Week 5... Les Vacances!

This week was the school vacations for a thing called Carnaval. It was great, a whole week off scool. I did so much! Monday afternoon I went bowling with some friends from school and after that we went to a bar to have a few drinks.

Tuesday my host family and I went to the "Festival de Binche" which is the sole biggest Mardi Gras in Belgium. It was incredible, we saw these things called "Giles" (in the photo with the masks) they throw oranges at people as they march the streets and the kids throw confetti everywhere!!! After a while I managed to find some other exchange students and I spent the rest of the day with them. It was such a great day and by the time I came home I was absolutely BUGGERED!!


Wednesday I went with my host family to the sea in the north of France, on the way we picked up Sage and he came with us for the day, As you can see it is VERY different to the beaches back home but it is still gorgeous! It was such a full day with so much walking up to lookout points and war museums I had a great day with my family and Sage. I recommend it to anyone... in summer though... its too damn cold in winter!!

Thursday I left for Amsterdam. I had to get on the train at 6am to be there in time to meet everyone to catch the bus. From there it was a 3 hour bus trip to Delft where we stopped to see the Vermeer museum (he painted the girl with the pearl earing) it was really nice. After that it was off to Amsterdam. Once we arrived we had some dinner then took our bags upto the hostel room. After that we went for a night tour of the red light district. It was INSANE! When we had finished our tour we were taken back to the hostel and told to go out and have fun. The only condition was that we were back in time for breakfast!
Friday went in a blur. First we visited the Rijik museum (where you see all the Rembrandt originals), then after that off to the house of Anne Frank and boy was that an experience, I foun myself in tears almost the whole time! Then we returned to the hostel for dinner and went out to the Vincent Van Gough museum, all of his works were there, they were incredible! unfortunately, for all 3 of the museums and the house of Anne Frank it was forbidden to take photos so I had to buy them... It was to incredible not to!
On Saturday we had a reasonably quiet day, we went on a river cruise and then to a Jewish museum which told of Nazi Germany in Holland. It was absolutely fascinating! After that came the long bus then train trip home. I couldn't believe how much I had done this past week! I really dont know how I am going to top it... EVER. This really is becoming the experience of a lifetime!

Missing you all heaps,

Jenna xx