Mit Erasmus+ in die Niederlande

1st week: After arriving in Utrecht we were struck by bad luck, as the tire of our teacher went flat. While we were waiting for the mechanic to arrive we had a great breakfast at a rather expensive, yet fancy place. Unexpectedly, the mechanic arrived on a bike, yet he managed to fix our problem immediately and received a bottle of Austrian wine for his service. Then followed, what would be an hour-long drive to Ridderkerk, where we would finally meet our Erasmus+ matches and their parents. Later that day, we helped to prepare a warm welcome for the Italian exchange students. The way to the Netherlands tired us out and we had the time to rest as we weren’t attending classes in the first week, as we were obligated to follow the Erasmus+ program. Together with the Dutch and Italian students we visited Rotterdam, Amsterdam, took part in Workshops, and spent time with our Guest families.

2nd week: We had to follow the lessons and very soon realised that the school system looks different here. Every class lasts 2 school-hours (1 school hour lasts 40 minutes). Their breaks last from 10 to 30 minutes. Another difference that we found quite interesting is their relationship with teachers which is quite distinct from the relationship between students and teachers in Austria. Unlike the Austrians, the Dutch have a small authority gap, as they often view their teachers as friends. They have a strong bond with their teachers and talk with them about their day. Unlike the Austrian students, they do not stand up when the teacher enters the classroom. A lot of teachers were prepared to rearrange their lessons in our favor and tought their students and us in English. The next thing that has come to our attention, is the decoration of the history classroom. Not only was the classroom full of history-related memes it also contained a flag of the soviet union and the other pictures of various historical leaders and other people who they learned about. Other lessons, such as Dutch, Science, and Math were in Dutch, but we were given the time to work on our schoolwork.

We really loved this wonderful experience in the Netherlands.

Alma Ketiš, Thomas Gollenz (7b)