As soon as I was out of the Amersfoort railway station, I was totally charmed by the pretty buildings and the magical atmosphere of the town. Everything seemd fairytale like. And the people seemd so happy! I spent five fantastic days surrounded by wonderful people. Maaike (my guest) , Frederique and Martijn (whom I already had the opportunity to meet and was already fond of) were great friends and it was hard to say goodbye. Even their friends were really nice on our first day at school (which is ten times better than our schools) and on the crazy Saturday night hopping in and out of pubs in the pretty setting of Amersfoort, which becomes even more magical once the sun goes out and the light are on. And how could I forget about the long runs on our bicycles, the rolls bought at the supermarket and eaten in the park in a busy but exciting Amsterdam, about Frederique's crazy shopping (He was Benedetta and Riccard's host) , my hosts' sweetness, the laughter and the tears?

Riccardo, Benedetta and I have been so lucky to take part in this experience and wish to thank Giusi (Our lovely chaperone) and the Giffoni Film Festival for giving us this opportunity.

CHIARA GIOVANNONE

 

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This was my first trip abroad. Once upon a time when you were not aware of something you would fantasise on it, now you usually seek information on the internet in order to learn a little more. If I must be honest I chose Holland for several reasons. First of all because my mother wanted me to go somewhere near home (lol); then Amersfoort was Mondrian's hometown. I have always been fascinated by his work and wanted to know more about him. However I did many things but didn't really learn anything more about Mondrian. Trips are made to challenge your expectations. I didn't really know what to expect from this journey. I knew that Holland was popular for smoking pot and alcohol but apart from that I didn't really know what I would find and didn't want to rely on other people's experiences, therefore I just waited patiently to begin my own journey. The journey itself was very smooth I was a little nervous because I thought the airplane would crash or there would be some other problem but fortunately it was good. Once we got to Amersfoort I felt a little weird. I hadn't spoken English for months so my mouth would not open, my brain was slow, I was confused as a result of a long journey: Anyway I found it hard to speak. The welcome was very fast and I was immediately assigned to my chaperone. Once I got to my temporary home I was ntroduced to the family and the farm. I got to my room and unpacked and tried to get used to the new setting.

The day after we went to the kids' school.  Wow, it was like a  college. I thought we had arrived in hogwarts. There was everything you could imagine. a Theatre, refectoy, library, laboratory, even an efficient secretariat. The only downfall was represented by the teachers who seemd to find it hard to earn the pupils' respect, much like in our schools. We visited Amsterdam briefly and the Van Gogh museum (awesome, everyone should visit it) in the morning and the Heineken Experience (a tour of the histroy of beer) in the afternoon. We didn't have much time for a propper visit of the town. But we managed to go to Hard Rock Cafe and buy some jerseys. We had the opportunity to live the Dutch nightlife on Saturday. Amersfoort is a very little town but Saturday evenings are really crowded. There are many pubs. It is free to get into the pubs so you can hop in and out as much as you like; It is also very easy to make friends with the locals, whom were very kind and offered us beer. I don't remember what happened next (just kidding I just won't say haha).

We spent the last day mostly walking through the town and we went bowling. There isn't much left to say and as we had an early wake up call the following morning we went to bed rather early. In reality I hardly got any sleep thinking about how time had flown by in those four, brief days.