Nieuwe Beginnen in Amsterdam!

Week One in Amsterdam

By: Diana Rodriguez

I honestly don't know where to begin. As someone who has never previously travelled abroad before, this week has been so busy and enriching that I cannot believe it is already over. There are so many things I have experienced so far during my stay in Amsterdam. To begin, navigating the city at first was definitely a very confusing skill to obtain at first. I did not expect there to be as many people using bikes, and it felt unreal to me at first that I saw more cyclists and pedestrians than actual drivers. The architecture of the city is so visually appealing to me that I found myself analyzing every building that I walked by. There were so many details everywhere, and it felt like I was walking through an amusement park because I could not believe that people just reside in these beautiful buildings and that it was part of their normal experience living in Amsterdam. 

As for my classes, I loved the first few assignments for my urban design class. Since I want to become an urban designer in the future, it was fun to learn how to create a figure-ground drawing, which is a layout of a city that uses color contrast to differentiate buildings and open spaces. The city I chose was Venice, Italy, and creating my drawing in particular was a pretty long process because the city is very dense with small buildings, roads, and tight spaces, similar to what I have seen so far in deeper parts of Amsterdam. I would say that making the drawing itself was very therapeutic, as it was not so difficult, and I loved how I got to practice paying attention to detail and making sure that the drawing was as precise as possible.  

Going to the museums was a really interesting experience. This past Wednesday, my class paid a visit to the Rijksmuseum, where the famous painting, "The Milkmaid", was found. We went on a tour during our time there, where we learned about the building's architecture as well as some of the paintings and sculptures found within the exhibition. One of my favorite paintings that our tour guide talked about was "Jolly Toper" by Judith Leyster, because it showed much human expression and liveliness that caught my eye in a sea of still-life and serious-looking paintings. Another assignment we had for our urban design class was to sketch a piece from the museum and write about it, so I chose this painting in particular since looking at it made me feel cheerful on the inside.

Lastly, instead of there being classes as normal on Thursday, I went on this excursion in Amsterdam with my class to observe the city. We did many things, from taking numerous modes of public transportation to observing the built environment and the way it influences movement throughout the city. I got to explore different parts of the city, and just when I did not think that Amsterdam could get any more beautiful, it did. And despite the busy movement in all these areas we visited, I felt calm and at peace the entire time. 

This week has definitely been a changing point in my life, and I cannot wait to see what things are in store for the next four weeks in Amsterdam!

Sincerely,

Diana Rodriguez