I am officially one week into my Dutch adventures! Still cannot believe how fast time has gone by and how much I have accomplished. Today has been a much quieter day with not much going on as it is Sunday. The weather, for once, was extremely pleasant here in Amsterdam, making for a wonderful day outside at IJ-Hallen, the largest flea market/vintage market in all of Europe! Everyone either had the option of attending Church service or visiting the market, which I am pretty sure just about everyone chose to go to the marketplace. Spoiler alert: I thrifted some more and now my suitcase is quite packed now.

For the first time in our trip, we ended up taking a ferry to the marketplace, crossing off yet another form of public transportation off my Netherlands bucket list. The ferry was very relaxing as the views along the water was pleasant and the ride itself was short. On our way there from the ferry, we were walking by a museum centered around graffiti and street art, accompanied by several murals that were incredible. The market was not far from it, and we were easily able to get in as we had all purchased tickets ahead of time. Upon entering the gates, I had already seen clothing items that I really liked, and let the spending begin!

I am anticipating that I was already going to be doing a complete overhaul of my closet when I get home, so some of these purchases were made to compensate for that. I finished the day with some new pairs of shorts, a retro shirt from one of my favorite Dutch footballers, and the beloved Bob Marley Ajax shirt I have always wanted, all for a combined price that was very cheap. Had these items been normal price, I would have 100% came back with at most half of my bag, but seeing how ridiculously cheap some pieces were made it hard to resist. Of course, my wallet is now on life support, but that’s what a job is for when I return next week.

Following my adventures at IJ-Hallen, I followed our group to a restaurant some blocks away from Centraal Station called Pacific, where we were all met with various Pitt alumni that have been continuing their careers in the area. I really enjoyed speaking to them all and learned a lot about their experiences with Dutch/European culture and their occupations. One common theme was how much they preferred the work-life balance here in The Netherlands than in the United States or in other places, as they’re afforded plenty of weeks for holiday and also have less strenuous work weeks in general. One of the companies I learned about in detail was ASML, who are the biggest company in the world in assisting computer chip manufacturing. Learning about their processes and their status in the supply chain regarding chip manufacturing was very interesting, especially relating it to my desired career path where I was able to break down this process. ASML does not make the chips themselves, rather they manufacture the equipment needed for tech companies to create their ultra-powerful computer chips we use in all of our devices. They have a very strong grasp in this market as the vast majority of companies use their equipment, making them very influential in this respective supply chain.

For an extremely light day, it was very rewarding and a great way to relax from all that we have done this past week. To finish off, I joined a few in walking through the shopping districts for more vintage stores (I did not buy anything this time around thank goodness) until we were all tired and wanted to go back to the rooms and get off our feet. I look forward to really kicking it back tomorrow and finish off the last few days of our time abroad strong!