Week Sixteen

Cultural

This week was our long awaited trip to Brussels to visit the European parliament, as I have already been to Bruges I was excited to see what the French speaking part of Belgium was like. I also wanted to know a bit more about the European parliament and how it affects me.

After a early start and a short nap on the bus we arrived at the parliamentarian, we went through security and were given a tour of the building using a smart phone and headset, it was very interesting, there was a room set up in a circle to look like a mini European parliament, we watched a video which spanned 360 degrees of the room telling us about the parliament and how it worked, it was very interesting  and with the surround sound  it felt like you where actually in the middle of the parliament.

The European Parliament is the only directly-elected EU body and one of the largest democratic assemblies in the world. Its 754 Members are there to represent the EU's 500 million citizens. They are elected once every five years by voters from across the 27 Member States.

Interestingly the European parliament is divided not by country but by your political beliefs and party. There are several translators constantly working making sure everyone understands each other  as the member addresses the parliament in his or hers own native tongue. The legislation and amendments are made by the parliament and council; the council can either reject the amendments or pass them on to the European commission who draft a bill before it can be made into law.

This means each party has to get a majority before a vote, and the process means a lot of talking, lobbying and persuasion, this can take at least a year. The European parliament deal with issues like healthcare, economy, welfare, crime, education and the environment, so what they do really does affect people all over Europe and therefore although I didn't think before, it has an effect on my life.

After a talk about more details of the parliament we had a chance to experience the European parliament for ourselves through a role play game, we were given a smart phone with the name and party of an actual member of parliament, I was Isabella from Belgium and a member of the environmental party. We then had group meeting and had to decide which of the two issues we wanted to work on, half our group choose water management as they were Dutch this topic appealed to them, my group choose the issue of using micro chip on humans. We then had to run around the centre and gather information to help us form an argument, at the meeting with all the other parties we discussed the topic and used our argument to gain a majority. At the end we had to present our topics and then had to comprise to get our amendments made into law. It was a wonderful afternoon and because the whole game was interactive it made it more interesting , meaning that I now know more about the parliament than before.

Quote found at http://www.europarl.europa.eu/aboutparliament/en/0025729351/Organisation-and-work.html accessed on 30/05/2013

Week Fifteen

Personal

Me and Jodie

This week we really felt the loss of one of our group members Jodie, she was only on Erasmus for three months so she had to return to France. It was not as apparent until people started retuning from their trips back home, it has been strange being in her flat and not having her come and entertain us with her random chat and laugh with us. It brings to mind how hard it will be to leave everyone else here in a month’s time. However the aftermath encouraged us to book a trip to Bordeaux to visit her before returning home ourselves.

Placement is also coming to an end for us, it is sad because I have learnt so much and have been inspired to think of ways of improving my own teaching when I return home. With the end of placement also signals the beginning of assignments, I wasn't prepared for the amount of work we have, so far it has just felt like a long exciting holiday, but I will be keeping on top of it. I will also be glad of the lie in I will get on a Monday and Tuesday morning, as I will not have to get up at six in the morning to travel to school.

I taught the children a little bit about the school system back home and how we all have had to wear uniforms all through our school years. I asked them to design their own uniforms for their school; they came up with some wonderful and unique ideas. It also got me thinking about the differences and similarities between schools and education here and at home, some of these ideas I will have to explore for my placement assignment.

On a personal level I compare a lot of things to home especially what I like and what I think I could bring back home with me and certain things that I don’t like so much. I adore the food here but I would love to be able to get a proper lunch and not just a sandwich or McDonalds, I also have a love hate relationship with cycling, I enjoy how casually you can dress so casually for a night out and how laid back most things are. I am not enjoying the weather though, it is very similar to the weather at home and is often very windy but on the days that the sun is shining it is wonderful.

Sunshine by the Canal

Although I have lived in Vossenveld for three months now, I have just discovered a new park and also a centre for people with special needs to undergo sports therapy, this includes horse riding so we got to see the horses and walk around the beautiful park, it is nice to know that after all this time I can still find new things and be pleasantly surprised.

New found friends 

In class this week we had a very deep conversation about how to deal with diversity, one of the ways is to tell your story, invite questions  from others about your past ,present and future .You don’t truly know someone until your know their story and a lot of the time the stories can be very similar. It was good to have to think and empathises with others and was a new technique to deal with tough issues.

Week Fourteen

Professional

The main focus of this week was finishing an assignment for Dutch Culture and Society; I really enjoyed the course as it gave me a good insight into the Dutch culture, Dutch festivals and also the history of the Netherlands for example we learnt that the Netherlands have a government that is solely for the management

Dutch Culture and Society Class

of water, we learnt how the water is managed through canals, dykes and polders. We also learn about the Dutch Golden age and how the Netherlands came to discover the ABC islands and colonised parts of America. During the course we also had a opportunity to learn about the cultures of the other people in the class , we learnt a lot about Austria, Greece, Finland, Spain, Belgium, Latvia, America and also thought more about our own culture than we ever have before. I loved making comparisons for example the children in the Netherlands finish primary school at age twelve whereas at home they finish at eleven, In Finland the children take off their shoes in the classroom and at home we prefer for the children to keep theirs on. Overall it was a very interesting course and one I was glad to have taken during my time here.

Our final assignment for this course was very interesting and I had a lot of fun doing it, which can’t be said for every assignment that I have been given at university. We had to take fifteen pictures that we would describe as typically Dutch and then in two hundred words describe why, from our time here; we have come to see them as typically Dutch. It was very interesting to see how our opinions have formed and changed from we first arrived here and also to see the different things people have picked. For the sake of entertainment I will show two of the pictures I picked and why.

Windmills are very stereotypically Dutch; they were the one thing apart from tulips that I thought of before coming here. From my trips to the Arnhem open air museum and the tour to the west, I have a better understanding of how windmills work and what they are used for here in the Netherlands. At home windmills are just associated with grinding wheat to make flour; I did not know that they could be used for water management, or to make oils and paint. The main reason that I will associate a windmill as typically Dutch is the windmill on Sint Annastraat, every day that I cycle to class and see that windmill it serves as a wonderful sense of relief in the mornings during the cycle to Pabo, because I know that as soon as I see that windmill that I am nearly there and my legs will stop burning with pain because of the unusual amount of exercise that they are now having to undertake due to cycling. It will be a wonderful reminder of my time here in Nijmegen every time that I see a windmill.

Two decks on a train, before coming to the Netherlands I had only ever seen Double Decker buses imagine my surprise when I sat on top of the second deck of a train, I loved being able to gaze out of the window at the Dutch landscape. The trains in the Netherlands are very reliable and apart from a few occasions are always on time, if there is a delay or the train has stopped unexpectedly there is always notification or another way to travel is given. This is very strange for me as at home trains are not the main means of travel and when you do have to travel by train they are always late. The different sections on the train seemed quite strange to me like first and second class, speaking and non speaking and it was quite daunting at first to try to establish if you were in the right part but now I love travelling by train and have taken the train most mornings to get to my school practice, I love how vast the rail network is in the Netherlands and how you can travel anywhere you want to by train.

Week Thirteen

Cultural

Dressed to impress for Queen's day

What an exciting week I have had, I got to experience the last Koninginnedag (Queen’s day) What is this event well  Rodney Bolt ,2013 of the telegraph describes it the day well, ‘The day is celebrated with street parties all over the country, for example most cafes and many restaurants will set up on the pavement outside their doors. It is also celebrated with something quintessentially Dutch - a nationwide flea market.’ We decided to attend one of the street parties in Eindhoven, but to do that we needed to blend in, so off to the shops we went to find clothes and face paint and basically anything orange we could get our hands on. All dressed up and ready to go a large group of our Erasmus group who had not returned home for the two week break, boarded the train in high spirits. When we arrived it was amazing, there where people everywhere, I was lost in a sea of orange, it was quite like being back at home in Belfast in the summer when people decided to put on their fake tan. We spent the rest of the day listening to music, enjoying a few beverages of the alcoholic persuasion, dancing in the street and just having fun, it is one cultural experience I will never forget.

The week ended with myself and Eimear deceiving to visit Bruges, most people have seen the film starring the beautiful Colin Farrell who in a famous line states ‘Ken, I grew up in Dublin. I love Dublin. If I grew up on a farm, and was retarded, Bruges might impress me but I didn't, so it doesn't.’ (Colin Farrell 2008) I wanted to see if the famous city would impress me.

It took us four hours by train with three changes, one in the station of Antwerp which is simply stunning, we met a teacher and her husband from Australia who were taking a bike tour of Europe, we helped each other find where our train was and talked a little bit about teaching in Australia which gave me food for thought about my future. When we arrived in Bruges we decided to go on a search for our hostel, without a map, we just wandered along the cobbled streets taking in the city. I have never been in a more beautiful place in my life, if you go anywhere in the world go to see Bruges, it’s a city that will transport you back in time, there was not one modern building in the centre and it is filled with history and culture. After mix up with the hostel we go ourselves settled and enjoyed Bruges by night, I would recommend doing this as most of the crowds of tourists have gone to bed and you have the city mostly to yourself. We discovered courtyards filled with greenery, canal boats hidden under bridges and a frog that if you are the 100,000 person to kiss will turn into a beautiful prince and carry your backpack around for the rest of your lives together, which sounds wonderful except when I kissed the thing it just stayed a frog, so my romantic dreams were shattered.

Kissing the frog

Our last day we saw Michelangelo’s Madonna, lollipops being made by hand, some of Picasso’s early sketches and bought some Belgium chocolates. The city certainly impressed me with its quaintness and sheer beauty. Although the cobbles actually destroy your feet (I don’t know how the locals can walk around in heels), it is defiantly worth a visit and I am glad that we took a weekend to explore it.

Telegraph 2013 can be found http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destinations/europe/netherlands/amsterdam/10020591/Amsterdam-how-to-celebrate-Queens-Day.html accessed on (07/05/13)