M3 Adventure in Amsterdam

It's been school trip season at H-Farm and many of the middle school pupils had the opportunity to visit some new places. The MYP1s had the opportunity to visit Sicily, the MYP 2s went to France but I was really interested to catch up with some of the MYP 3s as I have never been to Amsterdam but it's somewhere I would love to visit. I wanted to ask about what they enjoyed about the trip and what they would recommend to someone thinking of going. I caught up with Gaiaa, Athena and Leonardo to hear more about their experience.

So talk me through the trip - what did you guys do?

Gaia: The first day was really busy as we had to wake up at 2am to get ready as we were checking in at 4am for a 6am flight. When we arrived at Amsterdam, we left our luggage at the hotel and headed to a traditional Amsterdam village where there were lots of traditional houses and windmills. There were also lots of souvenir shops and we had some free time to go shopping. In the afternoon, we visited a place that made cheese and we got to try some of the cheeses which was fun. We also went to a music museum and there were a lot of cool things like the DJ sets where we could create songs. There were also a lot of masks from famous people like Marshmello and towards the end of the museum they threw us a party and all my classmates were dancing.

Athena: During the trip we visited lots of places which centred around the holocaust as that is something we have been studying in school, also Ann Frank and the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands. We went to the Dutch Resistance Museum and the Holocaust Museum which were incredibly interesting. We were unable to visit the Ann Frank museum though because you have to book months in advance. We also did a bike tour with a Canadian guy called Christian which was fun. I learned that Amsterdam is called Amsterdam because it was built on the river Amstel - it was really interesting.

Leonardo: We were meant to go on a bike ride but it got postponed till Friday so instead we visited a part of Amsterdam that had nice traditional houses and were able to go shopping. On Thursday we went to the Van Gogh museum in the morning and in the afternoon we did a scavenger hunt which was pretty cool but a little tiring. Then on Friday we went to visit the Johan Cruijff Arena which is the stadium of Amsterdam and in the afternoon we did the bike tour which I really liked.

What was your favourite part of the trip?

Gaia: Probably going to the zoo. I got to go to the zoo with two of my friends instead of doing the bike ride. I also liked the part where they let us go around the shops. There were a lot more shops than where I live in Italy. I also got to eat and see some things which are typical of the Netherlands which was really interesting.

Athena: There was this place called Tony's Chocolonely and they have their official store in Amsterdam where you can design your own chocolate bar. I designed a white chocolate cookie dough cream bar infused with 4 lots of cookie dough. I paid 5 euros which I think is pretty good value for a custom bar. They also had TK Maxx too but it was quite expensive. There are also lots of cheese tasting places and some of the cheeses are amazing. We went to one of the cheese factories and ate all the tasting cheese but didn't buy any because it was quite expensive.

Leonardo: My favourite day of the trip was the Friday, which was when we got to visit the stadium which was pretty cool but most especially the bike tour which was my favourite activity.

What was the main difference you found between Italy and Amsterdam?

Gaia: For sure there are a lot of things that are legal that are not legal here. For example, I saw a lot of people on the train that were under the influence of marijuana and I saw a protest in the park. The guy explained that if you have a flag and a good meaning like a good reason to be there that you can block the road and have the people protest about something.

Athena: There were a lot more international products and food that you could get. I found that there were lots of American products that you could get at good value compared to in Italy. I also found that their attitude to marijuana was much more relaxed than Italy.

What advice would you give to people thinking about travelling to Amsterdam? What would you recommend?

Gaia: I would say to watch out for people because on the train and in the cities we did see a lot of people who did not look okay and looked like they might be drunk or something. We also saw someone attacking a woman so I would say be prepared for these types of people and probably just be prepared to go to a souvenir shop and see marijuana on everything because it's legal there.

Athena: The main thing I would say is to pack light you don't need to overpack and bring a lot of money because it is an expensive city.

Leonardo: The best idea is to spend time going around Amsterdam because you will find lots of things to do. Amsterdam has a lot of unique and strange things. So I would suggest finding out about the various different things you can do rather than just visiting all the usual museums.

Would you visit Amsterdam again?

Leonardo: Yes but I would probably do things a little differently. Because some parts of the trip were a little boring.

Is there anything else you would like to say about your trip to Amsterdam?

Athena: I thought the food was incredibly interesting. You could get lots of traditional foods which were nice but you could also get lots of other foods from different places. For breakfast, we were able to eat things like hash browns and black pudding. The Asian food was amazing and they also had Korean, Vietnamese, and Japanese takeaways. I did find the food quite expensive though - For one lunch I ordered soup and it was 15 euros.