#IAmsterdam

Whenever someone mentions Amsterdam, do you picture the common image of a person standing next to a bike on a bridge in front of a canal? Well, I recently went to Amsterdam to see what the beautiful city offered.

Originally founded in the 12th century as a fishing village, Amsterdam got its name from the Amstel River. Amsterdam has 165 canals in total, which is about 100 kilometers or 60 miles of waterways that circle the city. These canals were originally built to transport soil, goods and people. Today, many tourists take boat rides in the canal to view the greenery and the beautiful architecture alongside the waterways. In addition, Amsterdam is famous for its cycling attraction, hence the number of pictures with bikes in the background. Interestingly, there are around 25,000 bikes that end up in the canals each year.

Amsterdam is a pretty small city, and most of the main sites are walking distance. We visited the "I Amsterdam" sign and walked around the Van Gogh museum. As for food, we first stopped at a shop to try the well-known fries and truffle mayonnaise. We also tried ice cream from a famous shop called Van der Linde (highly recommend). For dinner, we ate at a cute Mexican restaurant called La Margarita (which we saw when we were on our boat tour).

The main reason for our Amsterdam trip, however, was the Amsterdam Music Festival. We got to listen to famous DJ's, including Martin Garrix, and danced all night with our friends. We also met up with a lot of other Stern students from other NYU sites! It was a very exciting experience, but I do recommend going with a group of friends for safety reasons.

The highlight of our trip, I would say, was the boat ride we took in the canals. It was a nice escape from the Stern stress and a great bonding experience with my friends. Overall, Amsterdam treated us well and I look forward to visiting the city again!

-Ji Eun Hong