EF Stories: Eline from the Netherlands at EF Bournemouth

My name is Eline and I am 13 years old. This summer vacation me and two of my friends went to EF Bournemouth, a town in England. My language trip lasted two weeks, unfortunately, because as far as I'm concerned it could have continued for at least another 6 weeks. Those two weeks were one of the most enjoyable weeks in my life. Why? Well, for a lot of reasons!

I got the idea to go to EF because I heard someone who had already been to EF talking about it and that person was very enthusiastic. So I started searching on the Internet and realised I actually wanted to go. Then I was on the tennis court when I suddenly heard that my doubles partner was also going to EF, along with another one of my friends. As soon as I heard that, I went ahead with my plan.

EF seemed like such a great idea to me because it was abroad, so you had to speak English to everyone. It really took you out of your comfort zone and you got to know a whole new place. But of course, EF also seemed like a lot of fun because I would get to know a lot of different nationalities. This way I would make friends from all over the world, which definitely worked out! Last week an EF friend from Italy was in Amsterdam, and we went to see her as well.

After a very long wait, I was at the airport at 7 a.m. with a big suitcase. Immediately I recognized people I had met before at the preparation meeting. After just narrowly catching our flight, we arrived in England. Then the whole adventure began.

We arrived at our residence, and there were 4 kids waiting for us in the hallway. They helped find our rooms and carry our luggage. When I arrived in my room I met my first roommate, and soon after my second one arrived. After getting acquainted and chilling in the room for a while, I went into town with a few people, and I was amazed at how many nice stores there were, from the Forever 21 to Lush and a McDonalds. I absolutely loved it! Monday was the first day of school, which was all a bit of preparation for Tuesday (when school would actually start). Then we took a city bus through Bournemouth and the nearby town of Poole. When we were done we took the bus back to the city centre.

The 1st day of school; yes, even at EF it was still a bit scary, you don't know anyone or hardly anyone and they don't speak your own language either. But still, all my classmates were very spontaneous and I was asked to join a group of students at a table. The lessons were simply fun and not at all like school in the Netherlands. Then we had Activities, which were the 2 hours in a day that we did games and activities, such as bowling, laser gaming, climbing and water games.

Also, on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday you had the option to go to the club, exclusively for EF people. You might think, "haha, lame," but our club was genuinely awesome. You all get to know a lot of people and it is, in summary, just amazing, amazing, amazing!

My residence was a 3-minute walk from the beach, which was really super chill. So we would go there every night, after eating fries, pizza, Starbucks or burritos in town. Of course, there were many other choices of things to do in the evening, like going to the big central park and sitting there, eating out at a sushi restaurant, and the stores were open until 9 p.m., so shopping was definitely an option as well.

My two weeks went by super fast. I had such a good time that I called my parents to ask if I could stay longer, but unfortunately, my parents didn't think it was such a good idea. The things I experienced at EF, in a super positive way, I will never forget. Some things were crazy, some exciting, but mostly a lot of fun.

In a nutshell, I definitely recommend going away with EF as soon as possible and making your trip as long as possible, because once you arrive you won't want to leave!!! I personally can't wait to go again and see all my old friends from this summer.

Hope you have fun at EF!

Xxxx Eline