My first blog

Hey everyone! Welcome to my first blog ever. My name is Daniel Silva, I’m 17 years old and I am a first year student at Inholland university in Diemen. I am studying TRM (Tourism and recreation Management). In this blog I will write about my experiences at college and a bit about my personal life.

I have unusual routes. My mom is Dutch, and my dad is from Gibraltar. I was born in Amsterdam and lived there until 2000, when I moved to Purmerend (a small town north of Amsterdam). In Purmerend I finished my primary school and went to secondary School. And after finishing that last year I ended up at Inholland. I’m Dutch, but then why am I doing an English study? Well, my dad being from Gibraltar I was raised speaking both Dutch and English, so I decided to give myself an advantage in the future work field by doing the English version of the study.

Sailing into my new life!:

Before the school year started I went on a three day introduction tour. The tour started at school where we were expected to be at 1 o clock. I met up with an old friend, who was a fellow secondary school student that would also be studying at Inholland. When we arrived we had to go in school to receive some information about the introduction. I met up with new students that would follow the same course as me, my friend went her own way from here. At 4 o clock everyone got on busses and we were off. We went to a small famous fishing village Volendam. In Volendam 26 sailing ships were waiting for us to take us out sailing. It was an impressive sight. I found my boat and met up with the people I would be sharing the boat with. Everyone on my boat was Dutch and was also following the tourism course, Most would follow the Dutch course, and some would be following the English course like me. Being with Dutch students made me feel quite comfortable, but I remember finding it a shame that there weren’t any international students. The group consisted of 4 guys including me and an older student who was there to supervise (Amar) and me. All the other students were girls! :-) that evening we went out for dinner in Volendam and later that evening there was a great club that we went to. The next morning after breakfast we left port and headed to Amsterdam! I bonded with my fellow students while sailing and made some friends. In Amsterdam we had to play a trading game trying to trade a pen for something that was worth more, to then trade that for something that was even more valuable. As a group we decided the introduction was about bonding and getting to know each other and we decided it was more fun to go into Amsterdam together and explore the city. That evening we went out to Panama (a club in Amsterdam) and had a great night. After a late night we had to leave the boat early, we all cleared up the boat and packed our bags and returned home exhausted.

My first day:

After a fun introduction week my first real day at college, my new study, my new life had arrived! My first lesson was an introduction into the project. I had loads of questions and was quite nervous; what would my classmates be like? Was school difficult? What was the project all about?! I was welcomed By Feico and Jennifer, my consultant and tutor for the project. The teachers were very friendly and explained all about the project, and then divided us into groups, my group had 6 members. The assignment was to present our chosen country on a holiday fair held at school to promote our destination to all the visitors. I was looking forward to the project and wanted to get started straight away. But I had had other lessons to attend. The rest of the day went well, I must admit though, I struggled to stay concentrated as the lectures were 1,5 hours, and I wasn’t used to that. In period 1 these were my lectures: Spanish, English, Management, Successful team, Project based teaching and learning, Research techniques and Introduction to tourism. Before, between or after these lectures I would have meetings with my project group with our consultant and tutor to talk about the process of the project, I felt this was good, because in that way when you didn’t understand you could ask about it, and the tutor and consultant would clarify it for you.

So, I finished my first post ever! I shared my experience of the beginning of the school year and my first day, I hope you enjoyed reading, and you will hear from me next week.

Take care,

;-) Daniel Silva