Holland Exchange with High Schoolers

I was lucky enough to be one of the three teachers that went with the 4ESO students on their exchange to Holland. I had mentioned before, I believe, that the Dutch school the exchange is with came to visit Valladolid in March. There are 12 dutch students involved with the exchange and 2 teachers from Holland (one of them is actually a Spaniard and he's originally from Salamanca).

It was the Spanish students turn to visit their exchange partners in Holland. We left on the 14th of April and returned back to Valladolid in the morning of the 22nd. It was a fantastic trip and I am so happy I was able to go. We flew in late to Brussels airport on the 14th (around 11pm) and didn't get to Vlaardingen, Holland until 2.30am in the morning on the 15th. We said goodbye to the students as their host families picked them up and I went with Myriam and Alicia to our hotel to rest for the next day.

Thursday we had a full day in the town, Vlaardingen, of the dutch school exchange. We first visited the school and Jesus (the Spaniard) gave us a tour of the school and talked to us about it. It seems that the education system and school set up is quite similar to American schools...they even have lockers!!! The school looks so nice and new; well it is only a few years old, but there are 4 separate campuses that are part of this school. The school is Het College Vos (vos=fox) and it has students from 12-19 years. It has a combination of middle school and high school grade levels as well as the extra years for prep before college.
Het College Vos school.
Inside Vos school.

After seeing the school, the teachers, the 18 Spanish students, and the 12 Dutch students had lunch in one of the rooms. Then we went to the town's center for a tour. It is a small town, but very beautiful and so quiet. It would be the perfect place for a family or for retirement. There are so many plants and flowers everywhere, people are very friendly, and it is extremely peaceful. :) We visited the harbor, the main church, climbed the bell tower, etc. It was a nice day.
Vlaardingen's very own harbor.
The bell tower, which we climbed to the top of.
Alicia and Myriam on top of the bell tower.
A view of part of Vlaardingen from the top of the bell tower.
This is Vlaardingen's city hall, where most of the students are standing on the stairs. You might need to enlarge the picture.
This staircase was inspired by Park Guell in Barcelona...the people who are facing me are Myriam (one of the teachers), Alfonso and Carlos.
One of the suburbs of Vlaardingen.
Downtown Vlaardingen
Students on their bikes heading to the town's center.
The river which passes through Vlaardingen.
Another picture of beautiful downtown Vlaardingen. :D

On the 16th we visited the city of Dordrecht. It is the third largest city in Holland and very close to Vlaardingen. The city is small, but it was very beautiful. It was interesting walking down some of the residential streets because if you weren't really paying attention you wouldn't have noticed this, but some of the homes are leaning forward as if they are going to fall. Don't worry, they are supposed to be like this. They were built this way so that when it rained, the rain wouldn't enter through the windows of the homes. We also visited some residences that I found quite interesting. The residences we visited consisted of several small homes that formed a square. The entrance of all the homes faced into a large courtyard. These residences don't allow males to enter them because these residences are for older women who are either widowed or single. These residences were common years ago, but continue to function nowadays as well.
Dordrecht harbor
If you look closely (or enlarge the photo) you can see that some of the buildings are leaning farther forward than the others, as if they are falling over.
Downtown Dordrecht: it feels like a city, but it is very small and easy to get around.
These are the courtyards and residences of the widowed/single elderly women.

We walked around the town some more and then after the tour we all boarded the bus to visit the next place. We went to Kinderdijk (this place means the child's river). Kinderdijk is like a village, but beyond the village....there were just windmills everywhere! I was so excited; I mean there were rows and rows of windmills...incredible! We spent an hour there just walking from one windmill to the next. We even had the opportunity to go inside one to see how people used to (and some still do) live in the windmills and how they work. Next to some of the currently working windmills, there is a small cabin where the windmill worker lives.
Kinderdijk and the beauty of all the windmills.
This is where people would sleep, eat and live inside the windmill. Very tight quarters.
This is inside one of the windmills...I'm trying to be artistic here and let me tell you, it was difficult waiting for the sail of the windmill to pass by and to take the picture at the right moment.
A closer look of the windmill...so cool, right?!
Here's another view of Kinderdijk.
Myself, Myriam and Alicia with the windmills in the background.

That evening all of the teachers had dinner at Jesus' house. It was a wonderful meal and something that the Dutch typically do when they have a lot of guests over. They have two flat grills that they set out on the table along with several plates of raw meat, fish, veggies, cheese, bread and lots of wine & beer. :) What is traditionally done is that while the grills are heating, everyone talks and enjoys each other's company. Once the grills are hot, you start putting on the food you want to eat, just a little at a time while you are talking. The meal takes about 1 1/2 - 2 hours because of all the talking and the slow cooking/eating. It was very fun plus I got to meet Jesus' two sons (3 & 5) who were so adorable. They speak dutch as their first language and do pretty well in Spanish. They understand Spanish completely, but they have a harder time speaking it, even though they can speak it well.
This is what the dinner table looked like before we ate.
Me at the table....the food was just delicious!

On April 17th the students and teachers rode the tram to Rotterdam. The tram was nice because we had a beautiful scenic ride up to the city. Rotterdam is interesting because it has turned into a modern town in the past 20 years. They have a few skyscrapers and are trying to become more industrious. They have an interesting mixture of 1900's architecture with modern architecture.

Our tour of the city was an interesting one. We weren't walking, or riding a bike, or taking a bus, but instead using a "step". This is the Dutch's word for a bike/scooter. The front front of the scooter looks just like a bike. The handle bars have hand brakes and there is a large wheel in the front. The back part of the "step" is just like a scooter, with a step for one foot and then a smaller wheel on the back. We rode these scooters around the city for 1 1/2 hours and let me tell you, it gets exhausting, but it was fun. :D
One of the many modern architecture buildings in Rotterdam.
William Bridge...doesn't it remind you of the Golden Gate bridge, just a little?
The students on their "step".
This used to be the tallest building in Rotterdam until the skyscrapers were built.
Myriam trying out her "step".
Another incredible example of modern architecture. People actually live in these cubes.
This is the most popular place to get french fries. Yes, they were good.
A life sized music box that we passed by on our walk around Rotterdam.
Hotel Americain was built when ships from Holland traveled to New York for exports and the business people would stay at this hotel.
The girls in my group taking a break from the "step" along the river.

After the tour, Jesus, Myriam, Alicia and I sat outside a cafe along the river and it was perfect. The sun was shining, it was warm out, and with a glass of beer it was just relaxing. After our little break Jesus took us to the best "french fries" place in Holland and yes, french fries are everywhere in Holland. They eat their french fries with a variety of sauces: ketchup, mayonnaise, curry, peanut sauce, etc. After our "lunch", we walked around the city to see the parts of it we didn't on the "step". It wasn't my favorite place we had visited during our week in Holland, but it was nice to see something new.

In the evening, Alicia, Myriam and I returned to Vlaardingen and had lunch in the town's center before returning to the hotel.

Sunday, which was the 18th of April, the students had free time with their Dutch families, so Jeannette (the other Dutch teacher) invited Alicia, Myriam and me to visit a nearby town called Schiedam (it was very fun learning how to pronounce all the names of the places we visited). Schiedam is known for the birthplace of genever (spelling ?) and its canals. The first thing we did was take a nice hour long boat ride on the canals through this small town. I could have fallen asleep on that boat if I had all day to be there!

After the boat ride, we walked around the town a little and sat down at a cafe near the canal and had a lovely lunch. We then visited the genever distillery where we saw a video of how the genever is made. We actually saw the genever in one of the barrels and then there was a section of the museum where they had commercials, radio shows and ads of genever from the 50s, 60s and 70s. It was very interesting. Then we went to the tasting room and were given 3 types: old genever 40%, plum genever 17% and mango genever 32%. It was extremely strong so I didn't really like it, but it was something interesting to try...
Schiedam
Riding the boat on the river...there were so many beautiful things to see.
Another photo I took while on the boat.
This is the boat we took for a tour of the town.
Inside the genever distillery.

We spent a little more time walking around the town and then headed back to Vlaardingen for the day.

On the 19th, we had another full day with the students. We visited Amsterdam, which was so much fun! If you all remember, I went there this past November and had the best time so I was excited about returning. Once we arrived, the first thing we did was go on a boat cruise throughout the city. It was nice, but many of the students weren't even paying attention, which was sad because this happened most of the trip; it seemed like they didn't even appreciate how lucky they were to come visit a new country and to see all these new places... Anyway, the boat cruise was nice and allowed me to take some good pictures.

Next, we went over to the Van Gogh museum (which I love by the way!) and the students were given an activity packet that they needed to fill out during the time we were there.
*Side Note: There is something I forgot to mention before about this exchange. The European government and each respective country allots a certain amount of money each year to be given to schools (I think primarily bilingual schools) for the opportunity to have these exchanges with other countries. Every student that goes on the excursion has to pay for his/her travel, food and housing, but the extra excursions that we go on together as a school are paid for by the government (they give the school a certain amount of money). The way that the money is "paid back" in a way is that the two schools involved in the exchange have to create a project to be presented to the European government to show that the exchange was valuable. So the teachers from the Ferrari & Vos exchange decided to do a project on art. The students saw Velasquez's work in Madrid and now went to see Van Gogh's art in Amsterdam. The students are to compare both types of art as well as the artists' lives. The students have not yet finished their project, but I believe they have until the end of the school year to do it. *
After the Van Gogh museum, the students were given 2 hours of free time before we were to head back to Vlaardingen. Then all the teachers went to have lunch and walk around Amsterdam a little. I got to see the flower market from afar, which looked nice, but we didn't have any time to actually walk through it.
A park we walked through, near the Van Gogh museum.
The flower market in Amsterdam.
The performing arts center in Amsterdam.
On the boat cruise.
On the boat with all the students...it was very noisy inside.

After we returned to Vlaardingen, Jeannette, Jesus, Christa (the coordinator of the bilingual program at Vos) invited us to have dinner at the Americain Hotel in Rotterdam. We took a water taxi, which drove super fast and was so much fun; because of the waves, the boat was jumping out of the water at times. :D Anyway, we had a very lovely dinner and it was nice to be able to talk to the teachers and just get acquainted with new people.
The view from the water taxi.
The water taxi we took from Vlaardingen to Rotterdam. :)

Our last full day was the 20th. On this day we went with all the students to a water barrier (similar to a dam, except this one is only used when there is a storm and there is too much rain/water entering through the river). At the water barrier there was a museum and we learned there how the water barrier was created in the 1980's and how it works now.
The water barrier.

Some tulips we drove by on the bus.

After the water barrier we drove over to the beach, which is right along the river that passes through the water barrier. We only had an hour there so Alicia, Myriam, Jeannette and I walked along the beach to enjoy the atmosphere. It made me think of our beaches in California and I miss them so much! Nothing can compare to our beaches. :)
The students at the beach.
Me sitting with the beach behind me...the water was a little dirty.
The beach we visited.

Since it was our last day, we had a dinner with all the students and teachers at a Pankeken Huis (pancake house). The pancakes were similar to crepes and you could order savory or sweet pancakes. We (the teachers) ordered 5 pancakes and shared all of them so we could each have a taste. They were absolutely delicious and it was a very nice "last evening" activity to do. The students left soon after eating, whereas the teachers stayed to chat. It was a very nice evening and end to our exchange.

For those of you who were paying attention to the volcanic eruption in Iceland, you will know that many airports closed in Europe due to the ash. Because of this, we had to find another way to get back to Spain because we wouldn't have been able to keep 18 students in an airport for several days. We had luck on our side because one of the bus companies that Ferrari school uses had a bus in Germany that was making its way back to Valladolid on Wednesday. The Spanish teachers contacted this bus driver and we were able to arrange for him to come to Brussels (where we were being dropped off) and pick us up. We had to make plans because it still wasn't 100% sure if our flight would fly out on Wednesday (and guess what, it didn't). The trip from Brussels, through France and then to Valladolid ended up being 18 hours. The students were well behaved on the bus and the trip wasn't bad at all. I got to see Paris (again), Tous, and the edge of Bordeaux.
A beautiful sunset as we drove through France.
The students playing around during one of our stops. All 18 of them plus one other passenger made it around the entire bus!

We returned around 8.15am Thursday morning (I joked with the students that we made it in time for school...of course we were all given the day off) very sleepy, but we made it!

It was such a wonderful experience and I would be happy to do it again!!!

With love, Celeste <3

P.S. When I get more pictures, I will put them up. Myriam took a lot more of the teachers so I will be sure to share them with all of you!