The Place: Roermond, Holland. A smallish town in the southern region close to the German and Belgium borders. A quaint town with smooth, pristine roads, marked bike paths, and perfect little houses and shops. A great place for a quick getaway.
The Purpose: A cross cultural exchange between our Bulgarian students and the Dutch students. The Bulgarian students stayed with host families and formed quick friendships with their student counterparts. A bond that left the kids saying goodbye with lots of hugs and tears. (The Dutch kids will be coming to Bulgaria for the second part of the exchange in May. It should be a great reunion.)
Okay, enough of that. You get the gist. Overall the trip was a success. It was the first of its kind for our school and hopefully wont be the last. We had no idea what to expect but as in true Bulgarian fashion, we went with it.
The program consisted of the BG kids attending classes about art, history, drugs, astronomy, culture, geography, and a bit of the language. They were even able to go to a vocational branch of the school and do real hands on cooking. They learned how to prepare a traditional Dutch meal. Which actually wasn't that dissimilar from Bulgarian food, although they may tell you otherwise. (But hey, they got the mayonnaise salad, the meat ball and the potatoes. How much more Bulgarian can you get?) The program also included a day trip to Amsterdam. A trip which deserves its own blog.
All in all the kids had a blast as did the teachers. We were on the go go go from the start and it was sometimes hard to keep up with the busy schedule. Being exhausted by the end of the day it was a nice treat to be taken out by the Dutch colleagues for delicious feasts, good company and enjoyable conversations. Roermond, and Holland in general, are definitely worth a trip back.
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