Today was the first day of being in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The first thing I noticed today as we arrived in the Schiphol airport is that there is a lot of diversity. The amount of people in the airport surprised me as I am not used to being in such a big crowd of people. This airport was a lot bigger than the Pittsburgh airport. After that, we received orientation from CIEE and moved into the Generator Hostel. During the orientation we learned about how to say a few words or phrases in Dutch and how to stay safe during our visit. 

The whole group then took a walk around the area. We had lunch together in the park and just enjoyed being outside. The perfect weather for a picnic. A thing I noticed that didn’t really surprise me is that the main transportation here is bicycle. The groups have researched this beforehand. It was still cool seeing the large number of bikes on the side of roads. I also noticed that all the traffic signs on the roads are in Dutch as well. Most of the population here speaks fluent Dutch.

My favorite experience of the day was walking around with my friends after dinner and exploring the city. We got to look at the canals and walk into a local grocery story. It was a really cool experience just being able to get a feel of what a person living there everyday walks through and experiences. We got to be in their shoes as you could say. Also, we got to take a picture with and see up close one of the first wind turbines in the area. It was a great first day and the start to this whole journey. I can’t wait to learn more about the history and spend the next two weeks here.