Hey everyone! Today we had a very cultural visit of Amsterdam today. We didn’t have any company visits today, but I was still very immersed in the culture and learned a lot. We started our morning off with a tour of Our Lord in the Attic – a secret Catholic Church located in the attic of a rich family’s home. The church was placed in the attic due to the ban of Catholicism in the Netherlands. Although the religion was banned, they were still permitted to practice as long as it was kept in secret. The house belonged to a rich family and I got to learn about lifestyles many years ago in The Netherlands. For example, the house bedroom and living room was in the same space, showers were only taken once or twice a year, and bathrooms were very inconvenient and only accessible to the rich in their homes. The Catholic Church was located in the attic and was beautiful. The church was set up like any other Catholic Church, but also contained three rows of balconies. It was beautiful. The Protestants who lived in the home tolerated the Catholic Church on top as long as the rent was paid and let them freely practice. The museum also contained many Catholic artifacts and robes that were beautiful to see.

After the church we had a few hours of free time so we decided to go to the Rijksmuseum! There was many many art exhibits that were so beautiful to see. We spent hours observing art pieces from many centuries and different time periods. I specifically enjoyed seeing the several Van Gogh paintings as he’s one of my favorite painters! I also got to observe several Yves Saint Laurent dresses on display from their iconic fashions shows, which really interest me as I would love to work on the fashion business industry one day!

After spending some free time at the museum and getting some coffee we all had an audio guided tour of the Anne Frank house. This was such a sad but informative and important experience. It’s truly important to remember this part of history and acknowledge how awful these times were and to never repeat them. We got to see Anne’s life documented on her diaries throughout the time she went into hiding and got captured. The museum truly broke my heart but was so informative of the awful experiences of Jewish people at the time and was inspiring to see Anne continue to write in her diary so passionately. We were not allowed photos at the Anne Frank House so unfortunately I don’t have any photos to show of my experience. Afterwards we reflected on the extremely important monuments we just witnessed and learned about while also preparing for our departure to Rotterdam tomorrow. This experience was so informative and while it was sad, it was so important to learn these things and I’m so glad I got to learn about them.