Today began with a very emotionally-charged morning, as we first visited the Anne Frank House. The museum provided us with an audio tour, guiding us through each room of the building in which Anne and her family hid from the Gestapo. I feel that the museum did an incredible job of showing us how the Jews lived during the Third Reich, as crawling into the annex, hearing the creaky floors, and hearing the broken voices of the brave survivors through the audio device all added to the immersion. I have read some parts of Anne’s diary before, but actually being in the building and traversing the secret annex truly created a moving experience. No photos were allowed inside, so a (very blurry) photo of the outside facade can be seen below.
We had some free time after leaving the Anne Frank House, so some of us decided to wander the city streets, shop, and grab a bite. We ended up at an Indonesian place, and I got a tasty rice bowl containing chicken skewers, (incredible) peanut sauce, and tomato salad. Shortly after, we revisited Cacao and Spice, the chocolate store from Day 2, and were happily greeted by Ian’s wife. She offered us a sample of a fudgy white chocolate, and I just knew I had to buy it (I walked out with more than just that, of course).
After visiting Cacao and Spice once more, we beelined towards the Van Gogh Museum, as we had purchased tickets in advance. Throughout the museum were hundreds of original paintings by Van Gogh and other well-known painters, such as Paul Gauguin, Edouard Vuillard, and Utagawa Hiroshige. My favorite room in the museum was on the ground floor, filled from wall to wall with self-portraits of Van Gogh. After making it through the permanent exhibitions, we checked out the temporary exhibitions; I was simply amazed by how large some of the art in this section was, and wondered just how they got them into the room. Seriously, some paintings were larger than any entryway, no matter how you could turn and contort it, not to mention above the ground floor.
Once we left the Van Gogh Museum, we took the tram back to the hotel and prepared for the alumni dinner. At the dinner, the food was great (the barbecue chicken was my favorite), and I had a good time talking to the alumni. I appreciated the opportunity to meet some of the alumni, learn of their individual experiences, and how exactly they ended up where they are in life today. I find the idea of working abroad very attractive, and would move to Amsterdam as soon as possible if given the opportunity. After dinner, we went to the hotel to pack our bags, as we were leaving first thing the following morning. While I will miss Amsterdam, I am incredibly excited to see what Rotterdam has in store for the coming week.