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