Today was an especially exciting day for me, as we were visiting a popular cheese manufacturer called Henri Willing Cheese. The cheese shop was located in the middle of vast farmland riddled with windmills, green glass, frogs, ducks, goats, cows, and much more. This seemed like a sight from a fairy tale. After a lesson on how their cheese was made and preserved, we were able to taste test and purchase any kind of cheese you could think of, ranging from garlic to goat to lavender.

Later in the day, we took a guided tour of the Zuiderzeemuseum, which gave insight into the engineering that goes into draining the marshlands on which the Netherlands was built. Engineers used dikes to control the water levels in the area and make it more inhabitable for residents. This tour also involved interactive displays and actors depicting what it was like to live in these times, with people running steam engines as well as drying fish in a cellar. It was a truly interesting glimpse into a past era of Dutch culture which today’s culture stems. In the evening, I went to a restaurant by the waterside that gave a beautiful view of the sunset.