Hi everyone,

You’d think I forgot about my blog, but no, I’m still here. It just wasn’t a priority. But I’m back now and that’s what matters. I hope you didn’t miss me too much. Ah, who am I kidding? Of course you did! What can I say, I’m fun and likeable. Anyway, I’ve made it through the exam week. The exam I’m most proud of has to be Literature. I’m sure I aced that one. Oh no, wait, I didn’t. I wrote that one in Dutch. Right, almost forgot about that. It started off as a joke but then my friends said I was bluffing so naturally, I had to prove them wrong. Whoops. That’s what you do as a foreigner, you write a 10 page long essay on cows and other unrelated subjects in your native language. Turns out that was way harder than it should’ve been. I knew exactly what I wanted to write. Problem is, I don’t think in Dutch anymore. I had to translate everything in my head into Dutch. And then I had to change quite a few sentences because I couldn’t come up with the Dutch words. I am ashamed of myself. Ashamed because I’m slowly forgetting my first language. But the point is that I wrote my English Literature exam in Dutch even though the instructions said that all responses must be written in English. And what’s gonna happen when I get it back? Well, I will have failed and my teacher will be very happy with me considering he won’t have to mark it. You’re welcome, please don’t hate me. Also, my friends promised to send me a video of them reading my essay.

More school days would be great. There are only two weeks left until the winter holidays, meaning I’ll actually have to say goodbye to my friends in two weeks’ time. How is that even fair? Leaving everything and everyone behind without knowing when or if I’ll ever come back is pretty damn difficult. Just think about it. When I left the Netherlands, I knew I’d come back. Even though I was afraid of losing my closest friends, I knew I’d see them again. And now I have to leave my friends here. I don’t even know how to keep in touch with them. I didn’t think it’d be like this. To be honest, I didn’t think I’d befriend anyone I liked this much. They’re all amazing people and I will miss them. I don’t want to say goodbye yet, I’m not ready. They say they’ll miss me, too, which is very sweet of them to say and really good to hear. Today in homeroom someone said “Two weeks, huh? It’s gonna be sad.” So nice of him to say, and so true. It will be sad. This is home. I would stay if I could. I’ve come to realise that being exactly where you want to be makes all the difference in the world. I chose to be here and I could not be happier with that decision.

Guess who got 83% on their Legal exam without studying?! Aw yeah, go me. So proud of myself right now. If only it could be like this when my grades actually matter. But no, you can’t both have good grades and good mental health. School doesn’t work like that. The test week is coming up for some of you, so I wish you all good luck. I understand you want nothing more than to be my classmate again, but you should still try and pass. Do you best, make your mum proud. You got this.

You can tell I haven’t been sleeping much. That’s okay, though. I do know what keeps me awake, but there’s not much I can do about it. It’ll be okay. At least now I get to watch live streams of the World Cup. Positive thinking, people. Australia – Netherlands this week. Straya, you’re going down. The World Cup is so much more fun when people couldn’t care less. They’re all too busy playing footy. Still unsure how that game works. All I know is that their shorts are way too short and that they jump on each other a lot.

Let me tell you about Friday night. My friends took me out for dinner since they are all very sad that I’m leaving in two weeks, which is understandable. Good food and good company is probably the best combination you can possibly have. We just sat there, ate pizza, and talked a lot. It was so nice, I enjoyed myself a lot. I felt like I fit right in. Then we walked to Macca’s and got ice cream, because that’s what you do when you live in Gatha. That night is definitely one of my favourite memories.

I feel like I’m forgetting something. Of course I can’t remember what it is. It probably wasn’t important, but it still pisses me off. Ah well, happens. How is everyone doing? Enjoying school/work, or looking forward to the holidays?

Have a great week, good luck on your tests and responsibilities, and don’t let anything get you down,

Laura