My first two days in the Netherlands have been very exciting and filled with experiences I’ve never had in the U.S. After a long journey from the states, we finally arrived in the Netherlands and a few hours later took a canal tour! Despite being exhausted, it was a very beautiful tour that gave an introduction to the stunning architecture and scenery. Something that we noticed on the canal tour was that some of the houses were leaning forward. We later learned that this is due to the wood foundations deteriorating. A bit of a culture shock I’ve had so far but also loved are the tiny cars! Before this trip, I’d never looked at a car and thought it looked cute, but here we are.
Later in the day, we went to a local chocolate store, Cacao and Spice. While we here, we tasted chocolate and learned about the process they use to make it sustainable. We ended the day with a nice group dinner at a local restaurant.
The next day was a lot more relaxed and gave us a lot more free time to explore on our own. First, we went on a scavenger hunt that took us through central Amsterdam Centraal. After finishing, we got lunch at an onigiri place, then went to Foam, which was a really cool photography museum. My favorite parts of it were the Martin Parr section, which consisted of hyper-real and highly saturated photos of the 90’s, as well as the deeply evocative War is Personal exhibit. Afterwards, we went shopping for plushies and I got a few Miffys that were really cute and awesome. We also got stroopwafels and will definitely be back for more. Our next stop was House of Denim, a denim store that had lots of cool jeans and other denim products. They explained the process that goes into making the jeans and the denim itself. The typical process of making denim uses a substantial amount of water in order to cultivate the cotton and throughout the washing and dyeing cycle. In House of Denim, however, they reuse cotton from old jeans and hospital textiles. This significantly reduces the water usage in making jeans. We ended the day with a tasty Surinamese dinner then headed back to the hotel.
Overall, my first few days in the Netherlands have been a blast and I can’t wait for the rest of the trip!
