Aalsmeer,
Netherlands
Tuesday, January 4, 1972
After 2 years at Fons Vitae Lyceum School in Amsterdam, a private girl's school, headed by the Franciscan nuns (wouldn't you know, it became coed the year I left in 1968), we moved to Aalsmeer and my schooling continued at the Alkwin College (formerly Keizer Karel College) in the picturesque town of Uithoorn, surrounded by farms and flower fields. This school, although called College, was comparable to jr high and high school and so began my daily 7 mile trek on bike to and from school, whether rain, wind, rain, sun, snow or rain. It seemed that P.E. classes were superfluous as my calves became rock solid, but when for my 15th birthday I finally received the long awaited Vespa Ciao moped, I thought that I'd died and gone to heaven (at least no more pedaling). Classes were 5 days and sometimes half a day on Saturday and from 8AM-3PM, with a series of subjects including French English, German, Dutch (of course), Science, Bookkeeping, Biology, Algebra, Geometry, P.E., History, Economics and Geography.
I was a decently good student, throughout both jr high and high school (other than the torture inducing Phys.Ed. ), so my parents never felt guilty taking me out of classes to accompany them on their many travels. Further justification came in the notion that visiting foreign countries and experiencing them first hand was a more hands on approach and education than only sitting passively in a classroom. Thus in 1967, my love of Spain was cultivated.
