We have officially reached our last day in Amsterdam. We did start off the day in a somber mood, seeing as our first activity of the day was visiting the Anne Frank House. This was an extremely enlightening experience for me because I remember reading the diary in middle school as a pre-teen and feeling deeply sorry for Anne and her family, thinking how I could never imagine going through something similar. Walking today through the same halls and rooms that Anne and her family walked and lived in just gave me a glimpse into what they really went through, and I just really can’t imagine how horrible and terrifying that must’ve been, especially going through all that at the age that she went through it. This also made me think how this is only one published story and that there must be a million different stories of people that were Jews during the Holocaust and how we don’t even get a glimpse into what really happened back then, and one can only imagine how terrible it was. I thought about this since remembering the story that our tour guide from day 1 told about the Salvation Army hero that saved 75 babies from going to concentration camps by raising them Christian and how we would have never found out about that story if it wasn’t for him.

After the Anne Frank House, we had some free time before heading over to the alumni dinner. During this free time, some of us took the opportunity to explore the Van Gogh Museum. This was beautiful, and being able to see such a famous painter’s art in person gave me a glimpse into the Dutch legacy that happened in the Netherlands. There is an exhibition that shows all his different self-portraits throughout the years. Something I found incredible and sad about this collection is that one could see in his face in the self-portraits his facial expressions changing as his depression progressed. This was also seen throughout all his paintings, and in the last paintings he did between 1888 and 1890, one could see the lack of detail in his strokes and masterpieces.

Finally, the activity that would culminate our last day in Amsterdam was the alumni dinner. Here, PITT graduates from all over the country came to meet us and tell us a little bit about what they do. There were alumni from all different subjects and fields of work. There were business starters, pharmaceutical engineers, and more. This was a really great experience, seeing as many of them have been through the exact same thing we have by studying at PITT, and can give us a little insight into what real life outside school is after one graduates. This experience definitely helped me expand my network and make so many new connections.

Overall, today wasn’t a day full of sustainability, but it was very rewarding in many ways. And, as more days go on, the impact and importance of bicycles in the city of Amsterdam doesn’t go dismissed. It is incredible how many of these there are!