„Get in there, get in there“ shouted the fullback. It was raining. The mud stuck on the shoes and my arms were freezing to death. We were playing Rugby.
I have been at Lucton, a small boarding school in England between Birmingham and the boarder to Wales, for three months. The school was situated in the rural countryside and consisted of 3 very old brick houses, the oldest dated back to 1701. The next village was Hereford distant 10 minutes by car.
Always at 7:20 the day started for us boarders. The wake up bell rang and the house parents walked around, knocked on each door and shouted we should wake up.
In the first week after beginning of term we always froze, because the showers were cold and the radiators weren`t turned on before November after the mid term holidays.
Everyone had his own school uniform, a black suit with red borders, a white skirt and a striped tie. At the beginning this was really strange to me. Even during sport we had to wear a special uniform. On the first day when all pupils of the school came together in the acky (a sport hall) for sports the teacher kissed the coat of arms of Lucton in front of the whole school showing his proudness to be a Luctonian. Doing so he demonstrated the importance to wear a uniform even for sports.
Each student had his own room. The room was furnished with a bed and a table and a chair. It was not spacious, but we didn‘t need more. We were always in the common rooms and only for sleeping in our rooms. Without exaggerating the room was filled completely when four persons entered it and it was impossible to move one step forward or backward.
We met for breakfast between 8:00 and 8:15. At 8:40 was registration. For registration all 300 students had to join their form teachers. Thereafter we went together to the assembly hall. The same procedure was repeated every morning. The news of the school were told and presentations were hold. At the end the whole school sung a song. The song was really important to them. The school had her own anthem. The teachers had to wear a funny cape during assembly. That cape looked like a magic coat from Hogwarts.
Once, by the time half of the school was outside for a trip, our two sport teachers managed the assembly in the absence of the headmistress. The assembly resembled a lot a sports show.
The lessons started.
The teachers were really out coming and kind. The classes consisted of 10 students. So the teachers had always time for each pupil and they were interested that everybody could follow the lessons. The school in general was quite personal. Once, after a concert, the headmistress congratulated me personally and than started to compete for me. She told me that she wants to keep me at Lucton because my results in school, sport and music were really good.
During breaks we had the opportunity to go to the fields for playing rugby. Often the headmistress, straight walking and watching over her territory, came around. During this time everyone put up his tie and closed the top button of the shirt. After she has gone the buttons were opened again and the ties were loosen.
The english people are very sportive and sport played a major role in the normal school live as well. Every monday, wednesday and friday we had sport. On monday for one and a half hour and on wednesday the whole afternoon. On wednesday we had games against other schools. I played rugby and football, but the major sport was rugby.  During the games, on wednesday, the headmistress tipped to the fields with her high heels sinking in the mud. Next to her was her husband, Paul, who was taking pictures all along. On Friday I played football.
The school had an interesting system of hierarchy between the students and teachers. The older students, named with little shields, helped to organize the younger kids. They were called Options or the oldest ones Prefects. For example the options ruled who could enter the queen Anne dining hall and who not. These were titles only given by the headmistress personally and just to the good and brave students.
Not till 5 o`clock, when the school finished, we were allowed to enter the boarding house.  Half an hour later we had roll call. This meeting was similar to the assembly but only for the boarders before eating.The full time boarders who lived in the boarding house even on the weekends counted about 50 students. After the meal the younger students had to do „prep“ in a specified classroom and the older ones could do it in their own rooms. The rest of the evening was free for us. Mostly we went to play football, basketball or rugby and when it was too dark outside we went inside to play football on the PS3.
Every friday all boarders were driven to a shopping centre in Leominster. The shopping centre sold only really big packages of food. The english students bought ice cream all the time, even when it was cold and freezing outside. Everybody came back with huge bags, because we preferred to cook our own food.
The meals cooked in the school kitchen were nearly without salt and oil and consisted mainly of potatoes. It was easy to tell where the german students sat when eating, because always next to them was standing the salt. And they added great quantities of it to make better the taste.
Usually on saturday the boarding people went out for a trip. We did many different kinds of activities. For example we went to Cardiff, watching a rugby game, we did paintballing, iceskating and many other things. This was always the highlight of the weekend.
Sunday was rest day. Everyone stayed in school. The swimming pool was open and we could go on the fields to play football or rugby. We invented a sort of water rugby to continue our loved sport even in the swimming pool. The English didn`t let out one chance to practice sport.
At the end of my time in Lucton, the school organized a Christmas dinner for all boarders and one for the whole school. The dinner for the whole school was during lunch time. It was a normal Lunch break just, that everybody sat together at the same time and we popped such funny things that looked like a big bonbon. The Dinner for the boarders was something really special. The students had to wear „Black Tie“ and not only the normal school uniform. The tables were all orientated so, that on the top in the middle the headmistress sat and next to her, her husband and than on both sides the house parents and the surgery nurse. One of the boarding house parents awarded the boarders for the messiest room, the best dressed man and woman, for the best unified nations international couple and other stuff.
I think the time in England was really profitably for the language and the social life. I got to know that you don`t need a very big room with many radiators. It is possible to live as well in a very little room and you don`t need necessarily the best and newest devices.
I learned to play rugby, which is a very funny and great sport. And finally, I got an interesting insight in an other mentality and way of life.
In the boarding house were English people, Chinese, Germans, Russians and from other nations of the world. Now I started networking all over the world.

April 2012
Moritz Helbling, 4e