Week 13 April 15th- 22nd Professional/Cultural

This week I have spent a considerable amount of time developing my professional competences as a training teacher. Luckily within my school placement I have been placed with a superb teacher who has gone out of his way numerous times to ensure I am making the most of my experience in Ulenhof College. The previous week, my teacher had video recorded my teaching. I was exceedingly anxious to watch the video back. This was the first time I had ever been recorded teaching. It was interesting watching the video as I could clearly distinguish my strengths and areas that needed improvement. I think I need to be more relaxed with the class as the teaching style in the Netherlands is slightly more casual than back home. I think it was good that I kept circulating around the classroom and checking pupils’ progress when completing the set exercises. By doing this I was able to tell who was working effectively. It also helped keep a good pace with the lesson. I have found learning the names of the pupils in my class quite problematic as they are not typical names from home and so I am worried of pronouncing the names incorrectly. However, my teacher has reassured me that I should give it a go and if I get the name wrong I should laugh it off and learn from the experience. I am thoroughly enjoying my time in Ulenhof College and already I can see that the experience has helped to develop towards becoming a better teacher.

Inside Ulenhof College

This week I had my first experience in a Dutch cinema. Surprisingly, the experience wasn’t a lot different from a cinema at home. It is interesting that all the films in the Netherlands are shown in English. In Belgium and France and other countries the films are changed, but in the Netherlands they leave them in English and just add the subtitles. Perhaps, this could be another reason why the Dutch speak such good English. Interestingly, the cinema sells alcohol. This is something that would never been seen at a cinema in Northern Ireland. Similarly, The Dutch ice-skating rink and bowling alley also have pubs in them.

This week the student union had planned a trip for the Erasmus group to visit a local Dutch brewery in Nijmegen. We learnt about the process of how beer is made and even got to taste a range of beers. I thoroughly enjoyed the experience. However, I would have preferred if it had been wine tasting rather than beer as I am not a big beer fan. We also got to taste a few typical Dutch snacks which was the part of the tour that I found most interesting.

The Brewery in Nijmegen

Week 12 8th-15th April (Personal/Cultural)

Easter Sunday had finally arrived and after starving myself of chocolate for the past 40 days of Lent, I can happily say I was more than excited to see this day come. On Easter Sunday we had our flight home from Rome which flew into Dusseldorf airport, before we got the train back to Nijmegen we decided to eat in a local German Restaurant to celebrate the occasion. I have surprisingly become rather fond of the German cuisine. The next couple of days we relaxed back at Vossenveld while grazing on lots of chocolate. Classes started back on Wednesday with our new modules of Global citizenship and Social Responsibility. I found the new courses interesting and I am excited for the coming week’s lessons in these classes. On Friday it was our Greek flatmate’s birthday (Iro) and she decided to make us all some of her Greek speciality dishes with one of my favourites being Tzatziki. It is delicious. Tzatziki is made of strained yoghurt, mixed with cucumbers, carrot, garlic, salt, olive oil, and pepper. Tzatziki is served cold and is often served with bread (loaf or pita). 

 Iros Greek themed birthday party

On Saturday evening, our Eramus group had a cocktail party whereby each floor had to create their own cocktail and dress up like movie stars. Our floor decided to make a non-frozen version of a strawberry daiquiri and it was delicious. All in all we had had a great night, dancing, laughing, and drinking with all our Erasmus friends.

Having fun at the Erasmus cocktail party

This week we also booked our next trip away over the may vacation. May vacation in the Netherlands is from the 30^th April to 6^th May. The 30^th of April is Queen’s day in the Netherlands. It is a traditional celebratory day in the Netherlands. This day is also known as "Koninginnedag". Queens’s day is a national holiday in the Netherlands. It is celebrated in honour of the Queen's birthday which is the 30th of April. Interestingly, this day is not the birthday of Queen Beatrix (The current Queen of the Netherlands). It is the birthday of her mother, Queen Juliana. Queen Beatrix decided to keep this date, because her own birthday is the 31^st of January is in the winter. Queen's Day is also an occasion to showcase the world-famous ‘orange craze’. Therefore, it is normal for people to wear orange clothing and creative orange accessories on this day. The colour orange represents the name of the Dutch royal family and the House of Orange. In Amsterdam, on Queens’s day it is normal to see orange banners and orange coloured foods and drinks. I am excited to join in the orange craze in Amsterdam on Queens’s day this year.

Dutch people start celebrating Queen's Day on the evening of the day before. Usually the evening before, and this is called Koninginnenacht, Queen's Night. The clubs in Amsterdam organize special festivities and from what I have heard, for young people this is the night to be in Amsterdam. The atmosphere in the city is buzzing at this time and I also know that Amsterdam hotels book up early around this time.  Amsterdam is very busy on this night as many young people move from one party to another, while others prepare the next day market.

After celebrating Queen’s Day in Amsterdam we have planned to fly to Geneva the flowing day. We plan to stay in Geneva for two days and we have also booked a flight to Barcelona to follow this trip in hope that we will catch a few rays of sun. I am very excited about the weeks ahead.

Week 11 1st-8th April (Personal)

This week we had Easter break and what a week it was. We decided as we had time of we wanted to do a spot of travelling. Our trip of took us to Dusseldorf, Vienna and Rome.

Our flight to Vienna was booked to fly out of Dusseldorf airport and therefore we decided that it would be worthwhile to book a hotel for a night so that we could see the city of Dusseldorf. Dusseldorf is a modern and vibrant city although it has retained plenty of traditional character. The main tourist attractions in Dusseldorf include the Rheinufer Promenade which has beautiful riverside walking trails. On our second day in Dusseldorf there was a German market occupying miles of the promenade. Honestly, I have never experienced anything like it- the amount of different types of food, the array of people walking up and down the promenade while grabbing a bite to eat and enjoying a few beers. Needless to say the atmosphere was bustling. Now I can say I have experience a proper German market.

 German markets along the Promenade of Dusseldorf

Dinner in Dusseldorf; Enjoying some typical German food

Dusseldorf is also a popular city due to its good shopping which is mainly located on Konigsalle. It is also well known for its vibrant nightlife which is found in the Old town area-also known as the Alstradt district; which was one of my favourite highlights of Dusseldorf. The busy nightlife with many different types of busy bars making the whole atmosphere of the town beaming, not to mention the scrumptious strawberry daiquiris.

Our next part of the trip took us to Vienna. Luckily one of our friends (Laura) from our Erasmus group lives in Vienna and so she had asked us to stay with her. She lives in a beautiful apartment which is a 5 minute walk from the main shopping street.

 Rachel, Laura and I enjoying the view of Schloss Schönbrunn Palace.

Sightseeing in Vienna

Vienna is awesome and it was especially helpful having our own personal tour guide. We managed to see all the main attractions in Vienna including Schloss Schönbrunn Palace, St Stephens Cathedral which were two of my favourites. Vienna is a modern and extremely clean city, the architecture of the grand buildings where beautiful. It was nice not just being a tourist but also experiencing how Austrian people live. Laura and her friends took us to a local club and introduced us to all their friends. Everyone we met where lovely and Vienna is a truly beautiful city.

Rachel and I at the Trevi fountain

Our last stop was Rome. It would be hard to put into words how great Rome was. For this part of the trip Rachel’s boyfriend and my boyfriend came out to meet us. We had four full days in Rome and for most of it the weather was beautiful. We managed to see all the main attractions including the Colesseum, the Trevi fountain, the Pantheon, the Spanish steps, The Vatican and many more. We took full advantage of trying out all the best Italian pasta and pizza dishes and tasting the best Italian wines. I am only home and already, I want to go back. Although I am glad to give my feet a rest after all the walking I have done this week! However, I cannot express enough what a fantastic week I have had.

 At the Collesseum in Rome

Robbie, Rachel, Jonny and I, Rome 2012.

Week 10 25th March- 1st April ( Cultural/Personal)

This week the weather in the Netherlands was beautiful, spring is well and truly here at last. I took full advantage of this blissful weather by sunbathing outside in the afternoons alongside the canal beside our student accommodation. Also, due to the lovely weather went exploring some of the beautiful parks in Nijmegen.

Exploring Nijmegen

On school placement this week I was given the opportunity to take three science lessons. Unfortunately, the class teacher was on a school trip to Italy and therefore I would be responsible to take the class on my own. I was slightly anxious about the experience but the teacher reassured me he had every confidence that the lessons would be a success. He decided that it would be worthwhile to video-record the lessons and therefore we could watch them back together and discuss my progress. Luckily, the lessons went well, the classes were well behaved and the pupils completed all the work I had planned for them. It will be interesting to see the videos back. I have never had my lessons videoed before so it will be a good experience and I am excited to see the footage. Hopefully, I will learn a lot from this experience and it will undoubtedly help my professional development as a training teacher.

 Old-fashioned windmills in the Open Air museum

This week within the module of 'Dutch culture and society' we had a trip to a museum. The museum we visited was the Open Air Museum in Arnhem which is the town located next to Nijmegen. The museum is similar to the Ulster Folk and transport museum back home. This year the museum was celebrating its 100^th anniversary. The museum boasts a range of Old Dutch farmhouse buildings, windmills, churches, schools and the museum also contains its own fully functional old-fashioned tram. It was interesting to see and hear how people in the Netherlands used to live and make and living. We also where shown how the Dutch used to make paper, milk, cheese and honey. There was a section in the museum that displayed old-style Dutch clothing and head wear. I found the headwear most interesting. In the Netherlands it was traditional for women to wear a Dutch cap or Dutch bonnet. It was usually made of white cotton or lace. However, it is interestingly characterized by triangular flaps or wings that turn up on either side. This can be seen in the photograph below.

       The Dutch cap or bonnet which is characterised by triangular flaps or wings.