WHOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!
The thing with the Dutch educational system is that, while it's got a lot going for it (it's better than the American system, for one), they like to milk the opportunity to make you sweat for all it's worth. Like when you've been slaving to get your Gymnasium (that's the highest level of dutch secondary education+Latin/Greek) diploma for six years, you've been studying your ass off to rock your final exams and then....they make you wait.
They make you wait and wait and wait while everyone is freaking out on the internet, checking their answers and basically dying from the anxiety. And when the day finally comes, there's no checking on the internet or on a list at school, there's no finding out on your own terms.
They call you.
'Expect the call between four and five', they tell you. That's in the afternoon. So at three fifty-five you grab the phone, run upstairs and crawl behind your computer to check who's heard already while glancing at the phone every 2 seconds.
Five past four. It rings. Your heart pounds. You pick up, brace yourself for the worst and then....
YOU PASS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! or, as we would say in Dutch: JE BENT GESLAAGD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
And it's not even the kind of grouchy class mentor that calls you, it's Ms S., your favourite teacher who's been teaching you Greek and Latin since you were thirteen. The woman who should be the poster woman for what a good teacher is.
And all of a sudden this weight is lifted. No more secondary school. No more worrying. You're going to Roosevelt Academy. You're moving out. You're going to go places.
WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I have no idea why I just wrote all that in the second person, btw.
But anyway, the grades: 3 sixes, 7 sevens, 4 eights and 2 nines (including for English, which, not to toot my own horn, was to be expected). A 7,3 average. And yes, those are pretty good grades (The dutch system works from 1 to 10, anything between 1 and 5 means you fail, between 6 and 10 means you pass. It's pretty rare to get a 1, 2, 9 or 10, because that means you're either an idiot or a genius. And in our system classes are divided by intelligence, so the tests are adjusted per level.)
I'm not saying I'm a genius, like my friend Sara, who only had eights and nines and will one day make the world's finest lawyer, but I'm above average and darn it, that's all I've ever wanted.
Time for a vacation. London, here I come!
They make you wait and wait and wait while everyone is freaking out on the internet, checking their answers and basically dying from the anxiety. And when the day finally comes, there's no checking on the internet or on a list at school, there's no finding out on your own terms.
They call you.
'Expect the call between four and five', they tell you. That's in the afternoon. So at three fifty-five you grab the phone, run upstairs and crawl behind your computer to check who's heard already while glancing at the phone every 2 seconds.
Five past four. It rings. Your heart pounds. You pick up, brace yourself for the worst and then....
YOU PASS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! or, as we would say in Dutch: JE BENT GESLAAGD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
And it's not even the kind of grouchy class mentor that calls you, it's Ms S., your favourite teacher who's been teaching you Greek and Latin since you were thirteen. The woman who should be the poster woman for what a good teacher is.
And all of a sudden this weight is lifted. No more secondary school. No more worrying. You're going to Roosevelt Academy. You're moving out. You're going to go places.
WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I have no idea why I just wrote all that in the second person, btw.
But anyway, the grades: 3 sixes, 7 sevens, 4 eights and 2 nines (including for English, which, not to toot my own horn, was to be expected). A 7,3 average. And yes, those are pretty good grades (The dutch system works from 1 to 10, anything between 1 and 5 means you fail, between 6 and 10 means you pass. It's pretty rare to get a 1, 2, 9 or 10, because that means you're either an idiot or a genius. And in our system classes are divided by intelligence, so the tests are adjusted per level.)
I'm not saying I'm a genius, like my friend Sara, who only had eights and nines and will one day make the world's finest lawyer, but I'm above average and darn it, that's all I've ever wanted.
Time for a vacation. London, here I come!