Initially it was planned that the internship in Amsterdam would take place in April in the middle of spring. I was excited to come in the spring to enjoy the tulip fields and sunny bike rides along the canals.
Then miss Corona moved in and the trip was cancelled. You have to imagine my disappointment. Finally during the summer I received confirmation that the internship was maintained and that we would be leaving from September to December, I was relieved but filled with apprehension. Things were really coming together, my suitcases were packed and I was ready for this new adventure.
Amsterdam has always been part of my travels to do because I've heard nothing but good things about it.
We arrived on September 20th and then we were confined for ten days, we were far from imagining that these days were the most precious of the stay and that unfortunately they were wasted. The weather was still nice, everything was still open, our group occupied a hotel alone in a modest and varied district, everything was close by and so we immediately took our marks, we had good moments together, with our group it was immediately well hooked, we will not forget this experience because things happened. Finally we changed hotels to come to the inn in the city center.
The transition was weird at the beginning but once again we managed to adapt again, life there is very rhythmic. The positive point is that we are surrounded by different nationalities. When I overcame my shyness and started to talk with a few people I immediately discovered another aspect of this cohabitation, it has very nice people. We had evenings of meals, evenings of games and exchanges, it was very enriching, we did not necessarily understand each other well all the time but the essential is that we armed ourselves with patience, we really listened to each other and we put some of our own in order to understand the other, quite to speak with body language and signs. That's why we came, to improve our English, to be more comfortable with the practice.
Amsterdam is a nice city to live in, I was pleasantly surprised to see the kindness of the locals apart from their impulsiveness towards cycling and the beauty of the architecture.
Concerning daily life, racing was an Olympic event because it is usually written in Dutch, so it had to be translated into English and then into French. Concerning the weather, at the beginning it was quiet but then it got more and more complicated, the cold here is the hardest I've known so far. I was able to do some activities before the rules got harder such as swinging, trips on a small boat on the canal, visiting the mills in Zaandam, etc..
Culturally speaking it is a very enriching city. Besides, at the museum we had the chance to attend and participate in the projects of two artists, Alaniz (Argentina) and Kenor (Spain) whose work amazed me. Two artists with completely different techniques, with Alaniz we painted on a wall for the Food4Smiles project while Kenor painted with bomb shapes on a wooden wall. I liked both experiences and I thank the street art museum Amsterdam for that.
To conclude, although I think that it was not necessarily the best time to come, I will keep a positive memory thanks to the nice friendly meetings I had here.
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