Recollections of life BEFORE the ISSE? Hmm, I must admit they are vague. I still remember graduating in Israel, and receiving my Middle School Certificate. I also have general recollections of the warm countries I have lived in, such as Nigeria. Before that it's a blur, although I'm sure I still know what our house in New York looks like!

What's this? Rebellious, me? Surely you must be mistaken... I must have blocked that out. I guess I have changed for the better throughout my years in the ISSE. The ISSE seemed to be a good community to grow up in really, and as I got older I realised that school wasn't just a cruel form of punishment designed by parents. I got to like the ISSE, the fellow students and the teachers alike.

You had a motorcycle accident while in IB1 and I recall visiting you at the Diaconessen Ziekenhuis (hospital). This led to prolonged absence from school. What impact did this trauma have on you?

I consider this accident to be a rather large milestone in my life. I had to face many difficulties, primarily learning how to walk again, this time with crutches. I don't think anyone realises how difficult standing vertically for more than two minutes at a time can be until they have been in a similar situation. I also remember the continuous frustration as my short-term memory was severely affected by the accident. As I was speaking to people I would forget the beginning of their sentence, having absolutely no idea what they were on about, even though they were answering a question I had posed. When looking back, I can say good things came out of the accident too all my friends were really supportive and definitely played the biggest part in getting me through the whole ordeal. I also ended up losing about 20kgs, which really changed my life (and health) for the better. I feel people look at me differently now, probably because I've been a lot more positive about life ever since, especially realising that it can all be over VERY quickly. Getting back to school in IB2 was no party though I was quickly affected by headaches and general concentration problems, making the programme particularly tough for me. Once again, I'm glad that everyone was very supportive through all this; I've definitely learned to appreciate those close to me, and I can really tell nowadays when someone genuinely cares about me. I can't really say that I'm happy about the accident, as I still occasionally have periods of forgetfulness and other things to remind me of what happened that day, but in a way it radically changed the course of my life in a positive way. I think everyone that knows me will agree on that.

IB education was absolutely essential, and I'm happy I completed the programme. At my university they presume you know absolutely NOTHING when you enter any particular course, and the first year (as my course of study is Business Studies) is basic Economics, Math, and common sense. With the knowledge I had acquired in the ISSE, I could comfortably sleep through the first year, which was quite the bonus. I was genuinely AMAZED at the low level of knowledge displayed by some people who had done the English counterpart of IB, A-Levels. They were generally clueless. As in IB certain subjects are compulsory, i.e. Math and languages, and certain combinations of humanities and sciences, I found that I had a much broader field of knowledge. As A-levels leave the choice of subjects entirely up to the students, some people opted not to take subjects because they weren't 'fun' or didn't perform well in them. This of course made university quite difficult for them, as the first year generally consists of a compulsory set of modules, designed to prepare you for the rest of the course. Thanks to IB, I was already (generally) well-prepared.

The University of Surrey Roehampton (what a mouthful) is great. I really like the people, and the lecturers are very nice as well. For a London university it is quite rare to have a campus (simple fact - where to put a huge campus in London?), but we are lucky enough to have quite a 'foresty' one - lots of trees, bushes, lakes. It even comes with its own set of ducks, squirrels, and the occasional fox running over from Richmond park (just around the corner). I'm in the Southwest of London, away from hectic life in the centre. Although that DOES appeal once in a while, I'm happy that we have a campus, it's way better that walking from building to building and having to cross roads with lethal London cab drivers conquering the pavement!

Although I'm Dutch myself, I preferred to continue my study in English, as I've been enjoying American/English education my whole life. It would be too much of a change to swap to Dutch now. I'm always particularly happy about my decision when I speak to my friends who stayed in The Netherlands; they complain that they have too much work, too many classes, and lecturers never have time for them. In my first year I had one whole day and an afternoon off, and now I'm enjoying a humble 1 full day, a morning and an afternoon of lectures. It's a lot of self-study (I quickly found out why the library is a 5 storey building), but I think it's a good way of studying, rather than having teachers breathing down your neck. That's been done my whole life, so I guess that's prepared me for this 'freedom' I'm now entitled to!

I was really amazed at the new building. Although there were hardly any familiar faces, I felt there was still that 'ISSE' atmosphere. The teachers of course being ever-so-welcoming. Encouraging contact is difficult; I was lucky enough to deliver the speech to my sister Saskia's class, but I think it would have been different talking to a bunch of 15/16 year olds that didn't know me at all and didn't relate. I don't think they would listen as attentively, and even if they were genuinely interested, they would interpret things differently. I guess because they know I'm Saskia's brother they respected my views as those of a 'known' figure, and that I wasn't there just to talk about some uni. I tried to give them a real view of life in London. I really liked the idea of speaking to them about studying abroad.

Five years from now... It sounds like such a long time, but I'm currently in a crisis, as I've started to realise how quickly the years pass you by. I'm not sure about where I'll be, possibly in London, as I'm really attracted to the big city, and I've made this my home now. However, moving around my whole life (I've only lived in countries for 3 or 4 years at a time) has given me the ability to make anywhere my home very easily. So the 'where' isn't really set yet. I would like to go into business obviously, as this is what I'm studying. I don't know in what field though; I study a wide range of things marketing, management, economics, finance, and accounting. I really have the choice to decide which of these I like most. I'll just wait it out until the end of my 3 years at Roehampton.

Advice? Well, despite how it may feel like sometimes, the IB programme really helps. Like I said before, I had such an incredible advantage over students that have done similar (but still inferior) courses. It's definitely worth the effort. I probably learned more in those years doing IB than I did during my years from Kindergarten to 8th grade in an American system. The teachers at the ISSE were also very helpful and supportive. IB is the kind of course where you still have the privilege of having a teacher around to help you so much; and they really do help. Use the teachers to your own advantage, they're there to help; nothing goes further than the years (or eons) of experience they have to offer. IB teachers have seen students come and go, and they can pretty much tell how well you'll do (although I pleasantly surprised SOME members of staff who weren't as confident in me!). IB is still a lot of hard work, but the best thing to do is to have them steer you in the right direction. Results guaranteed!