PRAGUE / AMSTERDAM exchange
... seen by students...Diary from Amsterdam
Tuesday 12th of May
I woke up at 4 o clock at night. And about 40 minutes later I was at the Ruzyně airport. The atmosphere was sleepy. Nobody knew what to expect from the exchange, so we were not actually looking forward to it. I even remember me saying, that I would rather stay in Prague! Now, I found that statement simply ridiculous.
Our plane took off after a little technical problem. We flew about an hour and a half. Finally, we were at the Schiphol airport. All of us were looking forward to find our Dutch colleagues in a crowd of young people. I could see my girl. Emma. She was beautiful and I somehow felt that we were going to get very well with each other.
First, we went to our new seven-day homes. I met Emma´s father, who I immediately adored (who wouldnt adore a man with long white hair, he looked totally artistic!). Emma has a very small flat, but so cosy, so I didnt mind it at all.
I was in Holland for about two hours and I was already biking! I couldnt believe it, that I managed to do that, because last time when I was biking, I was maybe 9 or 10. But ok, what does not kill you that toughens you up, as people say. We parked our bikes near the Amsterdams lyceum. It is such a beautiful building, it looks like Hogwarts from Harry Potter to me. And it´s huge! We had 2 lessons- a History lesson with a really nice teacher and a Handicraft lesson with another nice teacher. They were so nice to us. Now, I had been in Holland for maybe 4 hours, and I already wanted to stay there, incredible...
Wednesday 14th of May
We had to get up really early, but Im used to it from Prague, so that was not a problem.
At school we had 3 lessons. Chemistry with the very headmaster (and I liked it very much, because of the fact, that every chemical reaction students wrote on the board, they immediately did it themselves, so we could smell banana or glue flavours.), philosophy ( is the man of 50 still the same man who he was in his 20s? Think about it...), again Handicraft ( reputedly all Czech students are very talented for making things from clay), then P.E. ( teacher and leader of Dutch group Mr. Schmidt really rocks in soccer!) and finally Dutch, which was prepared by two remarkable girls Emma and Diana. We learned many useful phrases, for example: Do you shave your legs etc.
After that we all visited Amsterdam Historical Museum, which I was not really in mood for, because the weather was so beautiful, but in the end it was not bad at all! Then we went to the biggest park in Amsterdam Vondelpark, where we had some Dutch food bought in Albert (I am envious of the range of products!).
The day ended with really great grilled meat made in Italian way at Giovannis place.
Thursday 14th of May
Last day of school and I must say I liked the most. We had English, where we had fun with poems about three little pigs from Roald Dahl. Then we had Biology. We all enjoyed it, because the teacher prepared questions about our opinions on sex and relationships. We had to discuss with our mate and then with a Dutch boy or girl. I was glad, that I found out, that we are a very open generation with almost no taboos on this theme. I think it is great.
Then we went to Anna Frank´s house, which was not so optimistic a visit, but useful.What we were really looking forward to, was the Sex Museum. We had so much fun in there, and also made some really good photos.
To link to our sex day, late at night we went to Red Light District. I must say, that most of girls didnt felt comfortable, because it was really like in some female zoo. I cant imagine street like that in Prague, but of course, it is better for those women, that prostitution is legalized in Holland, so that they can have at least minimum protection from the state. After RLD we all went to a pub for a beer.
/Jovana Perović, 3.B/
Day Four:
Efteling.amusement park and disco night. Efteling was amazing. Personally Ive never been to such a huge amusement park before, so it was kind of a shock to me as well. Everything was organised according to different kinds of fairytales and I could smell the magic around me. Attractions were great and I guess I can say that we all had a lot of fun. Disco night was o.k. It took place in some kind of a bar and it was really crowded and the music was really not my cup of tea, but otherwise it was just fine.
/Pavel Hanl, 3.A/
The fifth day: After big party from the last night we spent the morning sleeping. Saturday was was a free day. We woke up at about 12, had some breakfast and went to the city. We went shopping, went for a sightseeing tour, walked in the city, drank some juices, and relaxed in the park. At night we went to Siemens house where we had dinner. His parents made some nice food, we smoked shisha, drank and had great fun. We spent all night in a very nice and friendly mood.
The sixth day: We decided to go to the beach to see the beauty of their sea. Siemen, Pavel and me were late for the meeting so we had to get there on our own. We met drank Polish guys on the train. We were a bit scared of them, but everything was all right. When we got on the beach we found the rest of our group. We were walking by the sea, had some fun, took some pictures and sat in an Australian beach bar, where we enjoyed the smell of the sea, power of the wind and taste of Grolsch. When we came back we went to have some dinner at Jorans house. That was a little bit strange and interesting for me, because I came to a family where there were two mothers. After the dinner we went to play football. After the match we went home.
The seventh day: In the morning we went to the Noordremarkt. I really don´t know why we went there. We got there two free hours, but it was not so interesting. It is the place where they are selling second hand clothes, other stuff, pictures, shoes. It is something like Bleí trhy in Prague. After this we went to the Rembrandthuis Museum. That was really amazing. I learnt there much more about him, I saw many of his pictures, statues, collections of animals and all important things from his life. After the museum we got free time for shopping, walking etc. After shopping we took some drinks and went to sit in the park. We were again beside that nice lake. It was one of the craziest time I have ever had in my life. I spent three hours just laughing. Tomas and Karel were in an absolutely great mood, so I really enjoyed this time. Just watching them was absolutely enough. Then we went to have have some dinner at Elmers house. They made also nice food, so everything was great. Then we moved to a park where we made something like last party. We took some beers and drinks. After this party everybody went home.
The Eighth day: Morning was very sad for everybody. We just stayed at the airport, nobody wanted to go home, everybody was just talking to each other, hugging and finally crying. Almost everybody had tears on their faces. The end was very nice and emotional. Nobody expected something like that. I can´t wait to see all of them in October again.
/Pavle Bojić, 3.A/
