Cultural & Personal Development We were meant to fly to Berlin this week as we had some spare time but thanks to the Volcano in Iceland, our flights were cancelled so we had a week off here in Nijmegen to finish off 2 assignments and enjoy the sunshine as the spring has finally truly arrived in the Netherlands.
The time is approaching where people are now leaving to return home as there Erasmus experience is over. I believe it is more difficult to say goodbye to people from here than my own friends and family at home as you always knew you would return home but we will never have the same experiences all together as we have had over the last 13 weeks. This wee Tina and Astrid were leaving to go to Belgium again so we had a farewell party. This was a lot of fun and was a good way to say goodbye in typical Vossenveld style. Over the next few weeks more people will leave but I feel it would be better if everyone was here for the same length of time rather than some 3 months and others 4.
We decided to go to Utrecht to sightsee in a different city in the Netherlands. This was a beautiful city with a nice culture in the city. We had lunch in a typically American Restaurant, KFC which was a treat as Nijmegen does not have a KFC so it was one of the first in a long time. The city had a good market on that day so we walked around tasting and looking at typically Dutch items. As there are many canals in this country we decided to go on a boat trip around the city. This was a good way to see more of the city than on foot and it was relaxing sitting listening to the commentary. Before returning home I found a Starbucks Store and had a Chai Tea for the first time in 13 weeks! This made the day perfect!
About 15minutes by bicycle from our flat there is a beautiful lake and park and as the weather has been perfect the last few days we decided to pack lunch and blankets and got to the lake and soak up the rays! This was a brilliant day as we lay on the sand, had lunch and chilled out after working on our assignments. We brought the football too so we played games like Volleyball and Football on the sand. It was like being on Holiday and we all got a little colour which made the girls happy!
On Saturday one of the Irish girls celebrated her 21st Birthday and organised a Beach themed party for everyone. Everyone had to dress up in beach wear and some of the ideas were great. We had jellyfish, mermaids, surfers, pirates and I was an Octopus. I used large noodles for the pool, cut in half to make my legs. It was such a great day as the sun was shining again so we were able to sit outside and enjoy the evening. A photographer from the HAN magazine came to take pictures of the party to put a spread in their magazine which gave us a giggle as he was snap happy. We had a barbeque on the grass as the sun went down and it was a nice evening with the group. Many other Dutch students from the Vossenveld complex turned up to the party which was good as it was the first time we got to mix with other people from the building as everyone likes to keep themselves to themselves here.
We also booked our return flight this week and after I felt quite down as the entire experience has past so quickly and I do not know if I am ready to return home again, back to reality. This experience has been a great eye-opener as I realised I can live away from home and there is life outside NI that needs to be explored. I always found that I lost confidence in myself when I left the comfort of school and went to University but being here I feel like I have found myself again and I am willing to be the first to offer an opinion or the first to give a presentation and it’s good to have that feeling again!
Professional Development.
We had no class this week as the Ideal School day was cancelled as the teacher was stuck in Helsinki due to the Ash Cloud over Europe.
One of the final assignments was to write a final essay about our time here discussing many aspects from class time to life in the Netherlands. I felt it was important to be honest in this essay even if the things I had to say were negative on some cases but more reflection will take place during evaluations of the course. It was interesting writing the essay as I was quite reflective of my time here and I normally struggle to reflect on issues in my life. One of the main things from this essay that many others wrote was the fact that Secondary students should not be accepted onto this course as it is Primary based or the course should be adapted for Secondary students as they accept a few of us onto the course.
I also wrote a reflective piece on my school practice here but this was very positive as I really enjoyed my experience in schools here. It was active and the schools were very welcoming to us and the children were always enthusiastic in my lessons which was very rewarding for me.
About 15minutes by bicycle from our flat there is a beautiful lake and park and as the weather has been perfect the last few days we decided to pack lunch and blankets and got to the lake and soak up the rays! This was a brilliant day as we lay on the sand, had lunch and chilled out after working on our assignments. We brought the football too so we played games like Volleyball and Football on the sand. It was like being on 
On Saturday one of the Irish girls celebrated her 21st Birthday and organised a Beach themed party for everyone. Everyone had to dress up in beach wear and some of the ideas were great. We had jellyfish, mermaids, surfers, pirates and I was an Octopus. I used large noodles for the pool, cut in half to make my legs. It was such a great day as the sun was shining again so we were able to sit outside and enjoy the evening. A photographer from the HAN magazine came to take pictures of the party to put a spread in their magazine which gave us a giggle as he was snap happy. We had a barbeque on the grass as the sun went down and it was a nice evening with the group. Many other Dutch students from the Vossenveld complex turned up to the party which was good as it was the first time we got to mix with other people from the building as everyone likes to keep themselves to themselves here. 
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