After our long 7 hour flight from Boston to Amsterdam, the only thing many of us wanted was to rest. However, this was not in store for us. Our first day in the Netherlands was just getting started at around 6:00 AM. After landing, getting through customs, and getting our bags, we met our chaperone Brian. I could immediately tell that he was very knowledgeable about the Netherlands, and that he would make a great guide for this trip.

Brian took us on a train and then on the metro to get to our hotel. One of the main things I took away from this first day in the Netherlands was how great public transportation is here. The metro was very easy to understand, and it worked very well. One feature of the metro I appreciated was how you have to press a button on the door of each car to open it to either leave or enter. This saves energy because this way not all of the doors have to open and close each time there is a stop.

We arrived at our hotel and dropped off our bags. We were then led by Brian to the next part of our day: the scavenger hunt. He split us into groups and gave each group a packet. Within the packet there was a map, some clues, and some questions that went along with the clues. We were supposed to use the clues to find 8 key spots on the map, and then take pictures of those 8 spots while answering the questions as we went. Our group got lost pretty frequently. I’m glad this happened though, because we got to see some cool parts of Amsterdam that we wouldn’t have seen otherwise. We walked through the streets, seeing beautiful canals, weaving through bikers and cars, and struggling to understand the clues. Another thing I realized on this first day was how walkable of a city Amsterdam is compared to many other cities I’ve been in. However, eventually we found the last location on the scavenger hunt, and we were the third group finished. After the hunt, our group went and got sandwiches at a local shop. I had an incredible pastrami sandwich on crispy white bread. Below is a picture of one of the canals.

After the scavenger hunt, we went to the Keukenhof, which is one of the world’s largest flower gardens. It is famous for its fields of tulips. Even though we saw it on its last day open and not all of the flowers were in their best shape, the gardens were still beautiful, and many of the flowers were still gorgeous. After this, we went back to the hotel and took a break before having dinner at around 7:00 PM. We ate a dish of Dutch sausage on mashed potatoes and gravy which was very tasty. Finally, Dr Kerzmann bought everyone ice cream, which was very generous. I had some strawberry ice cream as a final celebration of my first day in the Netherlands. After this first day, I am incredibly excited to see what is to come on this trip. So far, the Netherlands is a fascinating place.