Last year I decided to spend 4 months with my relatives in Newcastle and attend a British High School for the Autumn Term, which lasted from September to December 2019 and it was one of the best decision I’ve ever made. Not only did I meet many new, amazing people, but I also grew as a person and became a lot more independent.  NHSG, the school I attended, was full of opportunities to try out new things, e.g. playing netball or composing a song.

 

The first day of school at NHSG was a bit overwhelming, even though I was nicely welcomed by a few girls, who immediately took me under their wing and showed me around the huge school building(s).

The school gave me a school planner, textbooks and a fob, which is a like a keycard to open the doors of the different school buildings.

 

My typical school day at NHSG started at 8.35 in the morning, with either Form Time, where the students are registered or with assembly, where the head of the school informed us about upcoming events and we sometimes sang the school song. Then we were off to our first lesson, which started at 9.05. All in all, we had five one-hour-long lessons each day. After the first three lessons, we had lunch break from 12.30 to 1.40, where we got a warm lunch each day. The meals in the cafeteria were quite nice, ranging from chicken tikka masala to pizza. I really enjoyed the lunch times, since they were a good opportunity to chat with my classmates and to have fun. I also attended lunch time activities such as orchestra and Ethics Film Club. Then we returned to lessons until 3.50 in the afternoon. At that point, I either went home by bus with my cousin or I stayed longer for activities like netball.

 

On the weekends, I sometimes went into town with some of the girls from my year. Newcastle is a beautiful city that has a lot to offer, so it was a lot of fun to explore the different shops and restaurants. On occasion, me and my family went on small trips to the countryside as well.

 

Altogether, it really struck me how polite and caring and fun the British people, especially at my school, were and it was really hard to say goodbye to all of the new friends I made there.

 

Hanna Hippe