My New Life

Ok, so I been in boarding now for two days, and I have to say that I enjoy it quite a bit. I should clarify a few quick things before I continue though.

SHOWERS ARE NOT TIMED!!!! I was awfully happy to hear my boarding master say this when I arrived and now I spend as long as I feel necessary in the hower, which is shorter than at home.

The food isn’t actually that bad. Breakfast is the same at home, but with more variety, and lunch is pretty good. Dinner was very nice pasta except for maybe a little bit too much pepper. Others were complaining about the lamb stew so I know what to stay away from but overall, the food is quite nice. And, if I get hungry, I just eat what mum gave me for my room.

Now, during the night I haven’t slept the best because of the stupid clan of Myna Birds that lives in the trees outside the building. At 6am, on the dot, they begin screeching and don’t stop. I tend to wake up then and read until shower time.

Study isn’t bad at all. Having three hours makes me realise how much work I wasn’t doing when I rushed it at home. I was doing barely two hours, but in here I have enough to easily keep me going for three, even longer.

The one bad thing in the boarding house is that everyone already has their cliques, and it is a little awkward. I spent a while reading on the frst night, but have started to have good conversations with other guys nd they are all really nice. I actually wish I had a roomate because living by yourself is very boring in a room meant for two people.

Finally, the internet. I went without it for two days while my computer was getting set up but it was an ordeal in itself. First, IT managed to misplace my power cable so I spent the night with limited internet access. Then, today, I still couldn’t get on the internet so I had to ask friend in the BH to help me out. As it turns out, IT didn’t put on the porxy codes for my computer to be recognised and let through the firewall. Good work IT. But my friend did it andd now I can go on sites other than my home page.

Anyways, will post some more later, I have a meeting to attend.

OMG! I am moving into the boarding house in two hours! I have been at work all day so mum and I are furiously washing my clothes toget them ready to take. One thing I have noticed is that they do not expect me to bring a lot of clothes at all. On the list it says: Two pairs of pyjamas/tracksuits.

WHAT? Are they telling me that I can sleep in the trackshuit that I bring? I see many boaders walking into town wearing these tracksuits. I really this donesn’t mean that they are sleeping in them and then living in them as well.

I am still excited about this evening. I have had to reduce my amount of clothes by half, because the wardrobes aren’t huge, but thats no big deal. I never wear half my clothes anyway.

Anyway, time to get back to packing. I only have two hours!!!!

Well, this is it. Tomorrow I move into the Senior Boarding House at my school. It’s really weird, I have been at the school 6 years now as a dayboy, living two streets away from campus. Now I am moving two streets closer and living on campus. Weird, huh?

Anyway, to tell you the truth, I am really excited, but a little anxious as well. This move was made so I could study and in the BH (Boarding House) you do three hours a night!! There are strict routines in place so hopefully these will rub off on me for the future, but it seems really scary. This is my routine:

7:20am - Get up. I like this time, it is later than I get up at home and means that I can get more sleep. Hooray!

8:00am - Breakfast. Wow! Breakfast after a shower? A weird concept to me, having lived a life of my own routine before this day. But this means I have 40minutes to get up and have a shower, not bad…except that the showers are timed!!! That’s right, my school times the showers for its boarders because of the amount of water that was being wasted in previous years. My normal 15min showers are long gone. I think the time limit is 3min. Three freaking minutes!!! How do I wash my hair in three minutes and wake up of a morning?

Anyway, breakfast. I have heard from boarder friends that the food isn’t the best. Gulp. I have grown up eating some decent food, but not over the top. I really hope the stuff isn’t absolutely horrible. From the dinners I have attended at the school, the food isn’t bad but they tend to overcook it. Anyway, after I survive breakfast, I have to clean my teeth in the school bathrooms (Hygiene much?) and then the school day starts.

8:35am - School (Need I say more?) But during the day I have recess and lunch given to me by the school. This isn’t bad because it saves time in the morning, but again the standard of food quality isn’t overly high as they are cooking for a large group. Just wait until next year, when I get the teachers food WITH SALAD BAR! CLASSY!!!

3:30pm - School ends; Finally. This means I have to go back to the BH and change into casuals. Now, the funny thing about this is, whenever I see a current boarder they are wearing trackpants and a rugby top. I don’t own a single rugby top, or rugby shorts. I only have my jeans and shorts.

Thankfully, I have free time now until dinner which means I can do what I want. I can walk into town, or go to the gym (lol) or swim, or play rugby (more lol). Maybe I will just stay in my room and read a book, but my parents have said this is too anti-social and I should make an effort to get to know the others. Ha ha.

5pm - Quiet time. I think the school expects me to read, or look at the news or something, because this isn’t study, but I have to be quiet. Meh, I have lots of books to catch up on and saw another nice one today.

6pm - Dinner. More food, hopefully not too sub-par.

6:30pm - Study. That’s right, it’s time to study. I have to stay in my room and work, or do something without distracting others. And…the teachers come around to my room 6 times a night to grade my performance. Seriously! They grade your study performance.

8:10pm - Break. Apparently we get supper at this time, a novel concept I have not experienced before. Having just spent 1.5 hours studying I think I deserve a break.

8:30pm - Study. More study, fun! I definitely do not study this late at home so this will be very different. Again, I get graded on my performance, once every 30 minutes according to my caculations.

10pm - Free time. FINALLY! Study is over for the night and I can relax. I normally am asleep by 10 so hopefully I can stay awake. Now is the time to shower, clean teeth can get into bed.

10:30pm - Lights out. Sleep time! Need I say more?

Overall, the routine looks decent enough, and having visited the BH last week, I have to say that it is quite nice. The floors are heated and it is very warm, and the rooms are a decent size. I have to share my room with another student so I really hope he doesn’t snore, or do anything annoying.

Anyway, this is enough for my first blog post. I will hopefully update of my experiences every day (ha ha, not likely) and tell you more about what life is like for dayboy turned boarder!