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.