Monday 2 May 2011

Valeria's Diary!

Comenius conference - Netherlands


Tuesday

We left Italy at 4 pm and we arrived in Amsterdam at around 6 pm. It was a quiet flight. With our suitcases we went at the Mozart Hotel where we stayed for only one night. In the evening we had dinner in a particular and very nice restaurant and after dinner we went in the centre of Amsterdam. We saw the Bulldog Pub, the Hard Rock Café and a lot of very nice places!

Wednesday

We got up very early, at about 7 30 am because at 9 o'clock we had to go to the Van Gogh museum! When we arrived we read something about Van Gogh, his life, his pictures and after that we entered in the museum. I liked the museum very much, I think that Van Gogh is fantastic and his pictures too. His life is very interesting and strange, maybe it is for this reason too that he is very famous. After we had some free time, we went at the Burger King and in some shops.
The time in Amsterdam finished and at 4 pm we took the coach to go to Bakkeveen.
At around 6 pm we arrived at our new accommodation and we met the English, the Germans, the Dutch, the French and the organizer Hans. Hans told us the rules of the buildings and our rooms' numbers.
I was in the biggest room with 3 French girls and 3 Italian girls, but it wasn't the best room because there weren't any showers!! So when we wanted to have a shower we had to go to another room! It was not very nice. In the evening at 8 pm we had dinner and at 8 45 pm in the first building there was a concert by the school band! They were very good!

Thursday

The week started! We got up at 8 o'clock and at 9 am we had breakfast.
Hans divided us in 4 groups and in each group there were students and teachers from different countries.
Two groups went on a walking tour of the moor and two group went to play sports games. After lunch we swapped activity. First I did the games, we had a lot of fun and my team won the last game! After lunch we had the guided tour and it was a little bit tiring but interesting too. The activity finished at around 2 pm. After that we had a group discussion about the school system of each country and we compared them.
At 7 pm we had dinner and later, like every evening there was a presentation and a game organized by a country. The first were the British with their presentation of their school system and the Germans did their game. The game was really fun and a little bit difficult. The teams were mixed so we had to speak English, that was really good!
After the game we returned in our building and like every night we met the Dutch girls in the “dining room”. With them we made friends at once. We always went to bed at around 1 o' clock.

Friday

On the fourth day we got up at 7 30 am, we had breakfast and at 8 am we took the coach to go to Leeuwarden. We arrived at around 9.30 am. We visited the Dutch school called Montessori College. To welcome us there was the principal who told us something about the school. After that, they divided us in groups. Each group was accompanied by a Dutch girl who showed the school, the classrooms, the laboratories and the gym. After the visit we had 2 different lessons: my group had a Dutch lesson so we went to another classroom because we understood nothing and the second was an English lessons; we had to speak about ourselves and the Dutch students had to ask some questions to us. It is a very beautiful school, very modern, very clean, very big and with a lot of activities! There was a very nice canteen where we had lunch and after lunch if the room was dirty the students cleaned it! That's very nice!
After lunch we went in the centre of Leeuwarden and we had some free time: we did some shopping and we visited the city. At 17 30 we had the departure to Bakkeveen. We had dinner and after that there was the German presentation and our game. At the start of the game we were very excited and worried but we did everything very well! Everybody liked it! We were very satisfied!

Saturday

We got up early because at 9 am we had to take the coach that brought us to Zaanse Schans! There were a lot of very nice mills! It was a very beautiful place. We took a lot of very nice photos with the typical Dutch clogs too! Then we went to Amsterdam and at about 12 30 pm we went on a canal boat trip; we saw all the city and the guide gave us a lot of information. A very nice experience! Then we went to the Rijksmuseum but we spent little time there because it was late. We didn't have any time for shopping, we only went to McDonald's.
At 4 30 pm we went back to Bakeveen and we had dinner. In the evening we had our presentation of the Italian school system and the French game. We had a very nice time because we did the presentation very well and because the French game was really fun: every country had to present another country through stereotypes! We took the Netherlands and we acted a very funny scene.

Sunday

We had breakfast at 8 am, we took the coach and we went to Hindeloopen. Hans explained us something about the city and he told us that the museum is one of the most popular in the Netherlands. We divided in groups: A and B went to the Schaatsmuseum and C and D went with Hans for a city tour. The tour of the city was very nice, the houses were very small and Hans said that some houses had very small windows because before the people had to pay for it: the bigger were the windows the more you had to pay! It is a very particular city. The museum was interesting too, I liked it a lot. After that we took the coach again and we went to the swimming pool! We spent a very nice time! At 5 pm we went back to Bakkeveen.
After dinner it was the French and Dutch students' turn but before starting Hans organised a surprise for me because it was my birthday! He called me in the centre of the room and like the tradition every country sang me happy birthday, so I received the happy birthday in 4 different languages and Hans gave me a present: it was a clog. I had a very nice birthday I think that I'll remember it for all my life! :)

Monday

My life as a seventeen-year-old started! :) We went to Leeuwarden again to visit the Stenden University. We had a small introduction of the university and after that we divided in the same 4 groups A B C D and we visited the rooms with a guide. My group started with the library: it was a very big library, very modern with a lot of computers, some television sets if you want see a film, a small room if you want to use the Internet for more people and every kind of book that you want. After that we saw the shop; a small shop with the school's accessories, the hotel with a lot of very nice rooms where students can stay if they haven't got an accommodation. We saw a lot of specializations that a student can learn. It was a very very very beautiful university! I'd like to study there!
We had lunch in the canteen and after that we had 2 lessons of PBL: it is a lessons made by the students in fact we discussed all together about the topic. The main topic was how can people from different cultures work together?? We said our opinion and we wrote it on the blackboard. It was a very interesting lesson.
We left the university at around 3 pm and after we had free time in Leeuwarden.
In the evening we had dinner in Bakkeveen and then it was the British and Duch students' turn!
The Dutch presented their school system and the English presented the game! It was a very funny game!
After the presentation we (the Italian students) made pasta with tomato sauce. Everybody liked it and they were very happy. We spent a nice evening.

Tuesday

It was the last day..:( We did a work about the school system. Divided in groups we discussed about the different school systems and we made one that we think would be better for the system! We put all the ideas together with Hans but we chose only the best and we made a perfect school system. We did a very good work!
In the afternoon we cleaned all the rooms.
In the evening there was a party with a dj and we danced all night. We spent a very funny night and we made a lot of photos with all the other girls and boys! But the time to leave Bakkeveen came. We said good-bye to everybody and we took the coach. We were very sad because we spent a fantastic week there. I think that I will never forget this project and this week. I miss all of them.

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