Packing, Departure, First Impression (17. 8. - 19. 8. 2006)  first pics from the Netherlansds (Nederlands in Dutch) -city of Nijmegen, dorms, flatmates and my new bicycle.

Introductie (20. 8. - 3. 9. 2006) description "get-together" says nothing about these really weird fourteen days - and the most astonishing fact is, that it was supported by the university and the municipality. I took only a minority of the photos.

Puncture (5. 9. 2006) these things always happen at the most inconvenient time..

Maastricht (9. 9. 2006) even smaller than Nijmegen, but not affected by the WW2 -great atmosphere.. For years, Nijmegen has been arguing with Maastricht as to which of them is the oldest city in the Netherlands: Nijmegen was the first city with Roman city rights in what is now the Netherlands. Maastricht was the first with Medieval city rights.. I didn't take any of these pictures - my battery was flat..

Open Monumentendag Nijmegen (10. 9. 2006) opportunity to enter sights which are otherwise unavailable.

Jan's Dinner at Lent (11. 9. 2006) and a special recipe from Australia.

BBQ at Vossenveld (12. 9. 2006) a visit to another hall (of residence) really far, far away from Lent (50 minutes by bike), but worthwhile.

Black & White Party at Palace House (14. 9. 2006)  we were supposed to wear black/white clothes, but this was not important -the key point was that almost all exchange students met again..

Tennis with Nacho (15. 9. 2006)

Island of Texel (16. 9. 2006)  an island to the north of Amsterdam. Well-known for its sheep, picture book villages and broad white beaches - we were lucky: real summer day.

New bookcase (22. 9. 2006) There was really very little storage space in  my room.

International Stereotype Party (26. 9. 2006) We were asked to dress up exaggeratedly in the way foreigners think we "should" look like. But what is the Czech Stereotype? The same problem for Portuguese, Belgian, Latvian etc. - dresses of national teams were only a cheap substitute.

Simon's outside party (30. 9. 2006) Most probably last worm night in this year and therefore ultimate possibility to take tables out from the flats..

Mentors dinner without mentors & Tereza's birthday (6. 10. 2006) The PR of the dinner was in fact pretty badly managed - the banquet was supposed to be on Monday, no Friday, actually on.. No wonder that the mentors didn’t show up. But people from the Palace House did great a job in respect of cooking: four or five courses were served..

Paris (13. - 16. 10.) So far the best trip. We could stay at friends (Olivier) flat in the city centre and truly enjoyed.

Brussels (16. - 17. 10) On the way back from Paris, four of us stopped in Leuven and  slept over at a place of my friend from Prague. We spent the following day in Brussels.

The Hague (28. 10.)

Halloween (30. 10.)

Ireland (24. - 28. 11.) My first visit to the Emerald Isle and also my premier 1058 km of driving on the 'wrong' side of the road.. We crossed the isle from one coast to another and visited Dublin, Belfast and Galway. But all the cities were rather mediocre. The countryside put all of them to shame -it is worth going to Ireland just for the green hills, stone walls and wild seaside..

Lent Running Dinner (30. 11.) & Czech Dinner (3. 12.) What do we do during the long winter evenings? We don’t only drink.. we eat sometimes as well.. Running Dinner means that you have a starter, main menu and desert at three different places and each time with new people– it is rather difficult to explain, but everything worked perfectly.. Czech Dinner means that people from the Czech Rep. meet for a dinner. I took none of the photos.

Christmas (2. 12 - 18. 12.) Christmas atmosphere, but also some definitive farewells..

2007

January 2007 Strange month - many people were about to leave and some new were already coming.. farewell parties & welcome drinks at the same time.

The first snow (8. 2.) Yeah, it is just snow - nothing special for people from the eastern part of Europe, but it is an adventure here ..

Italian Dinner (8. 2) Alessia and Simona moved from Lent to the city centre and prepared a dinner in their new place.

My Birthday Party (16. 2.)  Actually not only mine - I celebrated together with my Greek flatmate Marina and Spanish Marina. At our place.

Carnival de Maastrich (18. 2.) I got a ticket for this trip as a birthday present. The always reserved Dutch folks really got me - the city was full of masks and nobody was just gaping and standing idly by.

Kiev (22. - 25. 2) Our trip to the Regional Finals of the European Law Moot Court Competition.

Frisbee Tournament in Delft (4. 3.) All new experience and 2nd place out of 8!

London (23. - 27. 3.) Can’t help myself – I just like the city..

BBQs time (31. 3.) Spring is here already for a long time.. so we spend more and more time outside. Photos from Vossenveld.

Tulips and Delft (6. 4.)  Spring in the Netherlands? You must see the tulips.. and where else to go then to the world's largest flower garden:  Keukenhof! City of Delft was close so we went there as well.

Easter Monday (9. 4.) Lovely weather and we made a picnic at a new place: cosy lake with sandy beaches.

Rotterdam (13. - 15. 4.) Longer weekend in the largest port of Europe.

Naarden, Utrech & the Czechs (17. - 21. 4.) Friends from Prague came to see me. Pictures form different authors, mainly Mr. Haase.

Batavirenrace  (27. - 29. 4.) The world's largest relay race - over 185 km divided into 25 stages
followed by the biggest student party in the Netherlands. I couldn't miss this.  298 teams this year (it means 7450 runners).

The Queen's Day (30. 4.) Birthday party of the Queen. I wouldn't  mind celebrating our president's birthday in the same way.. or whatever pretext to make such a mess in the centre of Prague.

Woodstock? No! Lenstock.. (1. 5.) Guys rented speakers, mics, amps etc. and invited also other bands to play.  In Lent. Pictures from Kate and Tere.

First half of May 2007 We were quite busy these days because of the university, so we usually met just to eat together. And it sometimes took longer..

Visitors: Rotterdam & Amsterdam (17., 19. 5.) It was not my first time in these cities, but I enjoyed it anyway..

National Park De Heuge Veluwe (18. 5.) This trip improved my opinion about the boring flat Dutch  nature and countryside. There was a desert! And Van Gogh's museum in the middle of the park!

Czech days (17, 18, 19.. 5.)  My friends had plenty of space in their car, so they could bring a lot of lovely Czech stuff. And than the famous Czech hospitality came into play..

Province of Flevoland (31. 5.) A bit of everything: modern city, nature, village. The province was created only in 1950 after draining of the sea. An example how the world would look like were the God Dutch.

Leiden, Haarlem, Gouda (5. 6.) A day trip to the west of the Netherlands

The north of the Netherlands (7. - 10. 6.) My last big trip. We made kind of circle around the northern half of the country.

Trip to Belgium and France (11. - 15. 6) My cousin spent the same year as an exchange student in Rouen, France. So I decided to visit her.

Final gallery (16. - 22. 6.) My friends came to see me. Some farewell parties and dinners took place. Leaving my room.