Meergronden hosts an International week every year. Students of several different nationalities (Estonia, England, Poland, Spain and the Czeck Republic) work together in our school on a comparison studies project. The foreign students and their teachers stayed in Dutch host families for a week in order to experience Dutch life and culture.

2011 story

2008 pictures

2008 story:

Monday 3rd of November 2008
Today was the First day all the visiting foreign students came to the school together. In the morning we started with several different classes and workshops. Teachers from the visiting schools told us something about their culture, their country and their language. There were also some DVD’s shown about for example Anne Frank and Rembrandt.

After the last of three activities on the Monday, we had some free time. At five o’clock we had to meet up at the survival track, near the Pandahut. When at about six everybody got there, we walked to the starting point of the track. We got our first instructions and got divided into groups, after this we were given a piece of paper with the different activities we were going to do and the order. With the sun setting early this time of the year, it was already getting dark by the time we actually started and the people from the survival often had a hard time helping us out with for example a harness for crate climbing. Several torches were spread through the forest where the survival took place.

At half past seven we took a brake, because we were a little behind on schedule half an hour later than planned. The 60 or so students along with the teachers went for the “survival kitchen”, which was a wall, a roof, two half doors on the sides and a grill for the burgers. We enjoyed our burgers and drink either inside a tent on a chair or outside on one of the picnic tables.

As we were supposed to leave at about 8 o’clock, the teachers together with the people of the survival decided we were going to do one last activity and then get dressed to go home.

Later that night, some of the students (both the Dutch and their guests) went to visit a café, we’ve had a great day, and however nearly everybody didn’t feel much like a survival with this weather, the atmosphere was great, everybody had a good time and no one stayed clean.

Tuesday 4th of November
Today we started again with our cultural classes, after the break we had several different sports activities; football, hockey, pillow fight, etc. You can find the pictures on our schoolwebsite. After the winners of the activities were announced (Group 6 was third, nr. 4 was second and nr. 10 was first), we were told that later that night, we’d have to meet at the pancake boat in the harbour of Almere Haven. When we got here, we found a coin we could trade for a drink inside the boat, after about half an hour multiple plates with a pile of pancakes were put on the tables. Different toppings and fillings were already on the table.

After we finished, most people again, just like the night before, decided to meet up in the city centre in Almere Stad and go to a café. Most people had a good time, and as the visiting students had to be at the library in Haven the next morning at 8:15 to catch the bus to Amsterdam, few people stayed in the city after 12 o’clock.

2010-group