. Spanish is not really working for me, because they are far ahead of me. I will try to change that.

My room here is one of the smallest, but I will only stay here for 5 weeks, so that won't be a big problem. The light in my room is horrible, as it is really dim, and I almost can't see my fingers when I'm typing right now.

The food here is amazing. They serve an English breakfast, with eggs, beans, sausage, etc. At lunch we eat similar dishes to the Dutch dinner, and this evening we had cheeseburger with chips.

That was about it, I hope you got an idea of what it is like here, I will post another time soon.

Preps and Cricket

So, here is my second post.


Students at Reed's have to follow certain rules. These rules differ from the rules at the Rijnlands. A business attire is mandatory. There come some special rules with hair too. Hair may not come over one's ears, and that was quiet a problem with me. The next two pictures will explain. (I learned how to edit pictures!!)

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This is me before I went to the barber.      

This is me after I had been to the barber...
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I now feel much more aerodynamic, and I lost about 3 kilograms of hair. I do not know whether I should donate it to companies that clean up oilspills (it does work), or to a company that makes wigs.

Anyway, I had a lot more to do. I had to scan in almost all of my school books, which took me about 5 minutes per page. Considering that I have about 24 pages per subject, and I follow a lot of subjects, that would mean 5 x 24 x a lot infinity. (You do the maths)
Also, my shoe laces broke today. This will be the fourth time I have to replace them, which is really annoying.

Then there is the problem that I always encounter, my mother. She always accomplishes the impossible by putting so much unnecessary things in my suitcase, that I will exceed the max. weight by 5 kilograms. This time's unnecessary stuff includes: 8 different things to put in my hair, when wet, when dry, etc. A pillow, which would be provided at Reed's, and than there was the problem with the hockeystick. Our largest suitcase was too small for my stick, and that caused some trouble. After some research, I found out that taking the stick as an extra piece of baggage would cost almost as much as buying a new stick. Luckily, after mailing my mentor at Reed's, Mr Sandison-Smith, we found out that they had some spare hockeysticks, so that I do not have to bring my own.

I have played some cricket - not croquet - untill the second grade in the Netherlands. My helmet luckily still fitted, but I had to buy  a new toque. I am really excited to play again, eventhough I was not the best of my team, so to say. By the way, to clarify, This is croquet, which I did not play:

 

and this is cricket:

 

When you throw the ball at the batsman, you are the bowler (do not confuse with the sport bowling) You try to hit the stumps (the three things behind the batsman) or the wicket. The man behind the wicket is the wicketkeeper, who catches the balls that the batsman misses. When the wicket is hit, the batsman is out, which means he has to leave the field. When he hits the ball, he has to run to the other side of the pitch (the brown area). His partner batter has to run to his side. When they both make it before someone throws a ball in the wicket, they scored a run (a point). If not, he is out. When someone catches the ball before it hits the ground, the batsman is out too. You can score six runs by hitting the ball so good that it goes out of the field without touching the ground. When it goes out and has touched the ground, you score four points. In the field around the pitch is the fielding team. They try to catch the ball, and to throw the ball in the wicket of the batsman. Professional matches can take up to three days before they are finished.

 

If you did not understand it, that is completely your fault. I am just trying to explain to everyone that when I say I have played cricket, they don't think that I was hitting balls with hammers like the old people in picture 3.

 

This was it for now, and don't forget to leave a comment in the comment section below.

 

Also follow me on twitter, for smaller blogposts (up to 140 characters).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

First Blog Post!!

Hello, I am Tijn, and welcome to my blog. This blog is the story of a young man's (me) adventures in Cobham, England. I will be boarding at Reed's school for the next 5 weeks or so. I have no experience with writing blogs, so I have a lot to discover. That brings me to my first question to you, my audience. How do I change the title of my blog? It says Reeds, but it should be Reed's. The founder's name is Andrew Reed, not Reeds. If it were Reeds, then I still had to change my title to Reeds'.

I will try to learn how to upload videos and pictures, but for now, it is text.
Leave suggestions, comments, or spam, in the comment section below. (I do not own half of that sentence, Ray W Johnson does)
My next post will be up soon, I hope. But for now, I have to pack my bags.