Day 2 - Amsterdam, Netherlands

This morning some of us got to go on our first school visit to a Montessori elementary school (students aged 4 - 12) in the city center.  At first I was disappointed that I didn't get to explore the city more but I really enjoyed our time there.  The liaison for the school was incredibly excited to have us and had just as many questions for us as we did for her.  I got to sit in on a Kindergarten class and they sang me "If You're Happy and You Know It" in English.  I'm really upset that I haven't been able to pick up any phrases in Dutch because I would have loved to talk to them.  A little boy named Peter told me a whole story and I would have loved to at least know what he was referring to.  We are in an extreme minority around here for only speaking one language.  We talked about the structure and intentions of Montessori schools and then got a tour of their classroom spaces.  It is funny how different the building looks from traditional American schools because there was still a very natural 'school' vibe.  The classrooms were all open to each other with a lot of common learning areas.  Every classroom had a designated reading corner with comfy chairs and pillows that students were allowed to use whenever they wanted.  There were also huge windows and skylights at every turn.  The building was designed intentionally so that you could see between almost all of the classrooms, so that no one class was isolated.  The Montessori philosophy is really fascinating.

After our visit we went out to lunch at a beautiful cafe down the street.  The weather today couldn't have been any more perfect for walking around all day.  We met for our first "class" and to go over our assignments for the week and then Renee took all of us on a canal tour of the city.  Even though we had walked around a lot by this afternoon and are becoming more and more familiar with the area, this was a really interesting way to see it.  There are canals, both natural and man-made, that run throughout the entire city.  There are also over 1,000 bridges.  This city really is unlike anywhere I have been before and I'm really excited to learn even more about it.