What does it feel like to be a boarder?

From If... to Innocence - a handful of great films about growing up away from home

Another buzz feed, this one is about graduates though :P

26. You don’t even know who you’re allowed to cuddle.

FOX / Via lovethispic.com

At boarding school, same-sex cuddling was usually a given, regardless of your sexuality.

34. And you’ll have to constantly gauge how weird you can be around your new friends.

Nickelodeon / Via theamandashow.wikia.com

After four years of living with your best friends, your metric for “what’s too weird” is way off.

Enjoy some stories and experiences of my friends :P

WHAT BOARDING SCHOOLS SHOULD BE DISLIKED FOR?

Students complain about various things that do not satisfy them in boarding schools:

Tiny rooms shared between 2-4 people,

Bathrooms shared between 5+ people (guys bathrooms are also very disgusting)

Nasty food, after consuming it for a while it won't let you fit in your favorite pair of jeans that you've bought 4 months ago

Annoying tutors who make you wake up at 6:30 am so that you're not late for the tasteless breakfast...Our only motivation to wake up early was to get those chocolate cereals because that container would never get refilled :/

Breathalyze check every Friday and Saturday on the way from Geneva

Queueing to take a shower !!! Or even to use a toilet -.-

There were more things that we didn't like about our school but theres one that bothers us the most but we have to deal with for our entire lives which is DISTANCE

Having friends from all over the world is incredible! I have close friends from Mexico, Brazil, France, Russia, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Spain, Egypt, Nigeria, USA, Romania, Japan, South Korea, China, New Zealand and etc., but after graduating, people spread around the world.

After certain period of time, as Ive already mentioned below, these people become your second family. I have 6 very close friends who became siblings to me. They were like my teachers, my support, my pillow when I needed to cry, my partners in crime, my laugh mates, my literally EVERYTHING and only one out of six lives in London. We spend a lot of time together, we practically live with each other. But I still have the other 5 that I miss a lot :/ 4 of them stayed in Switzerland, and my 5th sister lives in Brazil. In March 2015, it will be the 3rd time me seeing her over the past 2 years, the flight is almost 12 hours!!! And whenever she comes I feel like the last time I saw her was yesterday. 

My friends who stayed in Switzerland see me more often, as I try to visit Geneva 2-3 times a year, they also visit me in London. Some of them are from Russia so we see each there as well. There is this crazy bond which, i believe, is unbreakable which will keep us together forever! 

But there are also those who were not very close friends of mine but still so many memories are connected with them. As we shared dinning halls, classes, parties on the weekends. Besides friends, there were also tutors and teachers who I became very friendly with. I keep in touch with some of the teacher, and tutors even today, we meet up if we appear to be in the same city.

This link is similar to the one below but it has few important points that were not mentioned before :P

6. And hot water is a scarce resource

7. Your parents shipped you off because you were trouble

Not my case but yes, we had a lot of troublemakers ;)

8. But, truth be told, you were glad to be going away anyway

10. You worried about being the last one to return home on the holidays

11. And that moment you realize you have NO friends back home

12. So your siblings become your best friends

14. No one bats an eye when you walk around in your pajamas at 6PM

16. Want to listen to music or watch a movie? Forget it!

18. You have NO privacy

27. And you’ve picked up a few curse words from them…

28. You have the most diverse group of friends

To be honest, I do not get some of those points but the ones below I have experienced myself:

1. You still make your bed every morning, out of habit.

Because you had daily room inspection.

2. You’ve been addicted to coffee since you were 14.

4. You’ve never had a snow day.

Regardless of the weather.

10. Marks for misconduct = “Demerits”

And boy, do they add up…

11. School nurse = “Infirmary”

12. And the cafeteria = the “Dining Hall”

13. Speaking of, the comfort food you miss isn’t your mom’s secret recipe, but your dining hall’s.

14. Though they mainly served various kinds of chicken.

15. Which you ate at a table, family style, during “seated meals.”

16. With your (surprisingly crushworthy) teachers.

I had two of them :P

23. Because hookups were always in sketchy locations.

Nature trails, empty classrooms, the soccer field…

24. Which is why you were caught by your math teacher at least once.

26. You got used to study hall.

Sometimes you even studied!

27. But you never stopped hating Saturday classes.

In my school it was a punishment which i had to attend once :(

28. Weekend restriction was nothing like The Breakfast Club.

29. But expulsion was a fate worse than death.

30. Your internet cut off at approximately 8 p.m.

31. And on the off chance that it didn’t, everyone was like…

32. You didn’t have “electives,” so you never took phys ed.

34. In addition to sports, you cultivated at least one bizarre or artistic activity during your high school career.

35. No one will ever understand the special bond you share with your high school roommate.

36. You had to sign out every time you left campus.

That's why i had to attend a saturday class :(

38. You contracted every ailment known to man at one point or another.

43. You remain unfazed by communal bathrooms.

44. In fact, showering became a convivial activity among your peers.

45. Because modesty was a foreign concept in your high school dorm.

46. As was air conditioning.

47. You didn’t get your driver’s license until you were 18, or if you did, you never used it.

48. And you certainly never took driver’s ed.

49. You have friends from all over the world.

50. Which is why you’re all about group texts.

52. And you never locked your door.

53. But you always labeled your Diet Coke, because that stuff is like crack at boarding school.

55. You have yet to encounter a feud as serious as that between you and your rival school.

56. But that didn’t stop you from dating someone who went there.

57. Your senior thesis was 10 times harder than anything you ever did in college.

60. You knew the name, hometown, and college plans of everyone in your class.

Which consisted of roughly 75 people.

61. You appreciate the value of a chaperoned outing.

63. You are familiar with the term “Robo-tripping.”

Defalgan in my case -.-

66. You always went to school dances, or “mixers.”

Besides the "first times" that were captured by my friends, the were other ones too:

First time living without my family 

First time getting sick without your dear mommy taking care of you (in my school no matter what you've had diarrhea or flu you would still get the same pill, called Defalgan -.-)

First time having class in English. Even though my English was fluent enough to communicate with people, studying in a language different from your mother tongue was quite challenging and it took time to get used to it

First time getting BlackBerry!! That was a very exciting moment, as BlackBerry was the coolest phone back in 2010 and everyone would spend 24/7 on BBM

First time traveling without parents but with your friends! Over the period of three years I went to Lugano, Gstaad, Montreux, Lausanne, Paris, Cannes, London, Barcelona, Madrid, Marbella and some other places with my friends for the weekends and holidays!

First time getting involved into a school drama and being posted on Gossip Girl

First time fighting with a roommate because she never wants to open the window! Everyone needs a bit of fresh air :/

First time skipping classes and hiding from a spy guy not to get caught :P

First time being at the discipline office for skipping PE -.-

First time understanding that your friend is your sister, when she helps you to go through your problems and gives you support no matter what you've done

First time fighting with your sister-> negotiating with her -> saying sorry to each other -> becoming sisters again - THAT'S WHY ITS BEEN FOUR YEARS AND WE ARE STILL BEST FRIENDS

First time saving your housemate from an asthma attack

First time entering a night club being underage without a fake id :P

First time someone steals your food from the common fridge :(

First time someone steals your money/watch/bag (After trying really hard we managed to prove it was one of the cleaning ladies - someone recorded her while she was cleaning and stealing)

I have graduated from College du Leman (CDL)  in 2013. It is an international boarding school in Geneva, Switzerland. I was lucky to spend the best three years of my life in that great, warm, sometimes annoying and strict place where I met wonderful people who became my second family.

Back then, I wanted to leave my school, I thought I wasn't given enough freedom, as students were not allowed to leave campus during the weekdays; students were not allowed to stay in Geneva over the night without their parents permission; we had problems with our tutors (with the ones who were strict, as they were actually doing their job, unlike the nice ones :P); we also had problems between each other. So much drama was going on every day, especially in girls' dorms. 

But being happy is never easy, you have to work hard in order to be satisfied. We learnt how to avoid conflicts but also how to take a revenge; we learnt how to live in the same room with the person you don't want to live with; we learnt how to send fake emails, fake faxes and even FAKE PLANE TICKETS "from our parents" to go out on the weekends; but the most important we've learnt:  there is no difference what is written on your passport cover:  Russia or Ukraine, Israel or Lebanon, Turkey or Azerbaijan or any other nationality, if inside of you it is written  - "I AM NICE AND I CARE ONLY ABOUT YOUR PERSONALITY" - you will get along with everyone who has the same inscription. 

Before graduating from CDL, I realized that it will be really missed by me and everyone who surrounded me. Why is that? - Not only because I lived with my friends and spend all my time with them but also because so many things I've done in Geneva were my "first times".  (<-- press to see the post)

I will post more photos of me and my friends, to give you a slight image of how fun it was!