Project week in Amersfoort, the Netherlands

Amersfoort 2017

Sunday 22nd January 

We all came to Amersfoort on Sunday 22, in January 2017. We arrived from Nesodden, Ibiza, Rees and Poznan, excited to participate in a week with collaboration, learning, excursions, discussions, social activities and general fun together.

Monday 23rd January

On Monday morning, everyone met at Farel College. We all got information about the main task and the plan for the project. The students and teachers all got acquainted with each other. The Dutch teachers had prepared games and ice breakers in which everyone participated. We all had a lot of fun. The students then got on to the presentations they had prepared for the pre-tasks.

Later we decided on which map we were going to use as a basis for all the tasks. Poland was the clear winner!

  

 

Later that day, after the lunch break, the delegations were divided in three separate groups. The groups then set out to explore the city and architecture of various parts of the city. One of the groups went by bicycle, which was a good – but maybe also a bit cold, experience for the non-Dutch.

International Evening

In the evening everyone, including the host families, gathered for the International Evening. Everyone had prepared lots of food which everyone enjoyed. The teachers had arranged a photo scavenging hunt which was promptly ignored by the students who would rather dance!

All in all a good day with lots of excitement and new impressions. Sure to last for a life time!

(On a side note: the Norwegian contribution to the food was deemed a bit underwhelming, but the smoked salmon certainly grew wings and disappeared. Can’t say the same for the brunost…)

Tuesday 24. January

We had a really busy and fun day on Tuesday; visiting first Delft University in the morning.

At Delft University we had a 'master class' about city development with special care for sustainability and city planning. We also learned that the most important thing in a city is the people living there, and not the city itself.

We had a lovely lunch (great cafeteria there!) at Delft University, with the rare opportunity to sit outside in the sun and enjoy our lunch!





After lunch we went to Rotterdam, and visited a very interesting building; the market hall. It did–amongst other things–contain Europes' biggest piece of art, covering all of the ceiling and walls inside. Impressive!

On the inside, looking out. 

 Part of the painting covering the ceiling.

More from the ceiling.

We were told about how Rotterdam was bombed during the Second World War, and so had to be rebuilt almost from scratch.

Wednesday 25. January

Wednesday was back to Farel College in Amersfoort. The students got to apply their newly acquired knowledge to the task at hand. The theme of the day was the importance of cooperation and planning. Several challenges had been prepared for the students. They all went about the challenges with heart-warming enthusiasm, despite the cold Dutch weather. 

Thursday 26. January

Thursday was a great day, because we were so fortunate to go to Amsterdam. Amsterdam is a city with a lot of 'action', also in regards to planning and building activity for both business and housing. It is also a lot of tourism, and cultural activities going on all the time. The city was crowded, buzzing, moving, exciting and also very cold! We went to see a model of a big area that was under development, and had been developed for the last 25 years as well. So this was long time planning, and a continuous process constantly being under revision for new things to come. Very impressive and very interesting to watch and hear about.

After a little bit more sightseeing in an architectural context, everyone had a couple hours of free time for lunch and sightseeing/shopping as 'normal' tourists in Amsterdam.

At the end of the day, we had one more little post on the program, and that was to visit a museum called 'het schip' (the ship). It was interesting to learn about how the workers of Amsterdam took things in their own hands and started building houses for themselves with a much better standard than they had from before.

Friday 27. January

Today was the Grand Finale of the project. The actual span of the week's tasks seemed to slowly dawn on the students as they started making the final sketches of their future ideal city. It was a day filled with great discussion and a lot of creativity.
  

It all came to a climax with the final presentation of the future city and how it was designed with the different themes in mind. The students presented their ideas regarding the sub themes in convincing manner. It shows that the students have reflected on very important matters concerning creating a sustainable future for our cities, its inhabitants and the planet on which we are living.

 It was not without a bit of competition, however, and the “Inhabitants”- group was crowned the winner with their clear goals for the future city.