Plastic Whale and Thrifting

Today is the 15th day of the trip (6th day in Amsterdam). We had an early breakfast and left the hostel by 9. We arrived at plastic whale (an organization that is dedicated to cleaning the canals of Netherland), where we were split into three boats/teams. Each boat was tasked to pick up as much plastic as possible and to create a story with what they called special objects (i.e. suitcases and raincoats). In the end the red boat, with Sophie’s amazing narrating, won the story telling contest while the pink boat barely scrapped through the red boat to win the most trash picked up. Below is a picture of the group and all the trash that we were able to pick up.

Next up was lunch. We had the freedom of choosing our own lunch, so we divided into groups based on what we wanted. My group went to a bakery where we ate muffins, croissants, sandwiches. Other groups went out to get burgers and other food. The afternoon activity of the day was thrift shopping, where we went looking for clothes at an outdoor market. We had free time soon after. During this time many of us went to a big market that we went to on Friday and looked at the many things they were selling. The group I was in got Boba tea, and got food at a Japanese stand. We also looked at clothing, pottery, and rings.

Dinner was chicken skewers and rice, which we ate at the hostel. We also celebrated Alex’s birthday (which was yesterday) with a cake. After we winded down to rest. Some of us played pool and got hit by a pool ball that Dion shot (Shiv), some of us went to a tower nearby that overlooked Amsterdam, and some of us did their laundry. Today was a great day as other than the morning we were able to go at our own pace and enjoy being in Amsterdam while thinking about sustainability. Everyone’s looking forward to the last 3 days in Amsterdam and are ready for the final stretch of the trip. by Hakuto Higuchi