Two weeks later, I have survived my stay in the Netherlands and have finally made it to the last day of our trip. What an absolute roller coaster it has been, having seen and experienced everything under the sun this area has to offer. Anyways, today was our day with Tony’s Chocolonely and it definitely did not disappoint. To start the day, I was able to sleep in until noon(!!!) after one last dance with everyone last night. The city nights cannot be beaten and I will definitely miss walking the beautifully lit streets. Upon waking up, I first packed my bags to make sure everything fits efficiently and luckily, I have the ability to pack everything without the need to sacrifice anything. I then got a breakfast sandwich at 1PM at a coffee shop (yes, an ACTUAL coffee shop that was quite literally called the coffee store). I noticed on the menu it had a “hot chocolonely,” so in honor of the Tony’s visit soon after, I ordered it with my sandwich.
As far as the presentation went, it was very well put together and informative. The Open Chain Lead for Tony’s, Joke Aerts, came to the hostel and discussed with us virtually everything about the company, ranging from their general objectives, to their supply chain, and their sustainability + humanitarian initiatives. One thing that particularly stuck with me was the usage of various metrics and analytics in the supply chain to help aid their humanitarian initiatives and guide their direction towards sustainability. In particular, traceability of the cocoa beans from their co-ops at the operational, environmental, and social level helps Tony’s maintain a quality flow of cocoa beans in their supply chain while holding company values intact. Additionally, they work very close with cocoa farmers when forming co-ops to help aid the economic sustainability of the sector. Co-ops are formed “contractually” with 5 year terms that are often extended once it expires. Everything that Tony’s does at the supply chain is fully transparent towards the consumer and virtually no information is withheld. Tony’s appears extremely committed to presenting a sustainable and production-friendly chocolate bar as a result.
After the presentation, we were gifted bags of a few chocolate bars, followed by a quick visit to the Tony’s superstore where I purchased a little more chocolate to roulette with my family when I return. Apparently I’ve had their chocolate in my Easter baskets way back, but of course the chocolate will hit different when it is from the native country here in the Netherlands. The farewell dinner was after this, which was held at an Indonesian restaurant that was served buffet-style. I thoroughly enjoyed this meal and was definitely a great sending off as far as my dining adventures went. At this point, our organized activities were finally complete, and the rest of the evening and night were ours. It was a rather quite night, until I ended up in City Centre where it was completely packed with West Ham United fans that traveled for their away day in Alkmaar. The vast majority that were not able to get tickets for the match itself held watch parties here in Amsterdam and took to the streets when their ticket to the cup final in Prague was booked for good. The scenes were absolutely amazing as I got caught in the middle of it all.
This was an incredible way to end my European chapter here. I can’t lie, I’m quite sad it is already over with and wish it could have kept going on, even just another week. However, the show must go on and as everyone says: “don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened.”
Tot ziens Amsterdam! You have been incredible to me and have made me want to study abroad in the future even more now.