Hi,

My name is Bridget Sye and I am a not-so-typical English boarding school teen. I moved from America to England and I had to switch from American style to English style. I've been in my school for about half a year now, but I still feel different. WARNING: You are about to experience the horrors and reality of English boarding school life. It is so not what you think it is...

Okay, everyone has a sort of stereotype about English schools, perfect girls and boys getting straight A's, speaking nicely and wearing neat uniforms? Yeah right. When I, Bridget Sye, (ha! I rhymed!) entered my new (or rather, old) English school, I was shocked by what's going on. Let me now inform you:

1. They swear (and make rude gestures with the hand) SO much more then my last American school.

2. They talk way more commonly about drugs, relationships, etc.

3. I think one weirdo boy from Switzerland smokes. My friend G and I have yet to find out the truth about him. Oh, and he's called L something. You can't pronounce it so it makes him extra suspicious.

4. They are more wild and spontaneous. They talk louder and crazier, too.

5. There are more relationships. People "go out" (aka "doing the walk" ((see gloss.)))

That's all the points off the top of my head I can think of right now. But there's more, omg, there's defiantly more. I think the reason they are wilder is because they have to be more formal when there's teachers around, calling them "sir" and standing up when a teacher comes into the room. The work is harder, the days are longer, there is a LOT more pressure. (than my last American school. And there was plenty of pressure there, too.)

That is only a slice of what happens in English boarding schools. Oh, and did I mention that this is Year 8 at school, aka, 13-year olds?

Ciao for now,

Bridget


GLOSSARY:

Doing the walk- A walk around the school with one girl and one boy (groups of girls and groups of boys do NOT count as doing the walk). This signals that the boy and the girl are interested in each other and will probably end up going out with each other more often than not.