Sports in the Netherlands

You can be sure that Dutch really care about sport!

There are thousands of sports clubs with a total of six million members. The most popular sports are soccer, cycling and speed skating. The Netherlands is the country that received the largest number of international awards in speed skating.

The national sport is soccer. The KNVB is the Royal Netherlands Football Association. With a million members, is the largest sports association in the Netherlands. 

Feyenoord (Rotterdam) and Ajax (Amsterdam) are the major rivals for years. Ajax is the club of "technology and arrogance" and Rotterdam is the club of "hard work".

Stadium Feijenoord in Rotterdam

In Avans we are able to practice sports, there is a giant sport center near the school where we can play almost every sport we want; horseback riding, soccer, basketball, tennis, etc... All for only 60€! 

The Dutch are also the undisputed kings of horizontal surfing. When the thermometer drops below zero a few days, all channels, ditches, ponds and lakes are covered with a thick layer of ice. There is a famous race called Elfstedentocht.

Every year the question "will the Elfstedentocht happen?"  is on everyone's lips, it shows the passion aroused by the skating. The circuit of Frisian Elfstedentocht (Eleven Cities tour) was held for the first time in 1909. It measures 200 km. This race takes place on natural ice, it can not take place if the ice is strong enough. The latest edition was in 1997.

Unfortunately, the race doesn't take place this year...

Also it is possible to practice surf or windsurfing on the coast of the Netherlands. there it is a map of the spots. 

Sum up!

We tried to sum up those last three months spent in Breda... It was difficult to do it in 3 minutes! A lot of new friends from all over Europe, a lot of experiences and a lot of things unforgottable!

QUEEN'S DAY

Hii, our trip in the Netherlands is done! I will tell you about our last party in Amsterdam the Queen's Day.

On April 30, the Dutch celebrate Koninginnedag ("Queen's Day"), it's a national holiday to commemorate the birthday of the country's former Queen. It is by far the most important celebrated holiday in the Netherlands. Amsterdam festivities are welcoming up to two million party-going visitors each year for this event.

Breda: Cannabis and law

Hey everybody!

This article is about the selling of marijuana in Netherlands, we don't want by any way encourage its consumption. This is an exception in the world, the sale of this product is legal here and is therefore an integral party of the local culture and habits.
First I will tell you a little more about hemp. It was used extensively in the past even since the Neolithic. However, it has gradually been banned or heavily regulated in the twentieth century because of its psychoactive properties. This is due to the propaganda of the Puritan era in the United States, which saw the failure of prohibition, became interested in marijuana, assisted by various industrial lobbies (cotton, paper, oil, nylon) and regulating very hard use.

Federal Bureau of Narcotics public service announcement used in the late 1930s. 

And yet, there are different studies showed that hemp is no more dangerous than other usual products.

The medical cannabis refers to the parts of the herb cannabis used as a physician-recommended form of medicine or herbal therapy. It has effect in the treatment of glaucoma, HIV, scelorosis and other medical disordes. 


In the Netherlands, you were allowed to posses a small quantity of cannabis (weed or hashish) because you were allowed to buy some in the coffee-shops. From now on, a new legislation change the practice of the marijuana. The Weed Pass (Wietpass), ban foreign people from the coffeee Shops of Holland, which sell grass and hashish.

Actually, Dutch used to buy their weed from any coffee shops they wanted, from now on they will have to register themself in one of them and get weed just from this one only. For the tourist, it is not allowed to buy weed anymore, the tenants of this stores are not really satisfied you can imagine. The Wietpass is already apply in three different provinces; the Limburg, the Brabant and the Zeeland. And in january 2013, the law will be effective in all the netherlands.

DENMARK TRIP

Direction: COPENHAGEN
Distance: 2300 km
Participant:
Thomas Demerens
Nicolas Gréau
Thomas Botte
Alexis Corbière

Eurotrip from Breda to Copenhague

2300km in 4 days of trip, i can assure you that it worth it! We started drive a 7 o'clock in the morning and we have arrived near 7 o'clock in the afternoon..
That was really long but we enjoyed the countryside of Denmark and Germany.


You can also see that we had to cross the sea, well there is two options:
-You can use the boat the ferry, park your car in there. It will cost you 45euros one way
-You You can also cross the 20km bridge upon the sea. It will cost you 35euros one way but this is faster and you have a beautiful view over all the storebaelt.
This is what we did!


We spent 3 days in Copenhaguen and we slept at the hostel "Sleep-in Heaven". 
It is a nice backpacker hostel very close to the city center.



Among all our walks and visits, we can advise you to visit the museum of calsberg, to walk down Cristiania Go and visit the Port of Copenhaguen, you will see the statue of the Little Mermaid based on the fairy tale of the same name by Hans Christian Andersen.



Look at the weather we had during our journey home to Horsens!

The bridge Storebaeltsbroen is the fixed link between the Danish islands of Zealand and Funen across the Great Belt.

CARNAVAL IN BREDA

The week from friday the 17th to tuesday 21 there is a very important festival in Breda. Carnival is a Catholic custom, and especially in the South of the Netherlands in the provinces of North Brabant and Limburg celebrated. The city of Breda during the Carnival gets a new name: Kielegat. The Carnival is organized by the Breda Carnival Celebrations Foundation.
Good tips: You will find hilarious fancies in the shops of Breda. Some are very cheap like masks, hats or accessories but you can also buy entire suit near 40 euros.

There is a parade the sunday, so a lot of people is wlaking around the centre following the floats or only drinking beer or going in bars and clubs.  
Yeah! All the clubs are open during the daylight, it was really strange to see all this people partying at two o'clock of the afternoon.
The other climax of the carnaval is the fireworks the monday at ten o'clock in the evening.

Our University : AVANS HOGESCHOOL

On the 26th, we were welcoming by the supervisors of the exchange program, we had a tour of the town and we met important people in the city hall like the “holder man” who is in charge of the international communication and management of Breda.

Dreamfoundation.eu

Then the entire new foreign student, we were almost 40 I think, went to a bar which was reserved by the administration. It was so cool because we met and discuss with a lot of people, coming from everywhere! We created links and took many contacts so it was a really good way to welcome us.

The way the school is working is simple; the schedule is on the website of Avans and we have access to a portal like openportal called “Blackboard”. On this website, professors put courses, assignments but they also write important messages for the students.

WELCOME 

We are two classmate from ESAIP an engineering school in Angers France. So as Erasmus student we are both going to study Environmental Technology and Management in Avans Hogeschool for 3 months.
This blog will talk about the residents of breda, their habits. Moreover we will deal with the cultural aspect in the Netherlands, the regions we would have visit during our travel. Also you will know what Dutch people do when they go out, how students lives in Breda? Well we think there will be so much thing to say!


HOW TO GET TO BREDA?


To go in the Netherlands we have prefered the car trip to have more facilites to visit other cities like Amsterdam, see our friends in Horsens in Denmark and travel in Germany. From Angers, we will have a 7 hours trip crossing Paris, Brussel in Belgium. We should feel fresh air from the north but at least we could expect 0°c in the Netherlands We are expected the 27th of january at AVANS to discover our program and all the details of the exchange. We should take part in a Erasmus class, so we will meet many foreigners!

Breda is a Dutch town located south of the country, in the Noord-Brabant, at the confluence of the Aa and Mark. Breda had 174,544 inhabitants on 1 January 2011.

Breda has something for everyone. There are so many different ways to fill your spare time: culinary, cultural, sporty, tourist or recreational. You could go all cultural and visit the Chassé Theatre, or go and see NAC play a game of football.

In knowledge city Breda, special attention is given to good education. For example Avans University of Applied Sciences is often

proclaimed the best major university of applied

sciences in the Netherlands.