How to survive high school.

As said in my last post, I just started school today. I just realized I'm not the only one, so I thought it would be a good idea to make a list of how to survive high school. After all, it's my sixth year and my fourth school I'm at.

- Get to know as many people as possible. It's good to know what's going on at school
- Make sure the teachers like you. You'll get away with much more than you would if they don't
- Make friends. Walk up to strangers, talk with them. They could be friends you haven't met yet.
- Do your homework, show interest, ask a lot of questions.
- You're at school to graduate and move on. Keep that in mind.
- Don't involve yourself in the drama's. It costs to much energy
- Have fun and be yourself. If people don't like you, it's their problem, not yours.
- Be nice to the new kids, walk up to them, show them around. They'd appreciate it
- If you have trouble with a subject, tell the teacher. Most of them would be glad to help.
- If you get to much homework, make it with a friend. Let one do the even numbers and the other the uneven. Then copy each others work.
- Make notes during the classes.
- If one of your classmates is sick during a class, offer them to copy your notes. It will help you make friends.
- Don't let people take advantage of you

Just remember, in a few years you'll leave, lose most friends you had, build up a completely new life. In the end your social status won't matter, but your graduation will.

Back to school

Summer holiday has ended. Goodbye fun, goodbye staying up and sleeping until the sun reached the sky. Goodbye endless conversations with friends. Goodbye freedom.
For me, it's back to school again. And even though it was the first day, the teachers did their best to erase all summer feelings.
But it wasn't that bad at all. There were a lot of friends of mine, who failed their exams or didn't pass the year and decided to go to my school.
Let me explain a bit of the school system in Netherland.
You have the basic school, you go there when you're 4 and leave when you're 12. It's 8 years long.
Then, in the 8th grade, you get a test. Depending on the score they'll decide what you'll do in high-school.
VMBO is the easiest, it takes four years.
HAVO is a bit harder, it takes 5 years.
VWO is the hardest, it takes 6 years.
After your VMBO you can go to the MBO, where you can learn a profession.
After HAVO you can go to HBO. HBO is similar to what you call college. You learn a profession but it's more theoretical.
After VWO you can go to the university.

At my school they give the last two years in one, 3/4VMBO, 4/5HAVO and 5/6VWO. The only exception is 4HAVO, preparing you for the 4/5HAVO class.
And that's what I did last year.

Well, you'll hear if anything happens at school

-Maaike

Days Are Numbers

Had a dream
Seemed long as the night
Broken put together
I'd breathe had I the time
For tears that burn
One, two, for you
In time our moment
While endless rivers run through
Could a heart be given?
Kept secure and safe?
Please retain this for me
And I'll hold fast
Find strength to follow through
Unceasing like the river
Sifting down
They all meet at the ocean
Those oceans will greet the shore
When the wind heads me that way
I will be home
With a message in a bottle
Words wrote
You will keep
Held against that heart
I will be present, but free

Memories.

I will try to keep this post free of preaching, whining because I miss people, boys who have crushes on me, etc. That will hopefully be contained here.

I got back from another camp about two weeks ago, this time it was a mission camp over in Lookout Mountain, GA/Chattanooga, TN. It's really pretty, and in the Great Smoky Mountains. We visited old folks and played with underprivileged children. Somebody decided to put seven girls (including myself) in a dorm room (we were staying at a college) that was only intended for six people. Honestly, I think only two or three people should be in a dorm that size. It really was that small.

The camp itself and all the people were just marvelous. Not necessarily the building and actual college... [Note to self: a frequently used tactic of fancy private colleges to lure you in is making the outside and guest houses really nice, and making the majority of the dorms very outdated, moldy, extremely cramped, not exactly always sanitary, etc.]

Nevertheless, it's fun. We had a speaker guy named Chris Brooks who was really funny and everyone could always understand exactly what he meant... he also talked about everything from several different perspectives of people who believe different things. I'll stop with my camp stories now because they're probably boring/not making much sense...

And now... it's time for weird things people have written in my yearbooks! Some of these make no sense at all, just so you know...

"The Eccentric Banana! -Shivanjali! PS: Cows are coolio!" "IZZY! ILY! STALKER! ♥ Natalie" "ur so awesome and so is writing upside down! luv ya! Julia" "I am so happy I'm married 2 you AND 7 other people!!! Have an Awesome summer, Izzy. - Lizzie" "Izzy, have a fun soccer summer! - Sarah" "Naila! Burger King! Murder King! [and something else which is probably too inappropriate. XD]" "Andrew H. a.k.a Pablo M. [The story of that is he wasn't supposed to be on our bus, so on the bus, we called him Pablo so the bus driver wouldn't know he was Andrew. It worked, surprisingly.] "Izzy, web design was so much fun. I can't believe you like him‼ Enjoy next year without me, Brenna" "Hi Izzy. - Patriek. [He told me he spelled his name wrong because he was thinking about something with an e in it.... it's Patrick. Okay, then.]"

And my birthday is tomorrow. Yay. I really ought to stop typing so much.

♥ Izzy