Saturday - our final day

Today we wrapped up our life-changing trip to the Netherlands. We woke-up early in The Hague and traveled to the train station to catch our train to Amsterdam.  We said our final goodbyes to a city where countless memories have occurred. We filled an entire car of the train 50% people and 50% luggage. 

We arrived in Amsterdam to clear skies. We saw the hustle and bustle of the legendary streets.  As we observed our surroundings we soon realized that we were not in The Hague anymore. Instead, we were in a beautiful city, which was once the wealthiest city in the world.

 We came to Amsterdam and checked into out rooms. The girls ended up getting a fabulous deluxe room. We then quickly put our stuff down and meet our tour guide, Gerk. He showed the true history of Amsterdam including the luxurious townhouses that belonged to the nobility in Amsterdam.  One of these houses happened to be the house of John Adams when he came to the Netherlands looking for sponsors for the American Revolution. We then visited Catholic quarters which were specifically built for women. We also stopped at the headquarters of the VOC (Dutch East India Company), the world’s first multinational corporation, and learned about its history.   We went to lunch and had pancakes, which were delicious!  We then ended our tour and went shopping.  We visited some souvenir shops and got stuff for all of our loved ones.

After coming back from shopping we went to the Anne Frank Museum. Anne Frank was a Jewish girl originally from Germany whose parents migrated to the Netherlands in 1933 in hopes of escaping Nazi persecution.  Anne died at Bergen-Belsen concentration camp during the Holocaust, She became a famous author when her father, the only surviving family member, published her diaries so the world could see what life was like for her while trying to hide from the Nazis after they invaded the Netherlands.  We visited her house where her family hid from German soldiers for 2 years.  It was a moving experience.

We then went to the dinner and got some words of wisdom from the seniors. All in all, this was a great ending to our trip. We have made life-long bonds with people all over the world; we have witnessed history, and have grown as people on this trip. The Netherlands has truly been a trip that we will never forget.

Ashlyn Coleman