Come With Me To The Netherlands:

Hi everyone!! It is officially the beginning of my tenth week studying abroad and I have been here for a full 2 months!! I only have seven weeks here left and every time I think about it, I get sad. I am excited to go back to my friends and family back home, but I am so saddened to leave behind the relationships that I have built with my host family and others. But, enough of the melancholy, let’s dive into some fun!!

As I mentioned in my previous blog posts, DIS provides you with two study tours that you attend with your core course class. The first tour is called your short study tour, where I went to Aarhus, Denmark for three days with my Cyberpsychology class. For our Long Study tour we visited Amsterdam, Netherlands for six days from October 8th – October 13th. Everyday was packed with activities and it was so much fun!!

On the first day we arrived, we had the opportunity to do a canal tour of the city, where I saw the beautiful architecture of the city. We also had a class lunch at this amazing restaurant where they served us a 3 course meal that was delicious (my favorite part was desert where we had cheesecake!!). Over the course of the week we attended some academic lectures about AI, how the internet began, and the influence of psychological factors on individuals’ interactions with misinformation. Some of my favorite highlights from our trip were visiting the Van Gogh museum and Anne Frank’s house; they were both very beautiful and moving, which is something I will never forget.

On Wednesday we also visited the Dutch countryside which was vastly different from the city of Amsterdam. We toured the towns of Volendam, Marken, and Zaanse Schans which were lovely. We even had the chance to dress up in traditional outfits that the people of Volendam used to wear and took a class photo together! Our professors wanted us to really dive in to the culture of the Dutch countryside and have a day away from technology, so we all had to leave our phones at the hotel for the day. But, fear not she also gave us a disposable camera so we could capture the memories that we made and I enjoyed not having my phone for the day and getting the chance to connect with my class and nature.

I also appreciated that our professors also gave us a lot of free time to have fun on our own with our classmates where I got to see how pretty Amsterdam is at night, visit the Red Light District or to grab some amazing Dutch apple pie from a local bakery. I had the chance to get to know my classmates and each time went out for a class meal, we weren’t allowed to use our phones, so I got to engage in conversation with my classmates more than I ever have before and it was lovely.

All in all, traveling to Amsterdam with my Cyberpsychology core class will remain as one of my highlights from studying abroad. This is a huge part of the reason why I chose DIS because no matter what core course you choose, you will be traveling to another country in Europe. I think is so epic because if you can’t travel on your own; you will have the chance to experience another country outside of Denmark during your time as a DIS student. Amsterdam was such a time and I will remember it forever!!