Urban Farm and the Anne Frank House

Today we had our first big test on the bikes and went from the hostel on a 45 minute bike ride through the city center and much of the inner city to a city garden. This was a community garden in the middle of many apartment flats and other buildings, built kind of smack dab in the middle. The goal was to induce community by making a space for people to gather and eat, talk, and farm. We talked with Martin, the man who started the project, and he gave us an overview of the goals and ideas of the farm. Next we talked with a professor named David about the commons and social movement. As small groups we worked through some social commons problems. For example my group worked on the problem that many of our lakes are no longer usable, another group looked at common spaces within the school back home. And we proposed a solution that didn't require a governing body, it was a social movement by the people for the people. Our solution for the lakes was to popularize bee lawns and more sustainable, less fertilizer hungry plants in our lawns. Then we had some free time, I took an amazing nap, and gathered as a group for dinner at the hostel. After the meal we headed over to the Anne Frank museum by foot and walked through this amazing display of her experience of the Holocaust. We walked room by room scanning our personal audio tour devices and listened to the presentation. At the end the real diaries were on display. Finally we gathered for a final trek to the hostel for an end of day meeting and some free time, which is when I am writing this. Looking forward to another great day tomorrow! by Bennett V