Sadly, today was our last day in Amsterdam
We started the day at the world renowned Anne Frank Huis, where we toured the annex Anne Frank and her family lived in during their hiding. The museum had audio guides, documents belonging to the family, and a few of Anne’s notebooks and diaries. Although I’ve learned about Anne Frank throughout schooling, it was powerful to actually step foot in the house and see some of the personal belongings of the Frank family firsthand.
We had a few hours of free time to kill after the museum, so a few of us went to a Van Gogh x Rembrandt show in the Noorderkerk church. The show told the stories of Rembrandt and Van Gogh through pictures and video that were displayed all over the church. Rembrandt and Van Gogh are huge parts of Dutch culture, so it was really cool to learn more about the origins of their art.
Our last event in Amsterdam was our alumni dinner at Pacific, which was a metro ride, bus, and short walk away from our hotel. It was a bit of a hike, but it was nice to see a new part of the city before we left. At dinner, we had the chance to talk with five Pitt alumni who live and work in the Netherlands. I’ve thought about working abroad after I graduate, so I was really excited to get the chance to talk to people who were once in the same shoes as me. I especially enjoyed talking to one alum, Steph, who was a mechanical engineer with a minor in bioengineering at Pitt. I’m a mechanical engineer as well, and I’m thinking about doing some kind of minor in biomechanics, so this was the perfect person to talk to. Steph said that mechanical engineering gave her a lot of options to work in the medical field in some capacity, which is how she ended up at Merck pharma. We also asked Steph about her experience working through time zone differences, which is something I’ll definitely have to deal with if I decide to work abroad. She said that while it’s difficult to get people from around the globe on the same schedule, it’s rewarding and can offer a lot of freedom based on how you structure your days.
I’m really grateful to have had the opportunity to speak with former Pitt students now working in one of the best countries in the world, and I hope I can use their advice to find my way abroad at some point in my career as well!
