Reflections on my First Year

by Alice, Year 10

I arrived in Year 9 on a sunny day, mid-afternoon. I came from a school called Ardvreck which I was pretty happy to be leaving as I had been there for five years.

On my first day I was extremely nervous, but I did have the support of five othere girls from Ardvreck which was very comforting. I remember walking into the Sixth Form Centre and seeing all these new faces. It was a huge surprise for me to find out that the size of my Year had doubled since Ardvreck. It was really exciting meeting all these new and wonderful people.

Also, at Ardvreck there weren't any foreign students, but in Year 9 we had several and I found that really special, as I love learning about other people's cultures and backgrounds. I really loved the first part of the Autumn Term at Gordonstoun as it was a huge step up in responsibilities and priorities from Ardvreck.

I also found a huge improvement with the food! I think the food at Gordonstoun is excellent considering how many people they have to serve and how many meals there are in a day.

I settled into my House, Windmill Lodge, quite quickly and made some really lovely new friends. I was first in a dorm with Margot and Charlotte. Margot was very confident and loud which I found hard to deal with at first, but I soon adapted to it and we became good friends. Charlotte, on the other hand, was much more shy at the beginning but I found that she opened up quickly and was actually really funny and relaxing to be around.

I love the range of activities you get to do at Gordonstoun, because you get a really good mixture of music, sports and other curricular activities. In the first term, I also did Seamanship which I did not enjoy becasue the weather was absolutely freezing and none of us could feel our fingers! I think I would have enjoyed the experience much more if it was nicer weather!

I went throught the first year having big success in contracts and other activities, but this term in Year 10 I'm not doing as well in lessons and contracts, although I still like it a lot. As I write this I am in detention for forgetting my book for my Biology lesson with Dr Bell, which is very annoying and inconvenient, but at least I will learn not to do it again!!!