We woke up early for breakfast on the 7th before heading out to seemingly the only restaurant on on our side of the harbor, Kantine. We had a lecture from Rene in their upstairs meeting room where we learned about the Dutch education system and an overview of Dutch culture. The piece of information that stuck out the most to me from the lecture was the weight placed on the CITO test that students take after their eighth grade year. It essentially determines their future for the rest of their academic lives at a young age. While the American SAT is very important, it is merely a chunk of the whole picture, not 90 percent.
After the lecture, we went downstairs for lunch and I did my best to finish off all of the smoked salmon sandwiches at Kantine.
We left for the ferry to take us to Central Station and eventually the Anne Frank House. While the museum was not big in size, it had an enormous impact on me because I am the grandson of two holocaust survivors. You could read the words from Anne's journal and physically see the bookcase that she was referring to or the room she was in. It took us about an hour to walk through and I am really glad I went; if I didn't, I would have regretted it.
That night, the whole group, all 15 of us, did some exploring. We covered what seemed like all of Amsterdam even though it clearly was not. We successfully navigated the bus system and found a few good places to consume a moderate amount of 18 and over adult beverages. Don't worry Nana, it is legal here.
We made the last boat back to the Botel but we had to sprint at one point to get there. Once again, we had an early morning ahead of us.
No comments:
Post a Comment