Holland ’17- Part 3 (The Final)

Have you ever  wondered the origin of the term ” Erasmus”? I’m sure you won’t mind venturing into a bit of history.
At university, I met an American student on an exchange program who referred to her year abroad as  ‘Erasmus Year’ and I naively assumed it was a term used by Americans to describe an Exchange Program!
I visited Gouda (South of Holland) in October for a close  friend’s wedding and during my time in Gouda we took a trip to Gouda museum where I saw various portraits of Erasmus – this suddenly aroused my interest.  As I read about Erasmus, the more intrigued I became.  He is believed to have two birth places – conceived in Gouda, born in Rotterdam and in Latin Goudæ conceptus, Roterodami natus.

Gouda is a city  situated South of Amsterdam in the province of South Holland. This city is a wonderland of unique architecture, from its 15th century City Hall (Stahuis) pictured above to its cruciform St. John’s Church (Sint Janskerk). This city is  known for it’s cheese production; people travel all over to purchase cheese here.
Summer visitors can also watch the centuries-old cheese market in action each Thursday.  I visited Gouda for the first time for my friend  Eline and Tim’s wedding.I was fortunate  to have my close friend Eline and her newly wed husband Tim show me around the city  literally a day after their gorgeous wedding last autumn, couldn’t work out where they got the energy from ! They pointed out the old cheese weighing station (Goudse Waag) which is now a museum. Sadly, the museum was closed  and we couldn’t go in to see more and take pictures.
Since visiting Gouda last Autumn, I look forward to visit whenever in Holland, as its just 55 minutes from Amsterdam by train. Historic Gouda is a convenient and worthwhile, day-trip destination for people wishing to venture outside Amsterdam!

Now, we know a little about Gouda, let’s explore ‘Rotterdam’ his other birth place. On my next visit to Holland this February  I decided to see Rotterdam.
The first thing I noticed in the city were the numerous monuments of Erasmus:

 
He was a dutch priest, teacher and theologian who opposed dogmatism and chose to work in many countries in Europe expanding his knowledge and gaining new insights into other cultures.
Through him, we  have the Erasmus Exchange Program. Students who join this program study at least 3 months or do an internship for a period of at least 2 months to an academic year in another European country. The Erasmus Program guarantees that the period spent abroad is recognised by their university when they come back. A main part of the program is that students do not pay extra tuition fees to the university that they visit. As a student, I’m sure  a year at another university in a different country is a great experience to have and learn more about other cultures and even another language!

As we walked along this gorgeous city, we came to these super cool Cube Houses!
This is why I enjoy travelling, you never know what you will find….

We then continued to  Markthal Rottendam for fruits and vegetables window shopping ( if there is anything like that) 🙂

I’ve heard so much  about Rotterdam Markt and wanted to see it for myself. It was a busy Monday afternoon and the markt was packed with people buying, bargaining and selling.

And as always, we had to try some traditional dutch Kibbeling (YUM!!)- be sure to try some when next in Rotterdam Markt!

As the saying goes, every good thing must come to an END!
See you soon on my next adventure-stay safe! Kisses x