“Yayyyyyy!” People in my boarding house were cheering to mark the end of the first half term. These two months had been hard, intense and tiring and we were all so excited for the 5 day break. It was a good opportunity for us to finally relax and get ourselves reloaded for the on-going prep and end of term exams coming up. While some of us decided to stay in campus to just relax and others went to London to shop, my friends and I went on the Belgium trip hosted by the school.

On the first day of the trip, we left the school at 4am. We were all sleepy and exhausted. Luckily, we got to sleep on the coach as it took us around 5 hours to get to the port of Dover. By the time we were at the hotel in Ghent, it was already night. We were tired out and went to bed immediately after dinner.

The next day, we went to Brugge and we went on a canal trip. I was fascinated by the view alongside the canal. There were so many medieval architectures that were absolutely stunning. I just couldn’t take my eyes off them. Being in Belgium – we had to have waffles! They were so delicious, I even had three big ones on my own! At the start, I didn’t know Belgium was famous for their chocolate. Though on the day, they brought us to their chocolate factory and it wow-ed me. In the factory, there were huge machines and a man demonstrating the production of chocolates we all consumed. I’ve always thought making chocolates were easy, but this really proved me wrong.

Following, we went to Brussels – the capital of Belgium. The Grand place was our meeting point, it is the centre square of Brussels. I couldn’t believe my eyes, every single building there was just magnificent. I couldn’t imagine how skillful and hardworking the sculptors had to be to carve the hundreds of detailed and precise sculptures on the walls of the building. We’ve went to see the famous Manneken Pis and were told about the story of it. More important –  we all managed to get some shopping done as well.

My friends and I bought many different types and brands of chocolates and waffles as souvenirs for our friends back in the college. This trip brought me to places I never thought I would go to and learnt so much more about their culture and Belgium in general. Overall, the trip was amazing and I really hope there will be one just like it soon.