This week was a very special week for me as it was the week
of my 21st birthday. My
birthday was on the 23rd of April (Tuesday) but as I wasn’t going to
be at home to celebrate it our Erasmus group decided to start the celebrations
early on Saturday. Normally people say
end your night with a bang but in our case our night started with a bang, a big
bang which left Darren and I with some cuts to our hands and left my bike in
the bike ziekenhuis (bike hospital) to get a new wheel put on. None the less we continued on out and had an
amazing pre-21st party.
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| Party Decorations |
On the day of my birthday I went into my placement
school. We had our normal gym lesson in
the morning and after it the children sang Happy Birthday to me in English and
in Dutch. Some of the children in my
class had made posters for my birthday while other children had brought in some
cupcakes for me. After school I returned
back to my flat where I screamed with excitement when I saw that our kitchen
had been completely decorated with 21st birthday banners and balloons.
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| From the PowerPoint |
All during the week I had been receiving presents and cards
from home which I had promised not to open until my birthday so you can imagine
my excitement when the day finally arrived to open them. As if my day couldn’t get any better I was
then surprised again when I went into our kitchen to find our Erasmus group
sitting around a table full of presents for me and a chocolate and strawberry
cake. Now I’m not one to get emotional
but the fact that all these people who didn't even know me three months ago
(apart from Darren and Sarah) went to so much effort for my birthday brought
some tears to my eye, and to make matters worse one of my flatmates had
prepared a PowerPoint especially for my birthday which just made the happy
tears flow. One of the items that really did pull at my heartstrings was a signed photo frame, this is something that will always remain special to me and will always make me think of Erasmus Nijmegen 2013. At the time I couldn't thank them all enough for making the day so special for me (Darren and Sarah really outdid themselves) however the next morning I wasn't so keen on thanking them for the after effects of the party.
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| All my amazing gifts |
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| Family dinner |
Although the start of this week was amazing the end of the
week had a different sort of feel to it.
On Friday we had our last Erasmus family dinner together as our French
friend Jodie is now coming to the end of her 3 month Erasmus. Although Jodie
isn’t leaving for another few days some of our friends are going back home for
May break so our dinner was the last time that we would all be together for a
while. Although we had an amazing dinner
it was strange thinking that we would be missing a member of our family for our
last two months of our Erasmus. The days
have been creeping in on us and it seems like just yesterday that we had shared
a taxi with Jodie the very first day we landed here. Even in just three months we have created memories
that will last forever and as Harriet Morgan (2013) states “A memory lasts
forever, never will it die. True friends
stay together and never say goodbye”. So when it comes to the day that Jodie has to
leave, we know that it won’t be a goodbye but a great big “see you later”.
References
Harriet Morgan (2013) Harriet
Morgan Quotes available at: http://www.searchquotes.com/quotation/Memories_last_forever_%26_never_do_they_die,_true_friends_stay_together_%26_never_say_goodbye./390248/
(accessed 27/04/13)
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