Today was the first day we had in Amsterdam! It started with a bright and early arrival of 6am. Although we were tired we met our amazing tour guide Raha! We began our day with a scavenger hunt throughout the city to familiarize ourselves with the area. The scavenger hunt that was ‘Fault in Our Stars’ theme. It was such a good way for us to see some very beautiful sites and even some very strange stores like a duck store.

After our scavenger hunt we got some pizza for lunch which was so good after being sleep deprived and hungry from walking around. Then we headed back to the hotel for check in. After a quick nap we got changed and headed to our welcome dinner which we took the Metro to get to. I had a burger and fries while watching a soccer game.

When we first got to the Netherlands, I quickly noticed some of the things they do differently from Pittsburgh. First being that they are much more sustainable. After ordering my airport Starbucks I noticed they only used paper cups which greatly differed from the plastic ones I am used to. They also use public transportation as a their main mode of transportation. For a busy city we only saw a few cars, but we saw hundreds of bikes, many busses and trams, and used the metro and subway too. We were also taught all about the Netherland fines for doing something like littering and petting a dog without permission.

Today was so much fun and I can’t wait for the rest of the trip to be even better once I get some sleep.