Week 13 - Personal Development

This week it has finally hit me we have a lot of assignments which need to be completed. I will never learn always seem to leave assignments right to the last minute. Brown, R. (1996) stated, “If it weren't for the last minute, nothing would get done.”  This is exactly what I do as I work best under pressure. This week resulted in me getting up every morning and cycle the short journey to the library to complete my assignments as my laptop has broken. This was a struggle as my log in details never worked and I always had to ask a random Belgian student to sign me in the computer.

 On Wednesday our tutor and lecturer Jan Schrooten collected us in his car and drove us to our placement school of St. Lodejwik Technology School. Here we ensured everything was going to plan and were giving our timetable of the next few weeks in which we are teaching. The teacher who was left in charge of us is coincidentally also called Jan and invited into the school with open arms. He helped us with any queries we had and emailed us throughout the week to ensure we understood what was asked of us and took into consideration our thoughts of everything. Although there are a few days we have to be in Gent at 8.30am meaning leaving Hasselt just after 7am, we are still very happy with our timetable and very grateful for this opportunity.

Hilmi, Adam, Stewart and I at St. Lodejwik School, Genk.

Holly and I both had work to do this week and it was 25 degrees so we decided to visit the local Japanese Gardens in Hasselt and take our work and picnic with us. It was an enjoyable day in the sun even though we were both working but we were topping up the tan at the same time which is always a bonus. Holly is staying in Hasselt one month more than us which is sad as I don’t want to leave. Although I know I will see her soon as she has already booked flights to me in Ireland for 10 days in July. 

Dr. Seuss once stated, “Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened.” I will try and remember these words of wisdom when I am saying my goodbyes to the close friends I have made and lived with for the past four months.

Percicles mentioned, “What you leave behind is not what is engraved in stone monuments, but what is woven in to the lives of others”. This particular quote sums up my thoughts on my  Erasmus experience overall as a whole and I hope to keep in touch with most of the people I have met here from all over the whole. We have already planned many trips and holidays with many, so it is not goodbye forever it is just goodbye for now.

Holly and I.

The Japanese Gardens in Hasselt.

The Japanese Gardens in Hasselt.

The Japanese Gardens in Hasselt.

The fish in the Japanese Gardens.

Reference List

http://www.slideshare.net/tonyvincent/education-technology-quotes (Accessed 26th May 2013).

http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/1173-don-t-cry-because-it-s-over-smile-because-it-happened (Accessed 26th May 2013).

Week 12 - Cultural Development

Fighting to keep on top of these blogs is a struggle when there is so much going on around you – assignments due, the sun is shining and the local outdoor swimming pool has opened!

This week brought a visitor from Stranmillis to us, Dr George Beale. Dr Beale met us for lunch after a history lesson he was lecturing which was nice to hear a familiar accent. As Adam, Stewart and I are all post-primary students we have never got the chance to met Dr. Beale in Stranmillis before so this was a special time where we enjoyed ourselves and had a lovely lunch in the KHLim Dipenbeek University Campus.

We also got the chance to meet up with our placement school and tutor this week to discuss our subjects and lessons which we will do during our short placement. This was a very enlightening experience, as we were giving such a broad range of ideas to choose from and teach the pupils. It was eye opening to learn of all the different cultures and nationalities in which the pupils are that we will be teaching.

This week only consists of three days in lessons so I therefore jumped at the opportunity to go travelling again, this time to Amsterdam with Holly and Rebecca. It’s close to Queen’s weekend in the Netherlands which we disappointedly found out when we arrived in Amsterdam as it meant everything is so much dearer but it will be a great cultural experience which we will remember for the rest of our lives. Accommodation, food etc. prices are sky high but nevertheless we are going to enjoy ourselves for the four days we have here. The only hostel we could find which had room available for us was a grubby place which was far out from the city centre, but we had no choice. Reluctantly we paid the 150 euro each for the three nights, 50 euro a night is a ridiculous amount for accommodation like this but as it was busy I think they make up their own prices. I have never been to Amsterdam before but have heard so many wonderful stories about it. I didn’t mind what tourist attractions we visited except I wanted to see the Ann Frank House and go on a canal cruise. Disappointedly we didn’t get to Ann Franks House for many reasons but we did everything else in Amsterdam.

The streets where packed of people in orange celebrating for the coming of Queens Weekend which was a fun cultural celebration that is something I have never seen before! Although it was a dear weekend it was a great experience and was definitely worth the money.

Views in Amsterdam

Pedal Boats

Amsterdam Canals

The I Amsterdam Sign (I'm in the A)

Canal Boat Cruise

Amsterdam Canals

Canals

Week 11 - Professional Development

After such a busy and energetic week last week, we have been given two days off, which I am taking the full advantage of sleeping in.

Althsuler, M. Once stated, ‘The bad news is time flies. The good news is you're the pilot.’ This is an interesting statement as our time on Erasmus is nearly over and we all are rethinking about our time spent here in Belgium.

Professionally I feel this experience has had a positive outcome on myself already even though we have not finished yet. There is a lot of knowledge and wisdom in which I have gained from this both professionally and personally. Professionally is the most important as next year I will begin final year in Stranmillis University. The different cultures and religions have opened my eyes to a whole different world which I was not aware of when living in Ireland. The different types of school systems throughout the world have shocked me, first hand from my own experience in Belgium and also by the other countries in which my fellow Erasmus students explain to me. These aspects will bring my professional level of study to a higher level as I have more experience with pupils of different nationalities, which is a common aspect in many schools within Northern Ireland for some pupils to not have English as their mother tongue. As there are not many teaching jobs in Northern Ireland with our current climate, this experience has gave me the confidence and belief in myself that I feel I can travel abroad in search of work, which I did not feel before this Erasmus program.

One aspect which I was slightly nervous about was the Religious side of things, going away with two people which are opposites. However this thought quickly vanished on my first week and I could not have picked nicer people to spend four months of my life with.

Moving on from this we had to do a few lessons on Irish history to English classes at our university, called the KHLim. I found these very interesting as I am aware of some Irish history but not in great depth. So I portrayed the Catholic side of history while Adam and Stewart gave the Protestant side of history. After our presentation the Belgian students were shocked at how us three get on so well as they have heard about the troubles in Ireland and even the recent riots in Belfast on the news. We then explained our sides of it that we don’t take sides and want peace – evidently the religion issue within Northern Ireland is improving as two Protestants and one Catholic went on Erasmus together, which definitely wouldn't have happened ten years ago.

Pope Francis (2013) urged members of, ‘all religions and those belonging to no church to unite to defend justice, peace and the environment and not allow the value of a person to be reduced to what he produces and what he consumes.’

Adam, Stewart and I with one of our English classes.

Reference List

·         Pope Francis. (2013), POPE URGES ALL RELIGIONS TO COME TOGETHER IN COMMON CAUSE. “PEACE”.

Available at endtimeheadlines.wordpress.com/2013/03/20/pope-urges-all-religions-to-come-together-in-common-cause-peace1/ (Accessed on 3^rd May).

Week 10 – Outdoor Education Week Diary Entry

One of our modules which we chose was 'Outdoor Week' during this week we were required to keep a diary entry of every day and below is my diary for the week.

Monday 15^th April

This morning started off with the remaining of packing my luggage for outdoor week, when this was complete the time had come to try and fit my rucksack on my back – fail! Far too heavy! Opening the bag again I reluctantly remove a few things from the rucksack. Stewart has finished packing so I test to see which bag is heavier and of course mine is, so I do a direct swap.

We meet our fellow students Erola and Laura and walk to the bus in the rain. As we arrive and see the other 100 students and everyone’s luggage and food for the week it is hard to hide our excitement.

After a two hour bus journey we eventually pull up at the small ‘village’ in which we are staying in, Hastiere Namur. The scenery is outstanding, which I never knew existed in Belgium as we had only seen flat land in this country before now. We unloaded our luggage and were given the key to our house which we, the five Erasmus students, are living in together. The lady who gave us the key mentioned something about cardiac hill – which we passed no remarks too until we seen where our house was. Right at the top of a large steep hill! So we trekked up the hill with our weekly luggage and all the food for the week… when we reached the top of it we understood where it got its name.

Our opening ceremony began at 5pm where we all had to go down to the bottom of the small village to the ‘mass’. In our groups we had to introduce our house to the rest of the groups. As it was appropriate we named ourselves the Erasmus house and explained that we consisted of three Irish students and two Catalan students. We had planned out or menu prior to this weekend spaghetti bolognese was on the menu for tonight, which a few chilled drinks with the teachers and the Belgian students which went down a treat after a long day.

Some of our luggage!

The beginning of Cardiac Hill.

Tuesday 16^th April

Our first morning was a 6.45am wakening which did not go down well after little sleep. After a nutritious breakfast we set off down to the teachers house to collect our mountain bikes for the day – a lot of the Belgian students were wishing us good luck which I didn’t understand as I like mountain biking. This soon became clear after freewheeling down cardiac hill that we actually lived in a valley so there was an identical hill to the other side which seemed to last forever. Of course luck of the Irish strikes again and my bike gears have broken after only 20 minutes into the cycle. It meant I could only cycle on gear 6 the whole time – which was not good going up the mountains where we were and for 40 kilometers. After 1 hour a van met us on route and thankfully changed my bike for me, although my thighs were already burning from cycling in 6^th gear the whole time I am adamant to keep going. It was a hot day of around 24 degrees which was enjoyable at times and not at others. Everyone likes a little tan but it got too warm when battling up the hills.

Halfway through our day we walked 8 km up to the peak of a mountain to have lunch and admire the beautiful views then proceeded back down the mountain to continue the other 20 kilometre cycle home. After 10 long hours away, 40 km cycle and 16 km mountain walking - finally we were home to our little house. The tiredness had now taken over me and I didn't feel like eating dinner at all just wanted to get into bed for a long night sleep.

The top of the mountain were we had our lunch.

Laura and I getting some much needed rest after lunch.

Wednesday 17^th April

Again with a 6.45am start we began breakfast with eating the most important meal of the day. Although I was sick during the night and didn't sleep much I tried to eat a little something to keep me going. We proceeded down to the ‘mass’ again to meet our leading teacher whom gave us our GPS device and 16 points which we need to find in a particular order. The scenery and landscapes where beautiful however I was not feeling well and wasn't sure if I was going to last the whole day in the beginning but I did. This was a nice way to get to know the Belgian students in a fun way. We covered a long 20 km walk up through the mountains which resulted in me cutting my leg when I slipped down the mountain but still it was a tough and enjoyable day at the same time. Tonight is Mexican night, chilli con carne, which went down lovely after such an active two days. We spent the night nursing our blisters and relaxing at the fire.

Walking up the mountains.

Our Relaxing Fire.

Thursday 18^th April

I am beginning to hate the sound of my alarm on my phone! 6.45am rise again, although I am enjoying this week a lot I am very tired and every muscle in my body aches. This is the day I have been waiting on – Kayaking! Of course we are not getting it that easy, we are taken on a bus and dropped off with a compass in hand and given a point of where we have to reach by 12 noon. Having to walk 12 km to this point seems like my worst nightmare at the minute with the amount of blisters I have on feet but we get on with it. Eventually we make it to the given point and meet our other fellow Belgian students and enjoy some lunch while soaking up the sun.

               

Now the time of kayaking has come and I join with two Belgian students, Ester and Lori, to share a three man kayak. It was an exciting and eventful 10 km down the river. We were all getting on good and beating all the other students from our university then boom a waterfall came out of nowhere and our kayak went down it horizontally going under the water. It had started to sink as there was so much water in it. We all agreed to pull into the side and try to flip the kayak over to empty the water but this was making it worse as we weren’t strong enough. Thankfully Adam stopped and helped us get our kayak floating again!

Arriving back to our home after another long day we enjoyed a lovely Spanish meal made by Erola and Laura and we entertained one of the teachers, Mr. Mark. It was an enjoyable meal washed down with a few bottles of wine and it was nice to talk to the teachers in this way and get to know them more in a relaxed manner. Adam, Stewart and I met up with a few of the Belgian students and enjoyed our last night in the Belgium Mountains watching the stars.

Helping Erola and Laura make Spanish Omelette.

Friday 19^th April

Finally a lie in… well until 7.30am! We quickly packed our things and cleaned the house ready to attend the leaving ceremony. We were given the opportunity to thank everyone for this wonderful outdoor week and express our enthusiastic thoughts of the week. It was such an enjoyable experience which I will remember forever and we have already arranged to meet up with a few of the Belgian students in a few weeks in Hasselt. After this the buses where loaded up and returned to Hasselt – where we are definitely catching up on much needed sleep this weekend!

The 'Mass' where our opening and leaving ceremonies where held.

Week 9 - Personal Development

Hello van Parijs!

Although it was very tempting to have a quiet time during the last week of the Easter holidays with a few of the other Erasmus students, I realised we are halfway through our Erasmus experience now so may aswel make the most of our time left.

Saint Augustine once said, "The World is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page."

Two Belgium students had arranged a trip to Dublin for a few days which I joined then continued on my travels to Paris to meet two Scottish girls. We explored Dublin’s culture, attractions and nightlife for 3 days, which was very interesting. It was an exhausting 3days to say the least! We visited Trinity College Dublin, the Guinness Factory Tour, O’Connell Street, Dublin Zoo, Croke Park, and Saint Patrick’s Cathedral.

Personally this trip has been a great advantage to me as I have not visited a lot of these attractions so it was a great experience to get to explore Dublin and unexpectedly the weather was nice for once! Unfortunately Sielke got her purse stolen on the last night in Dublin which brought a slight dampener on their trip to Ireland but they said they want to come back in August to visit my home and my family as we only stayed in Dublin on this trip – evidently they quickly got over the purse robbery!

Sielke, Sabrina and I enjoying the Guinness Factory.

Dublin's Famous Pub - Temple Bar.

Sampling the Irish Guinness.

Monday morning came, which meant onto Dublin airport to make our journey back across the water. As I was going on to Paris to meet other friends I said my goodbyes to the Belgium students and carried on my journey. Eventually after a three hour flight delay I landed in Paris Beauvais airport where I got a bus to meet the two Scottish girls.

Our first stop was to leave our belongings in our ‘hotel’ if you would even call it that! Holly organised the accommodation which was not your standard luxurious Paris accommodation, instead it was dull, dark and damp! Nevertheless we did not let this slight hiccup ruin our trip as it was only a place to get a few hours sleep at night!

Mahatma Gandhi once said, “Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.” From this Gandhi tells us to live every moment to the fullest, not wasting anytime and learn throughout your pathway of life. This quote sums up my thoughts exactly; we should all enjoy life to the fullest and learn from it – which I intend to do.

The first two days we spent exploring the normal tourist attractions: the Sacré-Cœur Basilica (a Roman Catholic Church dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus), Notre Dame Cathedral, Eiffel Tower and the Arc de Triomphe.

Miller, H. (1957) stated, “One’s destination is never a place, but rather a new way of looking at things.”

It has been 10 years since I have visited Paris – it seemed so much bigger when I was 12 years old!

In our final days in Paris we visited a few art galleries with Holly, enjoyed the French Cuisine and some window shopping (as nothing else will fit in our tiny hand luggage’s!) It was a great, enjoyable way to end our Easter break – now back to Belgium to reunite with the other Erasmus students.

This trip to Paris was personally enlightening to notice how many homeless people there where on the streets of Paris. It was an eye opening experience and is evident to see that money issues hits many cities around the world - it reminds us how lucky we actually are. 

Arc de Triomphe.

Catherine and I at the Eiffel Tower.

The View of Paris from the Sacré-Cœur Basilica.

Sacré-Cœur Basilica.

Off course we had a go on the merry-go-round!

Lighting a candle in the Notre Dame Cathedral.

Making the most of the excellent subway.

Reference List

·         Henry Miller. (1957, P.6). Big Sur and the Oranges of Hieronymus Bosch, New Directions Books, New York.

·         Mahatma Gandhi

·         Saint Augustine

Week 8 - Cultural Development

Vrolijk Pasen iedereen!

At last the words I have been waiting for – off university for two whole weeks! Two friends from Ireland came to visit Belgium, for one week, which was nice to see some familiar faces again.  I made it my duty to take them to explore Belgium’s culture, famous cities and landmarks, as I have already seen most of these I had more knowledge and experience which came in handy. We explored Bruges, Hasselt, Brussels, Antwerp, Leuven and Liege. Einstein, A (1941), 'The only source of knowledge is experience.' When I came to study abroad I knew it would expand my knowledge and experience for the better, which is why I am ensuring I make the most of this opportunity.

Cara, Leanne and I at The Belfort Castle from the movie 'In Bruges'.

Bruges.

Cara and I at the Bruges Canals.

Bruges has the nicest Belgium chocolate so of course this was our first adventure to taste this! We explored the beautiful scenery of Bruges, went on a canal cruise, dined in an Irish Pub and of course squeezed in a little shopping. In January we all watched the movie 'In Bruges' together so it was nice to actually visit where the movie was shot.

Hasselt is a small city where I am living and there is not a lot of things to do but we still explored and found things to do. We visited the Japanese Gardens, Jenever Museum and of course the Irish Pub.

Tasting the delightful Jenever shots!

Japanese Gardens Hasselt.

Japanese Gardens Hasselt.

Last year one of my friends had done Erasmus in Leuven which regrettably I did not get to visit, therefore I made sure I would visit it when I came to Belgium. We had heard a lot about the city of Leuven from many people and it definitely lived up to the expectations. It reminded us of Belfast, busy and full of students, which was right up our street!

Exploring the streets of Leuven.

Sampling the famous Leuven cocktails.

Reference

·         Albert Einstein (1941)