Frisian Freedom and Food Festivals

Week 16 (09/05/16 - 15/05/16)

After a great week in Paris it was time to get back into the routine of normal life in Leeuwarden. Classes started back as normal on Monday with "Active Learning" where we continued to prepare our lesson on the BREXIT, which we are eventually going to have to attempt to teach to a Dutch class in the coming weeks and we continued to blunder our way through our Dutch language class Wednesday afternoon.

The major event this week was it was my first day in my placement school carrying out our English project. This took place for a short period on Thursday but it was still a good, yet extremely difficult, experience. As I think I've mentioned before Nadja, a German girl in our class, and I have to run an English project in a local primary school where the children are advertising an English speaking city as if they were a travel agency. For our first day we decided to simply do a short introduction about ourselves and the project and allow the children to ask any questions they may have. It also gave us another opportunity to gauge their level of English, which was a bit more minimal than we first thought. We're carrying out the project in the final 3 years of the primary school which are year 6, 7 and 8 but we only spend half an hour in each class. The year 8's seem to have a lot of understanding but there are a few who struggle with speaking. Year 7 is a much smaller class but there is a much larger gap in understanding, there are about 5 children who can speak English near fluently and then there are some who speak as much English as we do Dutch. And finally in year 6 it was just a sea of blank faces. However with the help of the teachers, who are all very keen, and a few of the more conscientious students we got through the day and I am looking forward to our next visits in the coming weeks.

On Friday we made another excursion with our "Places of Memory" class, a time which I now look forward to during the week as it gives me an opportunity to see a little more of the Frisian country side and culture. This time we made our way to Stavoren which is to the south west of Leeuwarden beside the coast. Here we visited a monument which has great significance to Frisian nationalists as it commemorates the Battle of Warns 1345 in which an army of Frisian villagers and farmers repelled an invasion of Hollanders enabling them to keep their independence for a further 150 years. This was a great day out as it was beside ocean and it's the first time I've seen the sea since I have been here.

"Leaver dea as slaef" - Anonymous

(Translates from Frisian to English as "rather dead than slave")

First view of the ocean

It's hard to see but the ground on the right
of the bank is actually below sea level

Frisian countryside

Monument commemorating the Battle of
Warns inscribed with "Leaver dea as slaef"

First experience of an aqueduct,
having to drive under the canal 

With Lucy's course in Hasselt coming to an end in the next couple of weeks she is getting a lot of free time and so she was up again for another visit. She came at a good time as this weekend was the Leeuwarden Big Taste Festival. The area outside the Oldehove was over run with food trucks of all different varieties which made a good day out to finish off the week.

Coolest food truck ever

May Vacation - Maastricht, Brussels, Paris

Week 15 (02/05/16 - 08/05/16)

As I mentioned in my previous post this week's entry will be longer than normal as it is going to detail my travels over May Vacation. For this I apologise but much like Amsterdam it would be impossible to do it justice within the word limit.

My travels actually started on May 1st when I made my way to Maastricht to meet Lucy. Maastricht is a city in the Netherlands I've wanted to visit and it is very near the Belgian border so this was a good opportunity to do so. I started my journey early and Lucy met me at the train station before we headed into town, stopping on the way for a quick bite to eat. Maastricht is a very scenic city and we were fortunate to get a good day which we just spent wandering around and exploring the city. Lucy had been there before and so had some sense of direction but for the most part we had no final destination in mind.

Basilica of Our Lady

One of Maastricht's 3 large squares

Another of Maastricht's 3 large squares

Lucy posing with a strange statue we found

And they sell all the Harry Potter books in
Dutch (with really cool covers)

Bookstore Dominicanen, an old cathedral
renovated into a modern bookstore

After spending the Sunday evening and Monday in Hasselt, as Lucy still had classes she needed to go to, we headed to Brussels on the Tuesday to spend the night in preparation for our early bus to Paris on Wednesday morning. We spent the day in Brussels centre and had a great dinner in the main square consisting of the biggest mussel pot I think I've ever seen. Belgium is apparently famous for mussels as well as chocolate something which I did not know. We then spent the night in a rather seedy area of North Brussels, somewhere I wouldn't want to be walking too late at night, but the hotel was fine and the room was clean and once I climbed the 4 flights of near vertical stairs I was ready to pass out from exhaustion anyway.

We also finally saw the Manneken Pis (Pissing Boy) which we had tried to see the last time we were in Brussels but it was dressed in a scout like uniform for some unknown reason.

Much of our Wednesday was spent travelling to Paris. This only cost us 12 euro which is very good but it did mean we were at the whim of traffic, which was a nightmare getting into Paris and turned our 4 hour journey into a 6 hour journey. We got into Paris around 4:30pm and it was still sweltering hot, much to Lucy's delight and my disdain as I was on bag duty most of the time. We found our nearest metro and made our way to the hotel which was perfectly situated in the centre of Paris only a short metro ride from all the major attractions.

We decided to make the most of the evening as it was still very bright outside and made our way to the Sacré-Coeur Basilica. The location was still teeming with people and after being accosted by street vendors, of which there were many, we made our way to the top for a spectacular view of Paris.

We then decided that, rather than head back into central Paris for dinner, that we would check out the Latin quarter for something to eat. This is situated just behind the Sacré-Coeur and we ended up finding a wonderfully quaint Italian restaurant with a jazz pianist which much to Lucy's delight was versed in multiple Disney songs. We also had our first glimpse of the Eiffel Tower.

The central square was filled with artists and
small vendours

After dinner we decided to get a closer look at the Eiffel Tower before calling it a night.

After a much needed night's rest we had an early start as it was our plan to squeeze in all the major sights in this one day. We started in the Louvre which turns out is free entrance to all EU members under the age of 26 (another reason not to BREXIT). So we were able to just walk in without queuing for tickets which was great. We battled the crowds inside the museum and finally saw all the major artwork.

Even the ceiling is covered in art

The Mona Lisa is much smaller than expected

Getting that perfect selfie angle

The Venus de Milo

Then, because of the fantastic weather, we decided to walk the Champs-Élysées on our way to the Arc de Triomphe. Lucy was in her element with the heat and the amount of the designer shops. (Fun Fact: the Arc de Triomphe sits in the centre of a roundabout where there are no traffic regulations, you drive where you want and hope not to crash.)

"A walk about Paris will provide lessons in history, beauty, and in the point of life." 

- Thomas Jefferson

Champs-Élysées with Arc de Triomphe at
the end

Closer look at the Arc de Triomphe

After visiting the Arc de Triomphe we made our way back to the Eiffel Tower to see it during the daylight and have a relax in the near by park in the now 25 degree heat before hopping on the metro again to get to Notre Dame, which we were both very much looking forward to.

Taking in the sun by the Eiffel Tower

The Eiffel Tower

First sight of Notre Dame from across
the Seine

Queuing to get inside

We topped off the day with a canal cruise on the Seine before a late dinner and bed in preparation for Disney the next day.

Front row seats on the canal tour

Something I found very interesting that I learnt on the canal tour is how many sights in Paris were first built for the world fair. The Eiffel Tower being the most prominent (which was also originally criticised by French artists) but there were also bridges and buildings built as well.

I think both Lucy and I both reverted back into a childlike state on Friday morning. I don't think there was anyone more excited on the train to Disney than we were. We got there for opening at 10am and didn't leave until closing, after 10pm that night, and we were in our element all day.

"That's the real trouble with the world, too many people grow up." - Walt Disney

Entrance to Disney

Just hanging out in front of Sleeping
Beauty's Castle

My main man Mickey casting some magic

Chilling with Buzz 

We were both exhausted and broke by the end of the day but it was definitely worth it. My only regret is they hadn't finished building their Star Wars attractions yet and I missed the sign up for Jedi training but that just gives me an excuse to go back.

"If you can dream it, you can do it. Remember that this whole thing started with a dream 

and a mouse." - Walt Disney

Our final day in Paris was a pretty chill day. We were able to check out of our hotel but leave our baggage which meant we could roam the city unhindered until our bus back to Brussels that evening. We made our way back to Notre Dame to see if we could get up to the towers as it was already closed last time we were there however unfortunately it was a 3 hour wait time so we thought better of it. We spent the rest of the day, before heading back to Brussels, on the Champs-Élysées looking in the shops and having a drink in one of the many very expensive cafés.

The entrance to Abercrombie & Fitch
 looks like a royal palace

Thankfully the bus back to Brussels ran on time meaning we were able to get a reasonable night's sleep in preparation for our travels back to our separate Erasmus locations, a 1 hour journey for Lucy and a 6 hour journey for me (think I got the worse deal).

In all it was a fantastic week and great trip. We were so fortunate being blessed with such good weather the whole time which suppose made everything that little bit better. I would definitely recommend Paris and I definitely be returning in the future.

 "Paris is always a good idea." - Audrey Hepburn

King's Day and Frisian Art

Week 14 (25/04/16 - 01/05/16)

On the Monday of this week I had my final part of assessment for my "Dutch Multicultural Society" module. Unfortunately this involved a presentation, and to make matters worse it had to be given to a class of Dutch students. This was a daunting task and I was not looking forward to it however while doing it the Dutch students seemed pretty interested and once I was done I was pretty pleased with my effort. Our tutor even told us that we did well so that always helps.

Just a casual string quartet

Apart from this, the week was to carry on as normal until King's Day (Koningsdag to the Dutch) on the Wednesday. Nicki had to two visitors over from home and a friend of ours, Kim who is also on Erasmus in the Netherlands, was making the trip up from Nijmegen. This was shaping up to be a good day however we didn't realise that celebrations actually started the night before for King's Night. There turned out to be a small festival organised at the Wilhelminaplein which is beside the train station which we decided to cycle down to, and the best thing about it was it was free. Everybody was celebrating and dancing this was just a taster for what would be happening the next day. When King's Day finally arrived on the Wednesday we were all excited. Dressed in our finest orange t-shirts, the tradition on King's Day as orange is the royal colour, we made out way into town to attend the markets. For what I would have considered a small town the whole place was busy with people and stalls. Everything was being sold but the most important thing was the food. The streets were lined with different food stalls and trucks and I had an amazing kibbeling lunch which is a traditional Dutch snack of chunks of fried fish and tartar sauce.  After buying tickets to attend a festival at the Oldehove in the evening we spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing in the park listening to a live band doing covers of all the most popular music right now. In all it was just a great day.

Bridge hindering our progress into town

Centre of town packed with people and stalls

Relaxing in the park waiting for the band

King's Day at the Oldehove

After having a long day on the Wednesday we were thankful to have the Thursday off class to catch up on some much needed sleep. Nicki said farewell to her visitors and we all said a goodbye to Kim before she headed back to Nijmegen but I'm sure will meet up again in the coming months.

Friday came along and we made another excursion with our "Places of Memory" class. This week we made the journey to a Frisian art museum to answer the question, is there such a thing as Frisian art? Allow I did do art GSCE it appears all my artistic tendencies have left me as I could not make sense of most of the artwork. However it was another good trip and it gave us another chance to see the Frisian countryside as the museum literally in the middle of a field.

This was my favourite piece of art. It's a duck.

"Art is anything you can get away with." - Andy Warhol

On Sunday I made the trip to Maastricht however as this falls under my May Vacation travels I'm going to save this tale for my next blog which promises to be reminiscent of Amsterdam as it will be excessively long, which I apologise for in advance.

New Modules and Visiting Friesland's Tallest "Mountain"

Week 13 (18/04/16 - 24/04/16)

After a weekend break following the completion of assignments this week saw the beginning of our next period of study which involved a whole new timetable. The only classes continuing from the previous period are "Dutch Language and Culture" and "Places of Memory". In addition to these we will now be taking the modules "Active Learning Environments", "Classroom Management" and "Special Needs and Education". Again we don't have a very full timetable with only one class a day most days and Thursdays off however for me this will be occupied by my placement module.

In our first class of the new period, "Active Learning Environments", we will have to prepare lessons as a group to teach to a Dutch class on the BREXIT which is very relevant right now. This will be difficult in parts as we have been away while this has been taking place and I myself will not actually even be home for the vote. As well as this it is extremely likely that the pupils we will end up teaching this to will have no prior knowledge of the situation. However it will be an interesting module non-the-less. Another interesting addition to our timetable is "Special Needs and Education". Coincidentally this is very relevant to us as we were studying special needs education before Christmas while still in Belfast so it will be interesting to see how this is dealt with in the Netherlands. Also the tutor for this module has given no deadline for its assignment and has even said that we can submit it from home after we leave which is a very different approach than other tutors. She also seems very down to earth and I'm interested to hear her opinion on the topic.

To finish off our week we made another excursion with our "Places of Memory" tutors. This time we were visiting Friesland's tallest "mountain" as they kept referring to it. And by "mountain" they actually meant a 9 metre tall grass hill. All around Friesland they have these grass hills known as "terps". These are artificially made hills originally intended to provide some sort of protection for residents from storm surges and flooding. On top of these terps there would be a small community with a church at its centre. The terp we visited was at Hegebeintum and is actually the tallest terp in the Netherlands standing 8.8 metres tall. The church is still standing on top of the terp which we were able to visit and it seems to be quite a regularly visited site as there is a visitors centre and there were quite a few other people there at the same time as us.

Steepest incline I've had to walk since
I've been here

Concrete had to be laid to stabilise the terp 

Church lined with wooden displays to
commemorate rich families from the area 

Symbols are carved to represent the person
who has died - broken branches on the leaves
means they are the last in their bloodline

This was a relatively slow week as nothing very exciting happened however next Wednesday is Kings Day which is a nationwide holiday to celebrate the Dutch king. Markets and festivals all over the Netherlands this promises to be a good day.