Wow, I cannot believe that Day 1 of Amsterdam is already behind us! Albeit exhausting, today’s activities were a great kickoff for the rest of our program!
Once we landed, we were introduced to our chaperone, Brian, who led us through each of the day’s activities. We started with the Fault in Our Stars scavenger hunt, in which we were given clues leading to historic, monumental, or random destinations within the Dam Square and tasked with taking pictures of each destination to earn points. Due to our strategic collaboration and amazing skill, my team placed third (go Team Coco!) and won our well-deserved bragging rights! After the Hunt, I and a few others explored the Jordaan Neighbourhood while looking for places to eat. I eventually landed on an all-vegan restaurant called Green Farmers, from which I bought a plant-based cheeseburger. Definitely not the best food I’ve ever had, but I’d give it a solid 7/10 rating! I was quite pleasantly surprised at the amount of all-vegan options just within Jordaan, including lunch- and dinner-oriented sit-down restaurants and small pastry shops. A stark contrast to most of Pittsburgh, all-vegan restaurants in Jordaan tend to provide more meat- and dairy-substitutes rather than simply serving salads, bowls, or other greens; this certainly goes to show that Amsterdam is actively trying to reduce its overall carbon footprint by encouraging people to substitute the majority of their diets for an eco-friendly option.
Apart from lunching at Green Farmers, I also bought a savory pastry from Margo’s Vegan Bakery and a vegan vanilla soft-serve from a small store next to Green Farmers. Both the pastry and the soft-serve were excellent and I would definitely recommend them if you are craving a sweet treat in the heat! After eating our food, we walked around Jordaan for a while longer and took the metro back to our hotel area. By that time, we were able to check into our rooms and freshen up. I sat on my bed to start writing my blog post, but ended up accidentally taking a nap and woke up just in time to get ready for our larger group dinner at Batavia! My dinner at Batavia was a plant-based sausage with mashed potatoes and gravy–definitely not a dish that I would order again, although I did enjoy hanging out with my classmates and discussing our day’s itineraries!
While completing my day’s endeavours, I noticed many small details–especially in Jordaan–that I found very intriguing. For starters, bike lanes are EVERYWHERE! Sidewalks seem to be smaller to accomodate bikers, with an emphasis being placed on equal road space between bikers and drivers. Cars are also much smaller, with a wide variety of electric vehicles. I noticed that some cars only have one or two seats and a very small trunk, with some of these small cars having electric power. I respect that the smaller electric cars have primarily maintained their historic designs while also having improved electronics; even much of the architecture that is modeled to look old from the outside but improved on the inside, I appreciate the value of retaining historical culture within a heavily-populated and constantly-growing area such as Jordaan. Other advanced technological features, such as the button-initiated metro doors, help decrease the overall output of energy caused by the many frequent city travellers and thus help keep Amsterdam sustainable.
All in all, my first day in Amsterdam was a blast! I am certainly looking forward to my upcoming seven hours of sleep! 😴
