SCHOOL'S OUT! WAIT WHAT?!

Greetings, my friends.

It's only three weeks to go until the summer holidays over here and all the exams are written. In fact, I had a little mini-party after my last test on Monday. It involved mostly sweatpants, chocolate buiscuits and lots of zoo documentaries on TV. You know, party hard.

I don't have to prepare for exams any more and also there's not that much stuff going on in school anymore so I'm basically already in relaxation mode. As a real treat, I started rereading one of my favourite book series - Naomi Novik's Temeraire - which is seven volumes up to now and I usually don't take the time to read that long a series all in a row (although I made an exception for A Song of Ice and Fire).

But that's not really what I wanted to talk about today. I want to talk about the problem, which is this:

Although there are no more tests or exams this schoolyear, we're still doing important stuff. We even start new topics. And everything we do now we will need right after the holidays. Because I am finishing school next spring, my next schoolyear is much shorter than a regular one, the first half being over right before Christmas when it's usually around early February.

Because the summer holidays are very late this year, we will have to write our first exams as early as three weeks after coming back to school. So all of us, not only our teachers, feel the pressure to get stuff done now so we don't have to rush through in September.

Now the problem is that we also want a break. We've all been working hard. The weather is crazy at the moment (floodings last week - students had to help dry out the school cellar and gym), most exams are graded and there's only two weeks of proper lessons left as the last week before the holidays usually contains all the extra stuff like running for charity and a kind of awards ceremony for students who did something special.

Seriously? I'm done. I just want a couple of weeks to relax, sleep in, and do all the stuff I don't have time for during school, like reading or learning Elvish like I've been planning to do for almost two years. Also I'm currently starting to really plan my novel-project, and I could really use some time off to work on that. Then there's university applications I'll have to think about, and possible gap year planning,

Even though I am generally a very relaxed person who isn't bothered by stress too much I appreciate and need breaks as much as the next person. So... could summer please come sooner?

Love and kisses,

Jojo