September 26-28 Amsterdam!
It has been my favorite trip so far. The city was all water; there were canals everywhere. Our hostel was in a great location, which made it so much easier to make our way through the city. Our first day there we visited the Anne Frank House. It was an awesome experience! We weren't allowed to take any pictures, but it was so amazing to be walking through where she actually hid out during World War II when Nazi Germany invaded the Netherlands. After that we took a boat tour throughout the city, which was nice. So many people get around the town by boat and there were also a lot of house boats parked along the river.
We had to make our way to the Red Light District after the boat tour. Crazy! That's all I'm going to say... We mostly did a lot of walking around while we were here. It was a beautiful town with lots of culture. Sunday, some of the girls walked through the Van Gogh museum. The rest of us went through a huge shopping district. Lots of big designer names. While waiting for them we just hung out a a park nearby. It was very relaxing and nice to just sit still for awhile. Then we met up by the IAmsterdam letters, which might sound silly, but was lots of fun. Took lots of pictures there and headed for the train.
In front of the Anne Frank House
Iamsterdam Famlily Pic
The next two weeks were spent doing schoolwork! "This whole school thing is starting to get in the way of my traveling", haha. This was a quote that came out of many of our mouths over the last two weeks. Our professor was here October 6-10th, so we had a lot to prepare for. We had to have a video reflection done on ourselves and peer reviewed by another intern and our mentor teacher, as well as a reflection of how I thought it went. I also had to be observed teaching two lessons. I had to have a full lesson plan for each of those days, which we usually aren't doing. It didn't help that it was a crazy week of school while she was here and our schedules were all off whack. Tuesday was the school track meet, Thursday we had a fire drill in the morning and a staff vs. student football game in the afternoon, and no school Friday. My lessons went very well though and I was given a lot of positive feedback which was awesome :) Friday I also experienced my first inservice. My professor and the 6 of us student teachers gave an inservice about co-teaching. Many teachers do not know what it is and how to use it in the classroom and it is very beneficial. It was a little weird teaching the teachers, but it went really well. The teachers were impressed and it will be interesting to see how many of them change their ways and try to use the co-teaching models. After our inservice we took a little nap and packed up for Paris before heading downtown with our professor and many of the other teachers at all of the schools. It was POETS night! (Piss On Education Tomorrows Saturday) I think it is hilarious! They all go out every Friday after school. After you have been to 3 POETS nights, you get your own card made, were aiming to get one in the future. Last week, when they showed their card they got beer coozies that had the acronym on it that someone made up for them.
Some of us with Dr. Whitten
Needless to say, we were feeling great by the time we jumped on our tour bus for Paris Friday night at 11 :) I just remember waking up in Paris for breakfast at 7am, so it wasn't so bad getting there. I am very glad we did a bus tour for Paris though, because the place is crazy busy and I don't think we could have navigated the town by ourselves. We were also able to get to see a LOT of things we probably wouldn't have got to if we had done it by ourselves. The only downfall of the bus though, was spending most of the time inside the bus; not too cozy. We went to the Palace of Versailles, the Louvre Museum, a boat tour, city touring on the bus, and dinner before getting to our hotel (yes, hotel finally, not a hostel!!) at 9pm. It was a long day! Our plans to go out for the night in Paris had changed to being in bed by 9:15! We had to be up by six, breakfast at 7, and on the bus by 8 to head to the Eiffel Tower. We had some unexpected traffic delays, as there was a marathon that was starting right from the bottom of the Eiffel Tower, so they had a lot of roads closed off. After walking a few blocks to maneuver around the marathon, we made it to the Eiffel Tower. We got there before it even open and had to stand in a huge line to get tickets. We all went all the way up to the top of the Eiffel Tower!! It was so awesome! From there we made our way to the Notre Dame Cathedral, and then back on the bus for our 8 hour trip back to Germany.
It has been a crazy couple weeks, but things look like they should be pretty good from here on out. I'm mostly done with the planning and paper work for teaching, and we now have the rest of our trips booked. I'm loving the fall weather! It has been so beautiful and not too cold. This coming weekend we are headed to Prague! Should be another great weekend! Can't wait :)
Some of us with Dr. Whitten
It has been a crazy couple weeks, but things look like they should be pretty good from here on out. I'm mostly done with the planning and paper work for teaching, and we now have the rest of our trips booked. I'm loving the fall weather! It has been so beautiful and not too cold. This coming weekend we are headed to Prague! Should be another great weekend! Can't wait :)
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