Amsterdam

Today was our last full day and we spent it in Amsterdam, which was a great way to end a remarkable trip. First, we went to a cheese farm where they made their own cheese from scratch, and they also made handmade wooden shoes known as clogs. The farmer that made the shoes informed us that he was the one of three farmers that still makes and hand designs clogs in The Netherlands. He demonstrated the process of making the shoes, and we tried different flavors of their homemade cheese ranging from plain to mustard to garlic. Yummy! They had a gift shop on the farm and many of my fellow students bought cheese to take back home to their families. For anyone that bought the wooden garden shoes, the farmer was willing to design the person's name into them. We all found that to be pretty cool, and many of us couldn’t pass up the chance to get a pair for ourselves or as a gift for family or friends.

After the cheese farm we went on a canal tour, which, from the touring perspective, was my personal favorite part of the trip. We traveled through the canals that wind through Amsterdam, sat at tables and listened to an audio-recorded tour. We passed different sites like the Anne Frank house and canal houses. We also learned a lot of historical information; originally, canal houses were inhabited by Bohemian immigrants, but now canal living is of popular demand among many Amsterdam residents. Another piece of historical information that I thought was interesting was in relation to the extremely narrow houses in the city. The tour guide explained that some of the houses were narrow because many years ago citizens were taxed based on how wide their houses were; so many people preferred a narrower house, seeing as how it was cheaper living. After the canal tour we visited the Anne Frank house, which was unforgettable visit. My take-away from this trip was that many people think that they know the story of Anne Frank, including me, but the visit to this museum made me so much more knowledgeable on the story of Anne Frank. Getting the chance to see some pages of her actual diary and other historical documents was a unique experience to say the least.

For our last night away, we stayed in a nice hotel in Amsterdam. After the Anne Frank house, we went to our new hotel to relax or do some shopping; our hotel was right next to a flower market, a mall, and a lot of other shops. Many people went out and experienced the busy streets of Amsterdam. We concluded that the difference from Amsterdam to The Hague was like the difference of New York and DC. We had a few hours to do this and then we went to our last sit down dinner together. Mrs. Vardi had a planned menu, as she wanted us to have a complete Dutch meal before we left. The meal was great, but I think everyone was sad because they knew that the trip was coming to a close.

We had debrief once we got back to our hotel; we sat around tables and everyone went around and gave a personal highlight from the trip and something they learned about another Bullis student that they didn’t know before. After this talk, we realized that this trip has brought us so much closer than we were when we left, and that we knew so much more about each other. People were actually open to sharing things that I don’t think they would’ve done when we first left for The Hague. Joey and John made sure to give a special thank you to the incredible teachers that brought us on this trip. We all imagine that it’s not easy to basically be parents to 16 teenagers in an entirely different country. We also knew that all three teachers had families at home, and we were sure that they missed them a lot, but we were thankful that they were willing to take time away from their families and make this trip possible. At the end of this talk I think I can speak for everyone when we realized that the trip was really over and we all got a little sad. While, yes, the trip was hard work and we missed some school, I don’t think that any of us would trade or give up this experience.

-Kyah