Grou is a small village in the province of Frisia, in the Netherlands. It is full of tiny houses with nice shops in it. It’s always a bit windy and cold because of the canal that runs through it. Around the village there are huge moors, small lakes and farms with fields and animals.
We arrived in Grou on Monday, 15th April, around twelve o’clock. First we moved into our rooms, which had their own bathrooms but were rather small. But fairy lights were hung up and pictures were taped onto the walls, so after some time the sleeping places looked really beautiful. Then we explored the hostel, but when we wanted to start our rally through the village, it started to rain heavily. So we stayed in our resort, hung out and played games in the canteen, which had an incredible view on the river.
On Tuesday morning we first had breakfast, which was really tasty, and then we went canoeing with our guide Jurgen. That was nice, but we were very wet after it, so many of us used the break to take a warm shower - before we built our own rafts! We got long wooden logs, ropes and empty barrels and Jurgen told us how to make knots. We were also able to get onto the rafts and even had a small race on the river. In the afternoon we went out into the city and found lots of small shops with beautiful souvenirs.
On the next day we eventually did the city quiz and everybody was really determined to answer all the questions, even when it started raining and hailing! Later we set up a wrestling ring and did some sumo wrestling in funny costumes.
On Thursday we went on a bike tour to a water-skiing place. We rode along green grass fields and experienced some of the countryside of Frisia, which was very beautiful. On our way it started to rain and even to hail (again!), but when we arrived, it stopped. It was rather cold and the water felt icy, which wasn’t so nice. But many of us went water-skiing anyway. Whether we glided on the water effortlessly or fell into it almost immediately – it was a great experience and not easy at all. After that we got back on our bikes and rode to the city of Sneek, where we had ice cream and time to stroll around and spend some time in shops and cafés, before we finally rode back to our hostel. But there was a surprise waiting for us at the resort: grilled chicken for dinner! The chicken tasted really good so our efforts of the day were payed off.
On Friday morning we finally had to say goodbye and got into the travel bus, which brought us back home. That was a really great class trip and everybody would have loved to stay for another week…
(Rachna, Jonas & Julian, 7e)