This morning at Jac P. Thijsse College, we learned about the brief history of how World War II took place in Castricum, which is where the school is located. After seeing a presentation on this, we rode our bikes through the city to visit sites that played a big role in the war. Here, we learned much more information.

After this, we rode our bikes to a biofarm. A biofarm is just an organic farm which uses techniques such as crop rotation, green manure, and biological pest control. Here, we received a tour of the farm and were presented with information on how the farm worked.

Later, we rode our bikes to a nearby beach. I noticed that there wasn’t really a visible boardwalk. I also noticed that there weren’t many people swimming in the water. In fact, there was no one swimming in the water. Well, that was until two students from the group decided to throw themselves in Devon Grant and Sophie Oberink. However, the reason for why there was no one in the water was because it was extremely cold. Therefore, the majority of us just decided to play soccer near the water. After playing some soccer, we ate lunch at a restaurant on the beach.

We then left the beach and went back to the school to prepare for a potluck feast. What this is, is simply a party where every host family brings in different Dutch food. After everyone arrived and everything was prepared, I started to munch on everything that looked delicious. I even tried several new dishes, such as the herring, which is raw fish. Although many people do not like this dish, I found it very tasty. During the feast, we all laughed and enjoyed our time together.

After the feast was complete, my host and I went back home. Once home, my host father and I decided to go canoeing through the canals that run through the small village in which he lives: Krommenie. Everything was going just fine until I started noticing that as soon as I stepped one leg out from the boat onto land, my other leg was being pulled from the canoe which was floating away. I was in a split position and knew that I was going to get myself wet, one way or another. As my legs were being pulled apart, I decided to try to jump towards the land, but my jump was just a bit off as I missed and eventually got my entire legs wet. Soon after, I started to laugh. This will definitely be something that I will always remember.

Once we returned home, I got myself cleaned up. My host and I then decided to watch the Netherlands versus Italy soccer game. Although the Netherlands lost 2-1, the game was very interesting. Overall, today was a day filled with laughs and fun. I can’t wait for what tomorrow has in stores!