Today, like the day before, was quite eventful.  Early in the morning, we took a bus to Zaandijk Zaanse Schans.  There, we learned plenty of fun facts about Dutch History, such as windmills, cheese-making, and clog-making.  When it comes to windmills specifically, I learned about their significance in Dutch history as an early energy source.  They served to harness the wind to trivialize tasks such as chopping wood, enabling the Dutch navy to rival the British for a time.  This also made me think about the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal reflecting the use of clean energy, as it would seem that, based on these windmills, the Dutch have a long history of clean energy usage, and I wonder if that influenced their widespread adoption of wind and other sustainable energy sources today, something I could research.

Later, after our trip through Zaandijk Zaanse Schans, we boarded the bus to return to Amsterdam.  After that, we enjoyed some free time in Amsterdam before our next site visit.  The group I was with went to ramen before traveling to Waterloo Square for some shopping.  We then headed back to meet up with everyone else as we arrived at The Ann Frank House.  While there, we had the opportunity to learn about the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands, a very significant period in Dutch history.  It was an extremely insightful experience, and I felt like I learned a lot while there.

After a day full of activities, we returned to the hotel and changed for our Pitt Alumni dinner.  While there, we met some of the Pitt Alums who are currently living in Amsterdam, and I got to see what led them to work in the Netherlands.  After a few hours of chatting, I, along with most of the group, boarded the metro back to the hotel.  Overall, today was full of opportunities to learn a lot about the history of the Netherlands and to meet some wonderful Pitt alumni.