Mijn Europatour

The trip started May 28th and went to June 13th. In each place we learned, we were amazed and disappointed but we kept pushing forward to see what would come next for use. At the end of the trip we had a going away party for everyone who has finished there year in the Netherlands which consisted of speechs and food and painting. All in all I had a rememberable time on my Europa Tour.

Berlin

Berlin (Reichstag)

Berlin (Inside the Reichstag)

Part Of the Berlin Wall

Prague

Prague ( The Church At the Castle)

Off To The Opera In Prague

The Opera House

Vienna

Vienna Schloss Schonbrunn

Vienna and The Food

Hundertwasser-Krawinahaus (Vienna)

Venice

Venice

Venice

Burano (By Venice)

Burano (By Venice)

On The Cost Of Italy By Venice

On The Cost Of Italy By Venice

Rome

The Collosseum (Rome)

Vatican (Rome)

Vatican (Rome)

On the Boat To Barcelona

Barcelona Castle

Barcelona Castle

Sagrada Familia (Barcelona)

2010 Fifa World Cup (Barcelona)

Captain EO With Michel Jackson In Disneyland Paris

Disneyland Paris

Disneyland Paris

Disneyland Paris

Disneyland Paris

Notre-Dame Paris

Paris

Mona Lisa (Paris)

Paris

Sacre Coeur Paris

Eiffel Tower (Paris)

Like all great travellers, I have seen more than I remember, and remember more than I have seen. ~Benjamin Disraeli

49 Days/ RotexRound up and My Europa Tour

49 days left here in the Netherlands

Rebecca Fafard

Medemblik-Koggenland‏ Rotary club,

Bovenkarspel-Grootebroek, Netherlands

Summerland Rotary Club, Summerland

       This past year has had its ups and its down but each up and each down came with a memory that I’m happy to look back on and learn, laugh or cry from. If I had to summarize the past year I would put it into a couple different world like a challenge or  mesmerizing but in the end it end up as another learning curve that will help me in the future. Though as the moment seems I’m looking forward to seeing my family in Canada and just being back in the atmosphere of my small little town. It’s funny after this year I really understand the saying “Home is where the heart is” because as much as I love travelling I feel the best in the country were I grew up in. This is because a person understand and that how your body has learned to grow to understand it is probably why a lot of people who immigrate usually sometime end up after sum odd years moving back to their birth place.

        As this journey come to an end I find myself wondering is it really the end, was this “Home” for the most part and what am I going to miss the most from going back to Canada. Well after having to look back on what I have done this far I would have to say no it’s not the end it’s just the beginning of a lifelong friendship and i hope to be able to travel back to visit everyone that I have met during my stay. As far as I know I have several homes all over but again back to the saying before “Home is where the heart is” come in, my home is where my heart is and my heart is with everyone I have met and gotten to know over the time here in the Netherlands. Hmm now for the last thought what am I going to miss the most I would have to say the people I have met and always being surround by history and the ancient architecture of the buildings though I’m not going to miss the wind and rain that I have been biking in for the past year.

I still can’t really say that I have truly learned more about myself, though I can say I have found myself to be a very quiet and introverted person. Which probably affected my exchange for a big part but I have learned to figure out and problem solve situation fast and I have become more easy going and more relaxed. From being over her in the Netherlands I have become less conservative and more open minded to bad language and the way people act or show affection and as far as I can remember about how myself and my friends and family dealt with or thought about bad language is very closed minded or narrow minded but again in different place very one acts differently but as I say I have opened my mind to it but I still don’t do it so I know I have kept the same about myself. As I find myself coming close to returning home I find myself wondering will everything this be ok or has the way we grown been too far part to be able to still pull together our old friendships.  

           For the up and coming year after my exchange I am going to a community college to get my certificate in business and I hope to then transfer to Kwantlen polytechnic University for my bachelor’s in Fashion design and Technology. I also hope to volunteer and maybe be able to help out with the Rotary Program in my town or with the new exchange student as a rebound.  So well though life we learn that as we grow up, we learn that even the one person that wasn't supposed to ever let us down, probably will. You'll have your heart broken and you'll break others' hearts. You'll fight with your best friend or maybe even fall in love with them, and you'll cry because time is flying by. So take too many pictures, laugh too much, forgive freely, and love like you've never been hurt. Life comes with no guarantees, no time outs, no second chances. you just have to live life to the fullest, tell someone what they mean to you and tell someone off, speak out, dance in the pouring rain, hold someone's hand, comfort a friend, fall asleep watching the sun come up, stay up late, be a flirt, and smile until your face hurts. Don't be afraid to take chances or fall in love and most of all, live in the moment because every second you spend angry or upset is a second of happiness you can never get back.

Wadlopen In Groninin

Wadlopen In Groninin

Walopen In Groninin

Wadlopen in Groninin

Hoorn Harbor

Play Field Hockey In Hoorn For the Chanpionship Game

Play Field Hockey In Hoorn For the Chanpionship Game

Marloes and I in Amsterdam

Europa tour 2010 28th may to the 13 of june

For the next two weeks myself and like 30- 40 other poeple will be traveling to Berlin, Prague, Vienna, Lido di Jesolo, Venice, Rome, Barcelona, Lyon, Paris.

So hopefully after i have edited all the photos i will post them.

 So till next time

  

Whats happening Here In The Netherlands

Nine out of 10 Dutch are happy


Heres a small fact I learned.
I fond this one out onMonday 09 May 2011 and I thought it was pretty cool and very true about the Dutch People.

An overwhelming majority of the Dutch feel happy, according to research involving 7,000 people carried out by the Trimbos Institute.Asked how often they had felt happy in the previous four weeks, 89% said 'often or more'. Asked to give their life marks out of 10, most give it 7.5 or eight, researcher Ad Bergsma told news agency ANP.People who take anti-depressants also consider themselves to be happy, the research shows. 'One million people in the Netherlands may take anti-depressants but the idea that we are not a happy nation is just not true,' Bergsma said.
http://www.dutchnews.nl/news/archives/2011/05/nine_out_of_10_dutch_are_happy.php


 The Netherlands celebrates Queen's Day, royals in Limburg


The traditional ‘night before Queen’s Day’ passed of peacefully in the big cities on Friday night and there was no more trouble than normal on a busy club night, police said on Saturday.
Some 175,000 people turned up for the Koninginnenach night in The Hague and 30 people were arrested, mainly for fighting.In Utrecht, where the traditional market begins at 18.00 hours, police said it was less busy than in 2010.
Amsterdam. In Amsterdam, it was busy but the atmosphere was good and there were no problems, police said.
Up to 800,000 people are expected to head to the capital for the day’s – Koninginnedag events, including a concert on the Museumplein featuring artists such Gerard Joling, Alain Clark and award-winning dj Armin van Buuren. New Queen’s Day rules in the capital mean all outside activities must end by 20.00. The Museumplein show will end at 21.00 to make sure people have enough time to catch a train home.
Royal visit
The royal family is celebrating Queen’s Day in Limburg this year with visits to the towns of Thorn and Weert.
There is tight security in both towns, with up to 1,300 police officers on duty and widespread camera surveillance. Regional traditions will be at the centre of the celebrations, Nos television reports.
Some 10,000 to 15,000 are expected to turn out to see the queen in Thorn – the first port of call, while up to 80,000 are expected in Weert.

Folding chairs
In Weert well-wishers have been banned from taking folding chairs, stools and large bags to the area where the royal party will be. Cool boxes and alcohol is also banned, Nos says.The royal family was last in Limburg for Queen’s Day in 1995.April 30 was the birthday of queen Beatrix’s mother, Juliana. When Beatrix succeeded her mother in 1980, she decided to keep the celebrations on that day which is public holiday.
Traditionally citizens do not need a permit to sell goods on the street on Queens Day which is why the streets turn into a giant flea market.

The Netherlands celebrates Liberation day with military and music


The Netherlands celebrates Liberation Day on Thursday, marking 66 years since Germany surrendered and the end of World War II. Events started in Wageningen where the Liberation flame was lit shortly before midnight. Torches were then taken by runners to other fires all over the country. Germany signed the capitulation documents in Wageningen on May 5, 1945. The south of the country had been liberated months earlier. Later on Thursday, the university town will stage the traditional military parade, featuring veterans and their vehicles, a parachute drop and gun salute. Fourteen formal Liberation Day festivals are being staged all over the country: one in each of 12 provinces and one in The Hague and Amsterdam. Queen Beatrix will attend the concert in the capital, which ends the celebrations.
Airlifts
Waylong, The Opposites, Moke and The Partysquad are this year's freedom ambassadors and will be airlifted to as many of the concerts as possible. Former foreign affairs minister and Nato secretary general Jaap de Hoop Scheffer is giving this year's May 5 lecture which is supposed to bridge the Remembrance Day celebrations on May 4 and the Liberation Day events. The theme of this year's events is worldwide freedom.




© DutchNews.nl

Remembrance of the Dead

This May I got to celebrate the Rememberance of the dead with my family here in the Netherlands usually  around this time of year Im lighting candles to Celebrate the comemeration of the Netherlands but this year i went to a church near my house and layed a white rose infront of one of the many monument here in the Netherlands.

Here a small segment of what this day is and what happens on this day.

Remembrance of the Dead (Dutch: Dodenherdenking) is held annually on May 4 in the Netherlands. It commemorates all civilians and members of the armed forces of the Kingdom of the Netherlands who have died in wars or peacekeeping missions since the outbreak of World War II.

Until 1961, the commemoration only related to the Dutch victims of World War II. Since 1961, the victims of other military conflicts (such as the Indonesian National Revolution in Indonesia) and peacekeeping missions (such as in Lebanon or Bosnia) are remembered on May 4 as well.
Traditionally, the main ceremonies are observed in Amsterdam at the National Monument on Dam Square. This ceremony is usually attended by members of the cabinet and the royal family, military leaders, representatives of the resistance movement and other social groups. At 8:00 p.m., two minutes of silence are observed throughout the Netherlands. Public transport is stopped, as well as all other traffic. Radio and TV only broadcast the ceremonies from 19.00 until 20.30. Since May 4, 1994, the flags, having hung at half-staff during the day, are then hoisted to the music of the "Wilhelmus", the Dutch national anthem. Since 2001 the new protocol says it is correct to let the flag hang half-staff.

Then On May 5th I sorta celebrated the Liberation but i really celebrated it on Sunday the 8 on  train that showed the history of the Oorlogsjaren.

In the Netherlands, Liberation Day (Dutch: Bevrijdingsdag) is celebrated each year on May 5th, to mark the end of the occupation by Nazi Germany during World War II.
The nation was liberated largely by Canadian troops, with the assistance of the British and American Armies (see Operation Market Garden) and French airborne (see Operation Amherst). On the 5th of May 1945, the Canadian General Charles Foulkes and the German Commander-in-Chief Johannes Blaskowitz reached an agreement on the capitulation of German forces in the Netherlands in Hotel de Wereld in Wageningen. One day later, the capitulation document was signed in the auditorium of Wageningen University, located next-door to the hotel.
After the liberation in 1945, Liberation Day was commemorated every 5 years. Finally, in 1990, the day was declared to be a national holiday, when the liberation would be commemorated and celebrated every year.

 

 

On Suday the 8th i went on a train ride the showed me certen event in the past.

Travel conducted almost litteral by the history. The visitor experiences how our country would be possible will have seen during the mobilisation of the Dutch army (on station Wognum), the German bezetting (station Twisk) and the release of the Netherlands by the Canadian and British army (station Opperdoes). Finally co-vendor to become of exuberant release festivals (Medemblik).