Week 5 19th-26th Feb (Personal)

 Rachel, Daniel, Samantha and I, lost in Amsterdam.

This week was a public holiday in the Netherlands, therefore we had no classes. We thought we would begin our week off with a trip to Amsterdam. Samatha Jobb (a close friend from our class in Stranmillis) flew out to meet us in Amsterdam along with her fiancé. We had a ball of a weekend. We visited the Anne Frank museum which I found extremely interesting. We managed to get lost a number of times over the weekend, which was expected as over the first five weeks of our trip we’ve concluded that Rachel, Daniel and I all have a terrible sense of direction. However getting lost has lead us to rather interesting places for example the red light district. Interesting as it was, I can happily say I’d rather not visit that area ever again but it was an eye-opener for sure!

 Having fun in Amsterdam

When we arrived back at Nijmegen we had a couple more visitors at our door. Daniels cousin and her fiancé had arrived for a couple of days. We celebrated their arrival by making pancakes for pancake Tuesday. They landed in carnival week which was the perfect time to take them out and join in on the carnival celebrations in Nijmegen.

Rachel and I making pancakes, dressed as cats to celebrate Carnival.

Rachel and I had booked a trip to Milan from Wednesday to Saturday. Daniel decided not to join as his cousins where still visiting. We were worried that Daniel might starve when we where away as Daniel cooking skills are perhaps not the best. Daniel has even found difficulty when micro-waving beans. No doubt his diet over those few days would consist of rich tea with jam, an odd but strangely yummy food that we have grown to love in our time in Nijmegen.

Daniels cousin Victoria and her Fiancé come to visit

When we arrived in Milan the sun was blazing and the temperature was 17oC . It was lovely to soak up a few sun rays after the terrible snowy and cold weather we have had in Nijmegen over the last few weeks. We stayed in Hotel Amadeus which was a budget hotel. However, it was ideal and only 3 minute walk from the central station in Milan. Milan was amazing the architecture of the buildings was outstanding and the shopping (or window shopping in our case) was incredible. The amount of designer shops was indescribable. Italy is world famous for its ice-cream, and Milan boasts some of the most reputable ice cream parlours in the country with almost one in every corner. In addition, the pasta and pizza was unreal. Italian food is without a doubt my favourite type of food.  

Rachel and I standing infront of the Duomo Cathedral in Milan

We visited most of the main sites such as the Duomo Cathedral which dates back to the 14^th century and the Santa Maria delle Grazie Church where Da Vinci painted his masterpiece the ‘Last Supper’. We also visited the Naviglio della Martesana which is the canal area of Milan that was originally constructed with the chief purpose to provide the fields of the area with water. Later, it was also used as a method of transportation between Milan and Bergamo, Brescia, and the Adda Valley. However, nowadays it is lined with fine Italian restaurants and bars that were enjoyable to visit. We had a fantastic time in Milan and I would love to visit again, preferably next visit I will have more money so I can treat myself.

Having a splendid time window shopping in Milan.

Week 4 12th-19th Feb (Cultural)

This week I finally got the opportunity to visit my placement school for the first time. Luckily I was placed with another Dutch student. Hopefully, this will help with language and cultural differences. In addition, I was pleased to be placed with a Dutch student as I will hopefully gain a deeper understanding of the Dutch education system and he will be able to help with any difficulties that may arise within placement. My placement school is located within the town of Doetichem. It is a typical Dutch High school with a capacity of 1200 pupils. Unfortunately, the total journey time to the school is two and a half hours and the school starts at 8:15. As a result, I’ll be expecting early morning starts over the coming weeks. It is usual for the Dutch school to start around 8am and it is also normal for students to travel a distance to their placement school. Schools in the Netherlands do not readily take on student teachers in comparison to schools in Northern Ireland. If a school decides they will take a student, they will usually only take on one student. Therefore, there is a lot of competition to get a placement school that is close and in most cases students have to travel a fair distance to school. Travelling for two and a half hours wouldn’t be acceptable in Northern Ireland.

 The ethos of the school is very relaxed. It is similar to that of a local FE college in Northern Ireland . The school itself has superb facilities, with smart boards in most classrooms. The school had specifically requested for an English speaking Math and Science student and upon arrival I found out that there were a number of Math and Science classes in the school that are taught in English. I was pleased and privileged that they had asked for me and I am determined to make the most of this opportunity. I had a meeting with the head teacher tutor who arranged for our next visit when we will be able to observe classes for the first time. I am very excited to observe a Dutch class as I am intrigued to observe the difference in teaching styles and the relationship between teacher and pupil.

On Valentines night we decided to have an international flat dinner whereby everyone in the flat cooked a meal from their home country. We decorated the flat kitchen and Rachel, Daniel and I decided to make Sheppard’s Pie as our contribution to the meal. The two Spanish boys made Spanish Omelette, the Greek girls made a speciality Greek Salad and the Belgian girls made a Belgian Chocolate Mousse for dessert. The food was amazing and everyone enjoyed tasting food from all the representative countries. One of the advantages of living with a range of different cultures is getting to taste all their different foods, especially the Belgians as they always have a radiant supply of Belgian chocolates.

                                                            Our flat dinner party

This week was the beginning of the Carnival festivities. Carnival is a festive season which is celebrated in the Netherlands and it occurs immediately before Lent. The main events are usually during February. Carnival is a festival traditionally held in Catholic societies and the Protestant areas usually do not have Carnival celebrations. Therefore, Carnival is mainly celebrated in the southern parts of the Netherlands as these are the mainly Catholic areas. Carnival in the Netherlands is also called "Vastenavond" or "Vastelaovend". Dutch Carnival is officially celebrated on the Sunday through to Tuesday, preceding Ash Wednesday.

Carnival typically involves a public celebration or parade combining some elements of a circus, mask and public street party. People often dress up or masquerade during the celebrations, which mark an overturning of daily life. The bars in Nijmegen have already started the carnival parties this week and hopefully next week I will get the opportunity to visit a parade to celebrate Carnival.

Enjoying a Carnival night out with my Spanish, Greek and Belgium friends

Week 3 5th -12th February (Professional)

Our school placements still hadn’t been finalised yet, and therefore we had Monday free. Rachel, Daniel and I decided to visit the local town of Utrecht. This is the fourth biggest town in the Netherlands and it is located in the centre of the country. The town was beautiful and had stunning canals and a multitude of old historic buildings. Daniel described the town as similar to Amsterdam, so we are planning to visit it over the coming weeks. Utrecht had a substantial amount of shops, which as you can imagine kept Rachel and I busy all day, poor Daniel had to trail around girls’ shops for the majority of the day. It was a worthwhile trip to see another town of the Netherlands.

 Daniel and I in Utrecht

In classes this week, I learnt about the different types of schools in the Netherlands. The main four school types are the Freinet School, Dalton School, Jenaplan School and Montessori School. This week within the module of re-thinking education I was given the opportunity to visit a Freinet Primary School. I was extremely excited and anxious about the experience as it would be my first visit to a Dutch school. One of the main differences I have found is that there is commonly no school uniform in the Netherlands and the teachers themselves dress casually to work, many wearing jeans, which is something that is not common or seen as acceptable at home.

Photograph taken in the main hallway of the Freinet School

The visit to the Freinet School was an eye-opener. I have never seen so much confidence in children so young. The Freinet School is based around pupils deciding what they want to learn. The purpose of this is so that pupils are highly motivated as they about topics that they are interested in. The school values that pupils learn through experiences and interactions with other. I found it interesting that every classroom has a budget and the pupils themselves have to decide what it is spent on. Even as young as four, the pupils will decide what they want to buy for the classroom and then present their argument to the teacher in a group interview. Clearly there are substantial benefits that can be gained from such an activity such as numeracy skills, learning how to co-operate and make effective decisions. The Head Teacher explained that they have strategies for numeracy and literacy requirements, however everything else is what the pupils want to learn and each day the pupils have regular time to do their own learning, may this be reading a book or painting a picture. This allows the pupils to gain more independence in their learning and helps the pupils to use their own initiative. This type of school seemed very different to the typical ‘spoon feeding’ that happens in the Northern Irish school. However, I do question whether it is suitable to give so much independence to the pupils at such a young age.Hopefully, I will get a better insight into this area over the coming weeks.

On our last class of the week we had to give presentations on the education system in our country. I found this extremely interesting to hear more about the diverse structures of the education systems across countries. I was surprised to find that there the majority of educational systems were similar to our own. I am intrigued to learn more over the coming weeks.

On Friday evening Rachel and I got a visit from the boyfriends and we all went out along with Daniel and had a big yummy meal in Nijmegen. I was excited to show them our new home in Nijmegen and introduce them to all our new Erasmus friends. We had a great weekend and on Sunday it was time for the boys to catch the flight home.

                                                           The boyfriends come to visit

Week 2 28th Jan-4th Feb (Cultural)

I enjoyed settling into the Dutch way of life during my first week and now I was eager to begin classes. I was surprised to find that the majority of my classes where based around open discussion. The tutors themselves where fascinated in hearing about the education within our country. I found it intriguing to find out about the different education systems. I set out on Erasmus expecting to find out the differences between our educational system and that of the Netherlands. Perhaps I had underestimated the amount I would gain from such an experience. Through living with Greek, Belgium and Spanish friends over the last two weeks I have learnt a lot about their culture, and furthermore this has provided enormous opportunities to share ideas in relation to education. The knowledge I have gained already is extremely valuable and I appreciate that I would not learn half as much though studying a text book. 

I have learnt a great deal about diverse educational systems, teaching styles and school curriculums through conversations with the Erasmus students in my class. It is great that everyone is willing to share their ideas about education. In the module ‘Dutch Culture and Society’ we looked at PISA ranking of top performing countries and I found it interesting that the Netherlands was rated higher than the United Kingdom in reading, mathematics and science. These figures shocked me at first and taught me to be more critical of my own education system but to also be more open-minded and accepting of other systems. I discovered that Finland was rated highly across the board and it was interesting to find out that a small quantity of money is pumped into schools in Finland in comparison to other countries. In addition, Finland is one of the few countries that require every teacher to have a Master’s degree.

Enjoying the snow

This week it snowed in Nijmegen, temperatures reached as low as -12 degrees. Therefore, it was extremely cold and the snow made it difficult to cycle. My first attempt of cycling in the snow ended in me falling off my bike. Luckily there were no broken bones. To save myself any injuries, I decided to stick to walking and buses for the remainder of the week.
This week our buddies arranged a pub crawl for all the Erasmus students. It was the first night that the Erasmus students had all been together for a night out. It was a good chance to see all the good pubs and places to go out in Nijmegen town. In addition, it was a great bonding experience for all the Erasmus students and I am excited to enjoy more nights out with my new friends over the coming months.

At the pub crawl with all my new Erasmus friends.

I am anxious to begin placement to see what a day in a Dutch school is really like and if it is much different to a typical Northern Irish school day. From classes so far, I have learnt that Dutch schools are keen to let the students take control of their own learning. It will be invaluable to see this first hand and to also experience teaching in such an environment. It is only the end of week two and I have already learnt so much. I feel it would be impossible to put a price on this experience of Erasmus. I can’t wait for the next few months as I feel I have yet so much more to learn.

Week 1 21st -28th January (Personal)

Daniel, Rachel and I in Belfast International airport

On the morning of Saturday the 21st of January Rachel, Daniel and I met in Belfast International airport to begin our journey to Nijmegen. The journey to Nijmegen went perfectly as planned and we had just enough time to grab a Starbucks coffee upon arrival in the airport of Amsterdam. The hour and a half train journey to Nijmegen was fascinating. The landscape of the Netherlands consisted of continuous fields of flat ground with numerous lakes and canals, not a hill to be seen for miles around.

In Nijmegen train station waiting for our transfer to our accommodation.

Upon arrival at Nijmegen train station we were collected by a student from HAN University to take us to our accommodation. The journey took us through the town of Nijmegen and we got our first glimpse of where we would be living for the next five months. My first thought was the sheer amount of bikes, parked everywhere. There were even roads made just for bikes. It became apparent that bikes would be the main form of transport for me throughout my stay. The houses were also very interesting and many resembled old barns in shape. However, there was also a range of very modern, contemporary buildings.
When we arrived at our accommodation we were shown our rooms and we then met our flatmates. We found out that we would be living with two Spanish boys, two Belgium girls and two Greek girls. The rooms were basic but each room had a shower which is an improvement from Stranmillis halls. The following day was Sunday and all the shops were closed which was unusual considering all the shops in Northern Ireland would be open on a Sunday. I was soon to find out that the shops were closed due to the religious nature of the Netherlands. The week followed with a range of introductory classes including a campus tour, downtown discovery tasks in Nijmegen town and a visit to an Art museum.

 I have thoroughly enjoyed grocery shopping and cooking together with Rachel and Daniel this week. Rachel and I have taken on the roll of cooking and preparing the dinner and Daniel has the job of the after dinner dishes.

Me on my new bike.

It has also become clear that the Netherlands is very keen on promoting recycling, with most households sorting out their rubbish instead of merely throwing it away. There are a variety of rubbish containers for glass, organic waste and chemical waste dotted around the town. In the shops I also noticed that there was a substantial range of packaging that is advertised as environmentally friendly. I decided to go green myself be buying a second hand bike from a local bike shop. Our accommodation is located 6km (approx 20 min cycle) from the university and 8km (30 min cycle approx) from the town centre. To be honest, it was quite hard during the first week getting used to cycling rather than being used to the luxury of driving. In addition, the climate is very cold and so I had to make sure to wrap up well before the journey to university every day.

The University of HAN is state of the art, the range of facilities are outstanding with many new buildings and facilities to accommodate for extra-curricular activities. I have had a brilliant first week and I can’t think of a better way to spend the months ahead other than in Nijmegen.