WE HAVE A NEW EXCHANGE STUDENT – VERA ZWIJNENBERG
Vera (from Holland) joined us in Tauranga on 17 July
Tauranga Te Papa Rotary is again hosting an international exchange student for the upcoming Rotary year. This time the student is from Enchede, a city with a population of around 160,000, from the Twente region of the Netherlands. Enchede is very near the German border and is within easy walking distance.
Vera lives at home with her parents, Harmen and Agnes Zwijnenberg and a younger brother, Werner. Home is a typical Dutch terraced house, 3 stories high with living space on the ground floor, 2 bedrooms on the second and a further bedroom in the attic conversion. Vera is fond of animals and has two cats named after the Harry Potter characters, Bellatrix and Voldemort. Her favourite pastime is writing stories or drawing for her own amusement. During this year's summer holiday break she travelled around Europe with her family, in particular France and Germany. Vera has been to United Kingdom on a couple of occasions.
Vera normally attends her local secondary school where apart from the expected subjects like Dutch, English, Phys Ed and Social Studies her chosen options include Chemistry, Physics, Biology and Maths, together with an extra subject Art / Art history. In Holland she would bike around 5 km to school each day in time for a 8:15am start through to around 3pm. In her leisure time, when she is not hanging out with friends, she has a passion for drawing, writing, reading or watching TV. After graduating secondary school she hopes to study health and technology with the intention of becoming a paramedic or theatre nurse.
In this exchange she hopes to learn more about herself and the people around her by pushing her personal limits and expanding her life experience. Welcome Vera - lets hope we can provide what you're looking for in Tauranga New Zealand.