From the 29th of March to the 2nd of April, 9 of our schoolmates, along with 8 from La Salle College, went on an exchange program at Sophianum, which is located in Gülpen, a village in the Netherlands.
We boarded the plane at around 12am, giggling and laughing as we sat on our airplane seats. Although most of us binge watched movies and didn’t really have enough sleep that night, we were lucky that there was a 4-hour bus ride from Amsterdam to Gülpen, which gave us a chance to sleep and recharge ourselves for the whole day ahead. Our host families were already standing outside the school, smiling and waving before we even got off the bus. Some of us went home to unpack our luggage and sleep, whilst those with energy immediately went sightseeing.
The next day, we had the chance to experience a Dutch student's life, flexible timetables, no uniforms, and so much more! Some students even biked to school no matter how long it took; mind you, this was not some relaxing and chill biking on flat surfaces; this was a grueling 20 or even 30 minutes on a non-electric bike up and down the hills!
The following day, we visited the Margraten Memorial, or in other words, the Netherlands American Cemetery and Memorial in Margraten. What is unique about this is that there is an 'Adopt a Grave’ program, and the name says it all. Local Dutch families can ‘adopt’ graves, visiting them to place flowers, know more about the soldiers’ lives, and keep their memories alive. Interesting, right?
One funny thing we noticed about the trees was that there were bushes in them. And so we thought, 'Why are there bushes in the trees that had no leaves?’ As it turns out, when birds deposit the plant seeds onto branches through their dropping, the ‘infected’ seeds grow roots that pierce and leech onto the tree for its water and nutrients, meaning the tree will eventually die. Moreover, the textures of certain houses weren’t really smooth and even had long, black lines on them. And that is what makes those houses special, as the rural Dutch houses were actually built using wood and clay. The white part is the clay, and the long, black lines are actually wood but just painted black.
Just before the excursion ended, we bid farewell to our hosts and then departed for Amsterdam, where we had free time. My group went to a cozy restaurant called Bouillon d’Amsterdam. We had beef tartare plated on an intricate dish, soft and tender steak with fries, smoked salmon, ratatouille, and finally, a caramel-glazed pudding with salted chocolate mousse. Along the streets of Amsterdam, we found bookstores filled to the brim with books of all genres and also clothing stores selling fun socks, such as a banana one with ‘This thing is bananas!’ written on top.
Sadly, as the saying goes, ‘all good things must end.' Even though we had to leave, we sure did create wonderful and special memories that will stick with us for the rest of our lives, adding a whole new chapter to our story.
3A41 Claire Yeung
Free AI Website Creator
