I would like to say thank you for the last one and a half years I could spend in boarding.

But I will start at the beginning.

As a child, I was a bookworm. I read almost every book I could get and sometimes all night through. At this time most of the books I read were written by Enid Blyton. Some of  you might know her. She was a British author whose stories were often set in boardinghouses. I was fascinated and imagined about living in such a world. So did I dream about living in Harry Potters world. A school for magicians seemed like the coolest place I could go to.

While I grew up in Germany I began to learn English in year three. I’ve never had a talent for languages, which made me one of the worst students in my class. But I had to change something about it. I knew if I want to become successful someday I would have to be able to speak fluent English. My grandma, who was an English teacher suggested me to do an exchange year. One of my friends went to a boarding school in England for three months and told me about her experience. After that, I was sure about going to a boarding school. My dream of an exchange year combined with the dream of boarding brought me to this little city called Nelson.

Arrived in Nelson, boarding was different than expected. They were no food fights or matt sliding at night. We also didn’t have a dining hall as Harry Potter did. But we got a brotherhood closer than any of the movies ever described. I realised pretty fast that the people and the memories you make in boarding actually count. Yet I would consider these boys as my second family and don’t really want to leave them in a month. Coming to Nelson taught me to adapt to a new culture. The boarding- house also taught me to be tidy, to be independent and that mom is still the best cook. Some of these boys live since almost five years together, see each other every single day and still haven’t killed each other. I think that is pretty impressive. Being loyal to your friends gets a new definition in boarding and I’m sure some of these friendships will stick a lifelong.

When I will leave New Zealand in one and a half months I will remember these boys. I will remember the evenings when we went with Mr Mardon for a swim in the river.

I will remember playing football with 70 people on the field at the same time which didn’t work out at all.

I will remember all the hours we spent on pyramids and house singing to get an acceptable result.

Nelson College and its borders got a place in my heart. I made hundreds or even thousands of great memories at this place and might tell these stories to my grandchildren someday.

I would like to say thank you to the staff of the boarding house who took always care of I would like to say thank you to Mr Mardon who has been working full time to make every single boarder happy. I would like to say thank you to Debbie and especially Georgina who has been my second mom for the past one and a half years. I would like to say thank you to Josh and all the other year 13s who were some of the greatest people I have ever met. And I would like to say thank you to all of you boys who made boarding to the best experience of my life.

Thank you for every moment I could spend in boarding with you.

Thank you