Monday:

 

 

Finally it was happening! It was Monday 8th April, the day we would leave to Italy. At Monday, we had to be at the train station in Hoogeveen at 09.45u. At the station, we said goodbye to our parents and at 10.05u we really had to go.

When we arrived at Schiphol, we had to check in at 12.25u. When all that was done, we had about one hour free time. Then it was time to go boarding. The plain left around 14.25u.

 

 

 

When we landed, it was around 16,35u. The flight took about two hours and 10 minutes, not so long luckily. Once out the plain we were at the airport of Italy.

 

 

Just a short walk and we were at the train station. When we were almost finally at our destination, I texted Micol (the girl from my host family). When the train slowed down it got very exciting but luckily, I would stay with another Dutch girl at the same host family. Therefore, we had each other and that made it less exciting. Micol and her parents were at the station to pick us up. Then we arrived at their house. After a short acquaintance, the mum showed Maya and me the house. Then we were called for dinner. We ate pasta.

 

 

 

Once finished eating, Maya and I went upstairs because we were very tired from the whole journey. It was getting late so we went to sleep. The next day we had to get up early.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tuesday:

 

On Tuesday 9th April, Maya and I woke up for the first time in Italy. Micols mum called us at 06.30u, because we had to be at school at 08.30u. At 08.30u, we got a word of welcome from the director, till around 10.00u. During that time, they also announced the groups. One member of the group had to get a card and about the theme that was on the card, you had to prepare a presentation. My group had the theme Young People, so we had to think of something what would be fun for young people. After this announcement, we went on groups to follow a few lessons. We went to gardening. After following the lessons, we had a break for 15 minutes. Then we really got started with thinking about something fun for our target group. We did that for about 1 hour. Then we had a lunch break from 12.30u-13.30u. Afterwards we went by bus somewhere. From where the bus would drop us we had to walk through the forest, well walking….? We mostly had to climb and go under branches.

 

 

 

During the trip, we came across some waterfalls, which were very beautiful.

 

 

After walking for a long time, everybody was glad to be at the bus again. At the school, Micols mum picked us up. That evening we would eat with each other somewhere else. We went there at 19,45u. When everybody had arrived, dinner came: pizza. After dinner, the music went on and we started dancing. Round 23.15u, we were home again. Then everybody was very tired so Maya and I went upstairs immediately and got to sleep.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wednesday:

 

The next morning Micols mum woke us again round 06.30u. We left at 08.15u and arrived at 08.30 at school. From 08.30u-10.00u, we had to work at our end project about young people. Then we had half an hour break and at 10.30u we continued working. Two hours later, round 12,30u we had a lunch break until 13.30u. From 13.30u-14.30u, we all played volleyball in the gym.

 

 

 

Round 14,30u we went to Orte to go “Underground”. There we had to walk in groups underneath Orte. It was all very tight. Then we did something fun. We got to see a show on Orte with flags. They told us that they would do this normally in September, but they made an exception for us. It was very nice to see and very good of them.

 

 

 

Because we were already sitting, they immediately took a group picture.

 

 

 

Then we walked back to the school and there was Micols mum again to bring us home. We ate home because the next day we had to get up at 05.00u, because we would go to Florence. Therefore, we went to sleep early.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thursday:

 

This morning the alarm clock went off at 05.00u! At 06.30, the bus was waiting for us at the school. Finally, after two and a half hours, we arrived in Florence. First, we had to walk to a square and there a guide waited for us, because we got a tour through the city. It took from 10.30u-13.30u.

 

 

 

 

 

Then from 13.30u-14.45u we had free time. When it was 14.45u and everybody was back at the gathering place, we were divided in two groups, because we would visit a museum.

Group A was in the museum from 15.00u-16.00u and group B from 15.45u-16.450. In the museum, we had another guide. We came across different rooms where he would tell us about the different paintings. I did like the paintings we saw.

 

 

 

After the museum, we walked back to the bus. At the bus, we agreed to eat at the McDonalds. There Micols dad picked us up. Once at home we went to sleep

soon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Friday:

 

Today we could stay longer in our beds, because we had to be at school at 09.30u. Therefore, we woke up at 08.00u. We went to school round 09.15u. Until 10.30u we had time to work on our project again. Then we had a 15 minutes break and from 10.45u-11.45u back to our project again.

From 11.45u-12.30u we had lunch again at school, like every day. At 12.30u we went by bus to the Marmore Falls. It’s a place with beautiful waterfalls. When we arrived, we walked to the first waterfall, where we immediately made a nice picture with all the Dutch students.

 

 

 

We actually would make a long and beautiful walk but suddenly it started raining very hard and everybody started running to the bus and we didn’t saw anything anymore from the surroundings. We were very quickly back in the bus! Then we drove back to school. For dinner we went out to a pizzeria. Round 19.30u we got in the car and got to the pizzeria. When everybody had arrived, we went inside. In turns all different kinds of pizza would come at the table.

 

 

 

When everybody was done eating, we went home. We immediately got to sleep because it was already late.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Saturday:

 

Today we had to get up at 07.00u. After breakfast we got in the car to go to school. There was a bus waiting for us at 08.30u, because we would go to the ‘Park of Monsters’ in Bomarzo. You could see many monster statues.

 

 

 

 

 

We looked around a bit, but we had soon seen it all. We went back to the gathering place and waited until everybody was done. Then we walked back to the bus, which brought us back to school.

From 12.00u, you could work on your project at school. If you were finished with it, you could go home. We all were ready very quickly, so we went home, where we had lunch. After lunch, we had until 18.00u, to get ready and to rest, because we wanted to leave on time. We arrived round 19.00u at the school. Every family had made a dish and had put it on the table. When everybody sat down, we started with the presentations. Our presentation did go quite well. After the presentations, we started to eat. It all was very delicious. Then the music went on and we danced on a couple of songs. Afterwards, they handed out the certificates to all of us.

 

 

 

After this, there came a very beautiful cake! The Erasmus cake.

 

 

 

After eating the cake, all families made on turn a picture with their quest, as a nice reminder.

 

 

 

And we took for the last time a group picture.

 

 

 

After the party was over, sadly enough, we went home. Because the next day we had to get up early, to pack our suitcases. Therefore, we went to sleep early.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sunday:

 

This morning wasn’t fun to get out of bed. We had to go back to the Netherlands today… In the morning, Maya and I went up early, because we had to pack our suitcases. After we had done that, we went downstairs and got an Italian breakfast for the last time. We had to be at 08.20u at the train station, so we left the house round 08.00u. At the station, we said goodbye to everyone. The train left at 08.45u and round 10.00u we were back at the airport from Italy. There we had about two hours before boarding. Round 11.50u we went boarding and at 12.15u we flew away. We landed in Holland at 15.00u. Then we had to hurry for the train, but we missed it, so we had to wait for the next one. Which would go at 16.00u.

 

 

 

Then we could go home with the train. We arrived at 18.00u finally in Hoogeveen. I was very glad to see my parents and my little sister!

 

 

 

It was a super great week and a very nice experience. I’m looking forward to go to Greece!