Herschel Girls School

Main building

Herschel Girls School is a private boarding day school for girls. Herschel was established in 1922 as an independent Anglican school. The school’s credo is: "Learning to make a difference". It is located in Claremont, which is a southern suburb of Cape Town. Herschel is a beautiful school and most of the buildings are white. On the territory of the school is a lot of grass and there are many trees everywhere. There is even walking a peacock through the gardens. On several places in the garden are stone benches and tables where you can sit during break time. All the hallways are open which gives a friendly atmosphere. There is a theatre, an indoor sports centre, resource and computer centres, science laboratories, technology and consumer studies centres and well-resourced music, art and drama departments. Outside there is a swimming pool, there are sport fields for hockey, tennis and so on.

Herschel Theatre

The school is divided into a junior school (ages 6-12) and a senior school (ages 13-18). Herschel has an extended exchange program with many schools all over the world, also with the Rijnlands Lyceum in Wassenaar. I am very happy that I was chosen to go on exchange. The life at school is very different from the Rijnlands. A big difference is that Herschel is a school for girls only. Everybody is wearing a school uniform so in the morning we don't have to think what we are going to wear that day. School always starts at twenty to eight and finishes at three o’clock. The first lesson is called a ‘tutor lesson’, a twenty-minute lesson with your tutor teacher. It is actually only to check if you are present and to give some information about the events of the day. In between lessons there is no bell, like in the Rijnlands, the students just go to their next lesson in time. I love that the big break is an hour long here, whereas in Holland it is only half an hour. I am following a number of subjects which we do not have on the Rijnlands such as Afrikaans and Consumer studies. The sport and music activities are done at school and not at different clubs as in Holland.  Every teacher and every student I’ve met so far has been really nice to me. I am sure I will make a lot of new friends here. I am so happy that I can have this unique experience in an amazing country.  

 

 

Going to school with Steff

 

Peacock in the garden
 

Fun in the break

The first weekend in South Africa

In the first morning I woke around 9 o’clock. The window was open in my room and I could smell the flowers and hear the birds. I looked outside and everything was beautifully green and the sky was blue. I just realized that I am in the middle of summer on the other side of the world. I could hardly believe it. Yesterday I was still in the grey and rainy winter in Holland. It looks like I am in a beautiful tale. For breakfast I ate some fruit and after that we picked up Steff and her friend Phi from water polo training. We began our tour in the Woodstock area of Cape Town at the Old Biscuit Mill in the Neighbour Goods Market. It is a market that that has food stands, coffee stations, mobile bars and little boutiques. The market was split up into two big rooms. The first room is a bright room filled up with gorgeous food and designed home goods. The other room is basically the greatest small table collection of food vendors. You will find everything from hand crafted beers, smoothies, freshly prepared Thai food, Parisian sweets, cupcakes, ostrich burgers, wood fired pizza, local coffee and wine bars. We even could buy Belgian ‘wafels’ with chocolate. It was really wonderful to watch people wander through the tables and bargain with the vendors. It was very interesting, because each vendor offered something different and unique. I don’t think I saw two vendors offering the same thing.

 At the Old Biscuit Mill with Steff and Phi 

After this interesting market we headed to the Clifton's 4th beach. This is one of the most popular beaches of Cape Town. When you are standing there, you understand why. The water and the sky have an amazing combination of beautiful blue colours and the sand is white, different from The Netherlands. This area is well protected from wind, so it is very pleasant to be on the beach. A few friends of Steff, Izzy, Sidnee and Maddy, were already waiting for us.. The water was a bit chilly, but later on it was pretty good. We had a lot of fun. There were some people who were surfing there. I hope I also can learn to surf here. People in Cape Town are very proud of their beautiful Clifton's 4th beach!

Clifton 4th beach

In the late afternoon we went to the house of Phi. She had organized a garden party where we also could swim. I met there some other exchange students from Chile. It was a cool party and we were late at home. I was so tired and I even did not have time to unpack my bags.

Sunday we woke up quite late. We had lunch with Steff's family at Simons on a wine estate. It was delicious and the view from the hill was really beautiful. After lunch we walked around and visited the Groot Constantia Manor House, the first winery of South Africa. It was established more than 300 years ago by Simon van der Stel, who was a commander of the VOC. I think my father also would enjoy to visit this place and taste the beautiful wines of this estate.

Lunch  with Steff's family

Groot Constantia Manor House

Later we went to the pop concert at the Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden. The Kirstenbosch has the reputation to be the most beautiful garden in Africa. In summer time there are often organized different open air concerts. I was so extremely lucky that I could go there with Steff’s families and friends. I could enjoy the concert of Matthew Mole & Tailor  from Johannesburg. Matthew Mole’s debut album "The Home We Built" entered the top of the iTunes chart on its release, making Mole the country’s first artist ever to achieve this. He said “Every song is about real experiences I’ve had, but also the way I've reacted to them, because of the way I was raised.”



Pop Concert at the Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden

Enjoying the music

In the evening we had a pleasant evening at home and I am very thankful for Steff and her family for this wonderful first weekend in South Africa.

Goodbye Holland! South Africa is calling!

On the 16th of Janury at 8am we were at Schiphol Airport. It was time to drop off  the luggage. Everybody was there, so it did not take very long. It was time to say goodbye, but I think goodbyes are sad, so I prefer to say hello. Hello to a new adventure. 

We, Cemmie, Maxime, Maarten, Kian and I, were so excited at the moment that the plane took off to South Africa for our exchange.

Ready for the amazing adventure

 

During my flight I found a nice book in my bag full of good wishes and “quotes” from my friends and relatives. I loved the quote from Marc Twain, which my mom wrote:

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbour. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover."

I think it is a beautiful quote. If you travel to another country you have to walk around with open eyes, you have to see the beauty of that country, you have to try to adapt to their culture to understand the way of living there.
 

Warm welcome in Cape Town

Landing in South Africa was the best feeling ever. Steff’s whole family was waiting for me at the airport and welcomed me with balloons and posters. I immediately felt really comfortable with all of them. I will write something about my first weekend here as soon as possible!

At the moment Paulie (Steff’s youngest brother) is building a pillow fort around me, so I better go and help him! South Africa so far has been better than I expected!

Counting Down the Days; One Night Left!

I have been counting down the days till I leave for South Africa for 10 weeks. Only one night left! I literally cannot express in words how excited I am to finally go there. Also, I am really thankful for Steff’s family for letting me live with them for two and a half months. I have only known Steffi for a few months, but it feels like I have known her whole my life; and I have only met her parents once, but I already feel so comfortable with both of them. I cannot wait to meet Steff’s little brothers and friends and family!

Steffi constantly reminds me of how warm it is there and that I should bring lots of summer clothes. It is 10pm now, and I’ve put all my clothes and presents and necessary stuff in little stacks in my room and I only need to put them in my suitcases. I am so exited, only 12 hours and the plane takes off and only 24 hours and I’ll be in South Africa. Tomorrow morning I’m going to meet Maxime, Cemmie, Kian and Maarten at the airport. Together we are going to start this adventure..

Everything is packed

 

Time flies!

 

Steff went back to South Africa more than a month ago. Now I am sitting in my room, looking at the pictures. How excited I was, waiting for Steff at Schiphol Airport. After her arrival, we had lunch at home. She was amazed that Dutch people put ‘hagelslag’ (chocolate sprinkles) on their sandwiches. After lunch we cycled to the Rijnlands Lyceum and the village of Wassenaar. It was beautiful sunny weather and we were both just very happy. At the end of the first day we walked on the beach and ate ‘poffertjes’ and warm ‘stroopwafels’.

Arrival at Schiphol Airport

During the first week we went to school together every day, because her study program did not start yet. It was very nice that she joined me to the classes. Everything was different here from South Africa for her. She loved the freedom, that we could wake up around 7 o’clock and after breakfast we could just cycle without parents to school. She loved that she did not have to wear uniform, she could use nail polish and the girls and the boys have classes together. She was happy to discover Bagel Alley. This became the standard meeting point of the exchange students.

Bagel Alley

After the first week, I went Rome for a week and all exchange students went to Berlin. This was great for Steff and she made some new friendships. Our fall break was fantastic. We visited Waterloo and Brussels together. The panorama painting of the Waterloo battlefield was very impressive. The Atomium was a really amazing structure and it was funny to move from one sphere to another one. During our walk in Mini-Europe we ate warm Belgian “wafels” with chocolate. This became one of Steff’s favourite foods. In the centre of Brussels we made lots of  jokes in the souvenir shop about the symbol of Brussels.

Atomium

We also visited the biggest amusement park of The Netherlands: the Efteling. It was a little bit rainy day, but this was our biggest luck. The park was almost empty so we could go in all attractions and rollercoasters without any waiting lines. We could even go into the ‘Vogelrok’, the rollercoaster in the dark, 15 times in a row without having to leave our seats. The last couple of days of the holiday we had a great time in Budapest. The trip was a wonderful combination of visiting several historical places, cultural events and doing funny things. The boat trip on the Danube was beautiful. One side shows the hilly Buda with its castle, citadel and Mathias church and the on other side the flat Pest with all the impressive buildings. The musical of Mozart in the Operetta theatre was a fantastic experience. On the last day we went to the little historical village Szentendre, where we went to see the marzipan museum, and we were even allowed to taste it! Steff loved the great hospitality of my family in Hungary and she enjoyed the extensive Hungarian meals.

Budapest

We have visited so many wonderful and interesting places here in The Netherlands. We went to Utrecht by train, where we had lunch in the centre and we enjoyed shopping afterwards. In Rotterdam we loved the fantastic panorama of a 360 degree view of the city and the largest port of Europe seen from the top of the Euromast. We went even higher with the rotating elevator to a hight of 185 meter. It was simply amazing! Then we went to Maasland to see the Maeslant storm surge barrier, the last part of the Dutch Delta Works and it is the world’s largest moveable barrier. It looks like the Eiffel Tower on its side. This massive construction cannot be described in words, it can only be experienced. Amsterdam has impressive architecture, lovely canals and lots of interesting places. We laughed a lot about going to the coffee shop to drink a cappuccino. We visited the oldhistoric student city Leiden quite often. The beauty of the city center of Delft is indescribable. The architecture, the canals, the buildings, it is all just so wonderful! We definitely loved going out to The Hague the most. The Plein and Grote Markt squares abound with great restaurants, eateries and coffee houses were our favorite places. I was happy that we could celebrate Sinterklaas together and Steff liked to make a ‘surprise’ and eat lots of ‘pepernoten’, so you can guess what I’m going to bring to South Africa for her. ;)

Sinterklaas

In the last week we went to see the musical “Soldaat van Oranje”, just the two of us together. It was the most impressive and unique theater experience ever, one which we will never forget. On the 7th of December Steff was picked up by her parents. We had a lovely dinner with them on Sunday. To say goodbye to my Steffi was a very emotional moment actually, because I knew that I was going to see her in a month and a half, but she had become so involved in our lives, that it felt like my sister went away. Marcel, my brother, also became really upset when she left. I would never ever have expected that I could get such a good friendship with my exhange sister. I am so excited to see her in South Africa again, and only a few days left!!!

See you in South Africa