Week Eighteen

Personal

This week was my last week of placement in my practice school, it was a wonderful experience to have and I learnt a lot from my time there that will help me grow as a teacher. It was brilliant to be welcomed into a school and made to be part of a class, even if we didn't speak the same language I feel that my few months in the school taught them a lot. I enjoyed telling them about my home and what life is like there and how different and also similar it is to life in the Netherlands. I will have a lot of memories from my time there especially the children laughing at me saying the names of the day of the week in Dutch and also them mimicking my accent.

On the last day I taught them the game heads down, thumbs up, and Silvia brought them outside to play a few games in the sunshine, they had a lot of fun running about and climbing on things. We made popcorn for them and had a class party, then they presented us with wonderful and thoughtful gifts and each of them said

thank you to us.

Also our two friends from home came over to visit us; it was brilliant to see Shonagh and Rukaya it was like having a little bit of home here. We caught up on all the gossip form back home and the different things that had happened while we have been living in a little bubble in Nijmegen. We spent on day in burger zoo in

Arnhem which was massive and was absolutely amazing, they had an indoor Australian outback and aquarium, it was like being a child again running around, climbing over things, crawling into caves and swinging over streams, I would love to go back again and explore some more. On their final day here we went to the lake which has a beach and water sport facilities, it was a beautiful sunny day and it was nice to relax and take a break before the final assignments and packing to go home.

My week ended with a trip back to Den Haag to retrieve my emergency passport, myself and Michelle celebrated by trying lobster croquettes and iced coffee by the beach and then taking a walk along the pier, it was nice to see the city again as it is one of my favourite places in the Netherlands. I found it very strange sitting on the trams and hearing English being spoken in several accents, it reminded me of how well we have become accustomed to the Dutch language and how easy it is to pick up on certain words and have
a rough idea of what is being said. It was sad to know that travelling to The Hague would be one of the last trips I would make while on Erasmus here, the last four and a half months have flown in as it seems like just yesterday we arrived here preparing for snow and excited about the experience that we would have here it scares me that in just two weeks time we will be leaving in the sunshine, bringing a suitcase full of memories home.