27 & 28 Oct 07 (Saturday & Sunday, Epe)

Today is the day we travel to Epe (a little countryside resort) for a relaxing weekend before the serious school-term starts.. so thotful of IHE hor. The bus departs at 8am sharp, so I got up at 6.20am to get ready and to cycle to school. My blury eyes will tell u how unearthly the time is ... Took a cup of hot coffee to wake myself up, and ate a couple pieces of chocolate cookies.

The travel bus is rather comfortable. I sat beside Franto, ready to enjoy the 2 hour bus journey taking us northwards to Epe thru many towns, fields (with cows, rams & horses gazing on them) and even a seaside. Spent the time getting to know Franto better ..

After a rather enjoyable 2 hour journey, we've finally reached our destination - Golden Tulip Hotel, Epe, The Netherlands. It is set in the middle of some lush forest, and the falling golden leaves are really overwhelming! I was told that this place is a famous resort among the Dutch for a relaxing family weekend getaway. The charm of this place really lies beyond the resort into its surrounding - there are nature trails thru the forest for a peaceful tranquil walk with your loved one or cycling thru around the area to enjoy the lovely landscape. More of that later.

After checking out the resort and lotsa of photo-taking (we're so touristy!! haha!!), lunch is served. It is typical european style - bread with various types of meat & cheese. Ok, since I'm in Netherlands, I'll do wat the Dutch do and try to enjoy the bread. As expected, I had very little success.. but the soup is rather good though :)

After lunch, we're split into teams of 7s and it's time to do some team-building thru the nature walk. We were given a 45min-walk map and off we go into the dense forest with green, yellow & red leaves swaying gently with the cold wind. We spent some enjoyable time talking, getting to know one another, taking in the scenery that is so vastly different from S'pore & M'sia. The end of this nature walk led us to a halfway stop. Here, we took a rest while enjoying some hot chocolate prepared by IHE staff .. so blissful hor?

After 30min of rest, the team embarked on the 2nd half of the journey - a 1-hour cycling trail. Viewing the scenery thru cycling offers another totally different experience. The ride was quite smooth, although there were several near-misses (the bike is too big for me!!) where I almost fell off the bike when the dirt-track gave way (haha, not from my weight but by the direction of cycling!).

After close to 1 & a half hour (yes, it is supposed to take just one hour, but we got lost most of the time.. same as everyone else! haha ..), we finally found our way back to the hotel and to enjoy a sumptuous dinner, especially after expending some energy earlier on :) Dinner consisted of tomato soup with fresh herbs; Fillet of chicken with rice, vegetables and salad; forrest fruit bavarois with cream for dessert. Woa, the dessert is really good!

After dinner, we were treated to a performance by Dutch Clog Dancers who did some wonderful traditional Dutch dances for us fully decked in their traditional Dutch Lady & Dutch Man wear. They are quite elderly people, but you can still sense lotsa pride in their performace. Amazing!! Sorry tat I've no photos to show, as by this time, my handphone has ran out of battery. I'll try to post some photos after my fellow students send me the photos he took.

After the Dutch Clog Dancers, we played a IHE games tat is somewat similar Civilisations, where every team needs to collect "subjects"cards to earn degrees. This is a fun game, but i find it somewat marred by the unruly behaviour of some students who apparently took it as a matter of life & death! I had my specs pushed off during the game, and later saw the same person putting his arms around a staff's neck to try to get the "subjects" cards he is guarding. Another student then yanked a pile of "subjects" cards off his hands and the staff has had to order the person to return the "subject" cards & play fair. I'm sure the staff will be very disgusted by such primitive behaviour.. tsk tsk ..

After the IHE game (my team did not win as I'm too soft for such a physically demanding game), tats the end of the programme, and it's free & easy. I went to the bar to have a red wine with Franto (who took chocolate milk coz he's Muslim). He left after a while and I joined the student sitting at the adjacent table. Got rather sleepy at around 12am and went back to hotel toom to bathe & grab some much-deserved sleep. Zzz..

28 Oct 07

We got ready by 8am to have breakfast together. After breakfast, we had a get-to-know-one-another session with students with the same specialisation. We paired up and introduced one another to the group.. an interesting way of introducing people within a group. Tat took us to 11am, and it's time to return to Delft. We reached Delft at 1pm, and went to grab some bread with Franto & Arman. Had some halal beef & bread with them for lunch.