Last Day in The Netherlands

Last day

Intro

Saturday, May 25, 2024, was our last full day in The Netherlands. This day was a free day, so I went on one final tour, hung out with the ladies, and went on one last group dinner. This day was for us to do anything we wanted to do and enjoy one last day in the culture and in the city. Some girls spent the morning sleeping in, some girls rode the tram to the middle of the city and shopped, and people just concluded with whatever they wanted to do. 

What I did

On my last day, I woke up and went on a Heinekin tour with an alumni of Southern Illinois University Edwardsville that was on the trip with us and the professor. We went through a Heineken building and learned how they made the beer and learned about what things Heineken sponsored. My two favorite parts of the tour were the 4D experience and the connections Heineken has with formula one. The 4D experience was when we went into these rooms and we were “brewed” like the Heineken beer. All walls and floors were lit up and showed what it was like to go through the process of making, shipping, and selling Heineken beer. My second favorite part of the tour was learning about Heinekins connections with formula one. I got into formula one in high school, so it was cool to see a formula one car and learn more about the deals and advertisements with Heineken. After going to the Heineken tour I went back to the hostel and hung out with all the girls until our last group dinner. We ate at an Indonesian restaurant. Indonesian food is very popular in The Netherlands because The Netherlands colonized Indonesia for hundreds of years. The food at the restaurant was good, however, I would never go out of my way to eat it again. My favorite thing was the cooked plantain. It was nice to have a final dinner with everyone. Although I was exhausted, after dinner a few of us went shopping for last minute souvenirs.The last thing we did was all hang out in one room together and talk about the trip and eat snacks and reflect on the things we did. 

Leaving The Netherlands

The next morning we woke up, ate breakfast, packed, and headed to the airport. The airport was very big, but it was pretty easy to navigate. We ran into a few difficulties when we got to the airport. The first being that some of the girls' bags were too heavy, so they either had to pay extra or unload some of their things. Then, at security some of the girls' bags had to be checked so a few of us stayed behind to make sure everyone got through security. It was nerve wracking being in a foreign country and trying to figure out the airport, but we eventually found everyone and everything worked out. That is one thing that I had to learn on the trip, the ability to navigate new places like the tram, the train, the metro, walking the streets of a foreign city, and I had to learn how to navigate many other things and places. I was taking a different flight than everyone else since I was going to Nebraska, so I was at a different gate. After finding my gate, I was able to say goodbye to everyone and take a picture with my Uncle. I then flew to Minneapolis and then back to Nebraska.

Conclusion

This day was kind of bittersweet. Although I loved being there, I was ready to go home. I could've stayed longer, but I was glad to go home to my own bed. I started the trip nervous to go to another country with a bunch of girls I didn’t know and I left with a wonderful experience with a bunch of new friends.