Tuesday, May 9th 

Oh what a day! Today was a very rainy day in Amsterdam, but we made the most of it! We started off the day on a journey to Zaanse Schans which is the home of the windmills. This was quite the journey I must say. As a group we took the tram and train, though this did not go as smoothly as planned. Half of the group did not fit in the tram and needed to wait for another one which made us nearly miss the train. In fact all 25 of us had to run after it for it to stop. We met with our tour guide Felipe who had great knowledge about the area and the history behind the windmills and the business of how the famous tourist attraction stays open. Although they do not state how many people visit the ground every year, Felipe believes there to be 2 million visitors a year. We walked around the grounds and got to learn and watch how the famous Holland wooden clogs are made. They are made with a machine that is programmed to create a certain size and shape of clog and only takes about 5 minutes to make. If a machine  wasn’t used and the clogs were made by hand like how they used to be made it would take up to a few hours. After the clog demonstration we headed to the cheese cabin and wow this was fun! We learned how the Dutch make their famous cheeses and that it takes up to multiple days for the cheese to be finished. We then got to try some of these amazing cheeses and buy some of our own to take home. I was able to try truffle, asparagus, and smoked goat cheese. The smoked goat cheese was my favorite and I bought a few to take home to my family. We then got to go into a huge windmill that was used to cut wood. The wind moves the turbine which then moves the saws that are placed on the wood. This was very cool to watch as it was very precise. For lunch, we had traditional Dutch pancakes with Gouda cheese on top. This was very much out of my comfort zone but I was pleasantly surprised! We finished off today at the museum that focused most on the geography of the area and the production of chocolate and biscuits. It was led by audio and went in depth of each process. I learned a lot today and can’t wait to go to the tulip field tomorrow!!