Today was full of good food, Amsterdam history, and lots of walking. We started the day by walking, with the help of our guide Sophia, to the first company visit on our itinerary: CREA. Here we had an engineering talk with Karel Bockstael who is a prominent figure in the sustainable aviation industry. He presented us ways that the aviation industry, especially in the Netherlands, is looking for ways of make flying less costly on our environment’s limited fossil fuels. He also emphasized that batteries were the leading hope of limiting emissions into the air during flights, and many aviation companies are looking into that alternative. Overall, our discussion with Karel was very interesting and showed me a new way of looking at flying – we all have to be more conscious!
We then ventured toward the center of Amsterdam for our Fault in Our Stars scavenger hunt. With this movie being a beloved staple of my childhood, I was really excited for this search. Antoinette, Ishan, and I took off on our adventure with our first tram ride to the Rijksmuseum, where we listened to street performers and walked around the shops and other museums, including the Van Gogh Museum. Though I really wanted to go into the museums and tour them, we were on a time crunch… next time! We then went to the other spots, my favorite being the bench that Hazel and Augustus talked on during an emotional scene in the movie. It was truly beautiful. During this spot on the hunt was where we found sandwiches; the best sandwich I’ve ever had in my life. I watched them cut the mozzarella in front of me and instantly knew it’d change my life. The picture explains everything.
Finally, we finished our hunt (we didn’t win sadly) and met everyone else at the Anne Frank Huis in the center of the city. This was definitely a heavy visit. It was incredibly eye-opening walking through the museum and getting to walk in the attic where Anne and her family lived. I’m really glad I got to hear and see a story that so many people lived during that time.
Near dinner time, some of us walked to a nearby Italian restaurant called Assaggi. Man was that dinner delicious. Oscar, our host, provided us amazing service and immediately I ran to my yelp page to give him a 5 star review. I love you Oscar!! Oh, and I love you too Amsterdam!!
