Written by Ottilie, Year 8
Among the first highlights of the trip was a walking tour of Rotterdam. With little to no sleep and a new city, our teachers did a great job giving us a brief tour of this unusual city. After navigating the busy cycle lanes, we saw some amazing architecture, street art and learned about the history of Rotterdam by seeing landmarks like statue: The Destroyed City by Ossip Zadkine. We also went to the impressively geometric Rotterdam cube houses, and left with some cool photos and souvenirs, and many questions about the architecture. We finished our tour at Markthal, or Market Hall, where we enjoyed some Dutch street food (stroopwafels were a definite favourite).
Day two began with our first coach journey to Amsterdam. We began at Anne Frank’s house. Seeing where she stayed, and examining her original diary, will, for many of us, be something we will never forget. There was something extraordinary about being distant in time, but aligned through place, with a girl our age in a very different situation 83 years ago. The Van Gogh museum was fascinating, and we loved finding out about all the paintings and inspirations behind them. We finished our day at the Clara Maria cheese and clog museum. We learned about clog making, and even saw one being made. We then learned all about the process of cheese making and there was a gouda tasting at every corner. (Who knew Gouda could be so goud-a?)
On Thursday, we headed into Amsterdam to visit the Corpus body museum. It was a fascinating and immersive experience where we got to go inside a model of the inside of the human body. My favourite bit was where we learned about the two sides of the brain. We spent our afternoon in Kinderdijk – the countryside of Amsterdam, filled with rich history and Dutch culture. A walk along the canal was a great opportunity to take photos, and look at the windmills, one of which had been converted into a museum. We had a boat ride along the canal, and watched a film about the building, machinery and functions of the windmills. We finished the day by admiring the stunning views of the green spaces, architecture and canals of Rotterdam.
We spent the morning of our last day in Efteling – a totally immersive fairytale theme park in Kaatsheuvel, enjoying the rollercoasters, souvenir shops, food and sights of the park, before our journey home to Oxford.
The year 8 Amsterdam trip was a fascinating, rewarding and incredibly fun experience – we are really grateful to all the teachers for their hard work in organising such a wonderful and unforgettable trip.