Maritime School and Hospitality School

We had such a great day today visiting two Noorderpoort sites.  The first one was the school of maritime and energy in the town of Delfzijl.  We had such a great tour by three of the students there.  They showed us many of the aspects of their four year program.  During their four years they study almost every aspect of what it takes to run a large ship.  They learn basic welding, machining skills, engine systems, navigation ... you name it, they do it.  Part of their training includes two five-month gigs on a real ship as an apprentice; talk about real life training.  One of the most interesting aspects of their training is the bridge simulator.  We were able to join some students as they were navigating into Sydney Harbor.  We asked the teacher to change up the simulation and make it so the weather conditions were very bad.  It was so real that I had to leave the simulator as I started to feel a little seasick.  It was so interesting and fun.

This is the bridge simulator; we are sailing into
Sydney Harbor in rough water.  It was very realistic.

I took a lot of pics at the maritime school:








After a nice lunch at the maritime school we headed back to Groningen, to visit the school that is located at the soccer stadium.  That school is called Tourism and Hospitality.  They run a small hotel and restaurant.  We got to look into several rooms and see the kitchen and other aspects for their program.  


We also got a behind the scenes tour of the stadium which is home to the local professional soccer team, FC Groningen.  We got to see the skyboxes, the locker rooms and we went out on the field.  It was fun.


We ended the day with dinner at the restaurant of the school.  It was very delicious.  After dinner we were all so beat.  It was so much info and a lot of walking around, but so informative.  I told Liesbeth on the way home how much I appreciate the program since I've been here.  It is very apparent that she and her colleagues have put a lot of planning and effort into showing us as much as possible about their schools and Dutch culture.  It's hard to put it all down each day, but I am learning a lot.  It's all heel gezellig!

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