Our last day in Amsterdam was an emotional one. Not only were we leaving a beautiful city the next day but we were going to see the Anne Frank museum. We started the day going to seeing the city and the Jewish district. It was cool but heartbreaking to see these little stones that were placed out side peoples houses in memory of the people that had died in holocaust camps.

Another thing we went to do is see an old and very traditional synagogue which was beautiful. It was really cool to walk through with the headset. It felt like we were apart of the synagogue because we were interacting in it to listen to the facts. I found it intresting to learn about the rolls of the woman. One section of the synagogue there was a bath tub and we learned that while a woman was on her period she was not allowed to go near her husband because she was seen as unclean. After her period was over she had to take a bath in that tub and be checked before she could see her husband again. I found that to be really intense but interesting.

My favorite part of the day was walking through the Anne Frank Museum. Julie and I walked through it by ourselves and it was very emotional. We took out time and read every card and every wall piece there was to read. I remember at one point Julie turned to me and just shook her head. We couldn’t even imagine the situation the family was in and I am so impressed how strong they are.

I am going to miss Europe a lot I am so impressed with how much I learned. Also this was one of the best “grilled cheeses” ever and its kosher.

I had such an interesting time at the Rijks museum today. Other than the museum with the cool flower art hanging on the ceiling this was my favorite museum.The building itself was extraordinary. The detail on the walls was art in its self. We only had time to see a few paintings in the museum with the tour guide and then we got to Explore the rest of the art by ourselves.

Julian, Julie and I really enjoyed trying to figure out what the artist was telling us through the painting with out looking at the title. While we couldn’t read the title card any way because of the language barrier our concepts were really close sometimes and sometimes very far off when we would ask someone for the real meaning.

My favorite painting in the museum that day was The Fall of Man by Cornelis Cornelisz. van Haarlem. I liked this painting because of the lines he made with Adam and Eve’s bodies. Most people do not stand like that and I thought the curves were so interesting Julian and I recreated it.

After we left the Rijks Museum we went to look through the Van Gough museum which was if not my favorite, second favorite tour. Although the tour was quite depressing because Vincient was a depressed man I loved it. Overall it was a fun day.

Since my roommate Julie and I stayed up a little late we both had a rushed morning getting ready for the day. Once we had breakfast and chased after the group we got to see a cool basement, that the hotel converted into a line. Lillian’s friend Christine shared and went over her beautiful country Belgium. While I learned a lot one of my favorite things she said was that just about 10 years ago Halloween started here. That is such an insane thought to be because Halloween has always been apart of our culture for as long as I can think back to so it’s funny it just got to Belgium.

After that Julie and I waited for lunch. Today we were going to a famous Waffle place called Max. I got to taste very interesting fruit and one made my tongue go numb. After a lovely lunch Julian wanted to go shopping. Unfortunately it was a cold and rainy day and a lot of people were out shopping so it wasn’t very enjoyable. We did get to see a lot of European shops which was cold. We then walked back to the hotel and Julian, Julia and I went passed out for three hours on one hotel bed.

Once we all woke up we got ready for a night out on the town. We all got dressed up and went to the Christmas festival going on right outside our hotel. We hit up the food stands and I got a cheese burger and a waffle. The food at the those stands were the best food I have had on the trip. We were thirsty so everyone went to Starbucks to warm up and then head to the Ferris Wheel. We were the only one on the whole wheel and they let us ride around about four times. I had a blast even though Julian, Stella and Julie tried to rock the cart and give me a heart attack. That night was one of my favorite nights in Gent.

Throughout the entire day of touring Gent I was trying to decipher what stood out the most to me. First our tour guide was so amazing she kinda reminded me of my grandmother which was awesome because I have been missing home. It was nice to have a little reminder of home miles away. While I was enjoying the scenery of the city I was happy that we weren’t all that far from the hotel. We learned that Gent’s architecture is slightly schizophrenic (words from our tour guide) and so I thought I wanted to write about that. This city used multiple styles and centuries to create one building but then we went to lunch. I always have the best time at lunch because we are all finally warm and at that point of the day my classmates and I are very hungry. Amazingly we tried cuisine that I had never experienced and it was so tasty. So obviously I thought that was the favorite part of my day. After lunch we went to two museums. The first one, attitudes were low. Everyone was tired and full from the lunch and scooted chairs around the museums lazily. After that experience a lot of us did not think that the second museum would be any good. Boy were we wrong.

The first thing we did in the museum was look at some paintings of baby Jesus. I always loved depictions of the bible thinking its amazing how peoples imaginations soared while reading the bible but this paintings made me mad. I found it interesting that the artist depicted everyone as white knowing that the bible takes place in Jerusalem, where everyone is browner skin. The artist also shows Jesus being worshiped in all of his paintings which isn’t an accurate representation of events at all. Everyone that has read the bible knows that Jesus wasn’t worshiped and no one even liked him until after his resurrection. So while I think imagination is important I think if you are depicting historical events you shouldn’t be able to make up you’re own facts.

After Seeing those paintings we went and saw the piece of the Ghent Altarpiece panels that were being restored. While looking at these piece up close I wondered why Van Ike depicted the people the way they did. Eve has a rounded bottom stomach but the rest of her body is slender. We learned that was a style of the time it was ideal for women to have smaller boobs and a rounded mid section. I think that human ideas of fashion are wierd and random. At this point of my post you are probably thinking why is Sydni complaining about her favorite place so much but the reason it was my favorite place is because my thoughts and views were challenged and I loved that. After that we explored some more rooms and then hung out in a very creative room full of art. Overall that was my favorite part of the day. I kinda didn’t wanna leave.

Before we even started the tour through the city we noticed a difference from Ghent to Bruges. This place was out of a history book and was almost as if it didn’t change. There was only cobble stones all as the roads and as we walked down the streets we heard the sounds of hooves clacking in the background. What I realized I really loved about this beautiful city is how much they hold on to their history and culture. In America we do our best to keep modernizing and our country but here there is pride in the city they belong to.

Some thing that stood out to me is that a lot of the buildings were made to have pictures and symbols out front so people knew where they were going even if they couldn’t read the name listed on the building. It seemed like the builders of these historic landmarks wanted the people of Bruges to prosper. Even the bells rang and played songs so you knew when to go to work. My favorite building in the square where this bell stood was built in many stages the first level built in the 14th century the second level in the 15th and the third in the 15th. Not only did this building show the technology growing but also the style. This building that still hold the most history get the most money. Money was very important in that time. Even some of the buildings were made out of gold on the outside.

Overall, I was exhausted after walking around this beautiful city but I learned a lot and I wish America had more cites like that.

The fall of Icarus has always been a favorite story of mine. Its a life lesson of sometimes soaring to high can make you crash and burn. So I was excited to explore this piece of art.

As we walked into the art museum we were instantly confronted with this huge space. I remember going through security walking past the main desk and then your in this room. You feel tiny compared to the ceiling that seem to extend forever and the walls themselves stretching up with it. At this point in the trip I wasn’t so much exhausted as my feet hurt. So I decided to sit on the couch for as long as I could. I later would regret this because when I finally decided to have a look around I felt rushed to see all the wonderful pieces.

Anyways once we were all checked in Lilian assigned us a piece of art and we were supposed to observe it. Like I mentioned before my feet were tired so I tried to find my piece as quickly as possible. I went to Bruegel section, my artist name, and searched for my painting. When you think of a painting such as The Fall of Icarus one would assume that majority of the painting would contain Icarus himself, or at-least that is what I thought. I was wrong and once I found an attendant to point out the painting to me I was shocked. Icarus was this tiny little piece of the painting all you could see of him was his feet hanging out of the water.

The piece itself made me feel kinda sad. I felt like it stood as a reminder that the world does not care about you. The painting is not at all inviting where some portraits you feel as if you can just jump in the painting. No this one had all the characters backs facing the observer. Even the fisherman sitting right by Icarus sinking body doesn’t seem bothered as if to say the world will keep spinning without you. I also felt that when Vicky pointed out the mans skull in the plowed fields just left there to waste any. I also noticed that there wasn’t that much detail put in the painting but I think it adds to the idea of being unbothered.

Even though I was tired I really enjoyed going into paintings more en-depth.

Hello, everyone my name is Sydni Fields and I am a freshman at Appalachian state planning on studying Communications as a major. This major will then take me to my dream, of creating a way to communicate and express the efforts of people from third world countries who are making their communities betters, to the world. I love traveling and as a kid I started out traveling though the states. As I have gotten older I have traveled to the Dominican Republic and the Bahamas. In the Dominican Republic my school helped build a community center for some of the locals. The Bahamas trip was a family vacation. So this trip will be a new experience and very educational. Before the trip we prepared for learning about artworks that were stolen during the war. The work of art that I researched is called the Madonna under the fir tree painted by Lucas Cranach the Elder. I made a documentary about the work of art and can be viewed here.(https://youtu.be/BtZa1sATrsQ) I am most excited about seeing the architecture on the buildings. I know that some buildings were destroyed during the war so if they are rebuilt they will have a more modern touch but also some older buildings still stand thanks to the Monuments Men. Being able to see the history of the buildings is exciting to me. I am really excited to go to Netherlands and Belgium because it will be a new culture for me. I have been to the islands and I have seen Americas views on life so I am interested to see the different ways of living. I am also excited for the canal ride because I have never been in a canal and the different form of transportation is cool. Lastly, I am interested to try the cuisine over there. I am a picky eater but I have an open mind and will try anything at least once. Overall though, I didn’t make an expectations of the trip because I want to look at these countries with fresh eyes and fully experience the trip for what it is.