Graney- Week 8 in Europe « Management in a Global, Societal and Cultural Context

Wow, so this is the end of the program already. It is so cliche to say how fast time went but it truly does not feel like I have spent nearly 2 months in Europe. My 8th week brought with it even more memories that I know I will cherish and I am not ready to head back to the States, even if it will only be for roughly 5 months.

After finishing up all of the promotional material for GreenAer’s family bike event, I headed back to UCD to grab my bags, meet up with Tyler, and head to the airport. We were on our way to Amsterdam, somewhere I never envisioned myself visiting before this program. We were lucky to have barely been affected by the global outage and our flight left only an hour after scheduled. This gave us both time to wrap up our papers for Professor Wilck’s class and submit them so we wouldn’t have to worry about them during our weekend away.

Navigating the Amsterdam airport was a very fun and interesting challenge. For the first time in my life, I was in a country without any supervision, trying to decipher a foreign language. While it took some time to find the right direction, Tyler and I successfully made it through customs, grabbed our luggage, and bought train tickets to Central Station. Once our train made it to our destination, we quickly realized how unique the city was from any other we had ever been to before. It was somewhat scary seeing all of the bikers traveling at high speeds across crosswalks and we quickly made sure we were always looking out for cyclists. We were able to get to our hotel and check in relatively quickly, letting us explore the city at night briefly. We grabbed frites and walked around Dam Square and the national monument before heading back to the hotel to call it a night.

Saturday morning we had an open schedule and decided to explore more than the night before. We walked about 4 and a half miles down different streets, seeing different landmarks like the Anne Frank house and Rembrantplein. It was nearly 90 degrees out so we also made sure to duck into some places for some drinks and to escape the sun. We ultimately tired ourselves out and went back to the hotel to recharge briefly. We then went to find some lunch and enjoyed a fancier lunch out.

After our lunch, we spent a little more time walking before heading to the ferry to cross the river. Our first planned excursion was the Pannenkoekenboot, a boat ride along the Amstel River with all-you-can-eat pancakes. We met with a handful of other Bucknell people and enjoyed the sunset cruise, company, and of course the pancakes. Afterwards, we all went our separate ways but Tyler, Cole, and I went to a bar and tried authentic Dutch Heineken.

Sunday morning Tyler and I got up early and headed to our second planned activity: an e-bike tour of the countryside. This was one of my favorite things I did all summer. On the tour, we saw a handful of historic sites including one of Amsterdam’s oldest windmills, a historic church, and a traditional cheese farm. The standouts were the 16th-century windmill and the cheese farm where I ensured I thoroughly tested each type of cheese to find the best ones (they were the truffle, smoked cow, and the aged sheep in my opinion). Our tour guide also gave us some interesting facts about Amsterdam’s history such as why the architecture is the way it is. The rich Dutch citizens often built separate tea houses for special occasions which are still present in many of the countryside houses we went past and we learned that all of the houses have chimneys not for ventilation but to keep witches out. In total, we cycled more than 20 miles, very thankful for the bikes’ motors that made the experience far easier.

After grabbing a quick bit to eat, we met up with half of the Bucknell people we hadn’t seen the night before at the Heineken experience. While I prefer Guinness as a drink, I enjoyed the Heineken experience more than its Irish counterpart. I liked walking through the early history that showed the brand’s identity and history as well as the examples of all of the different bottles. I felt that the experience’s mix of information given by live presenters and supplemental exhibits was a nice combination that allowed me to learn as much as I wanted walking through. One of the coolest parts of the experience is their digital rooms that demonstrate how a Hiniken is made from start to finish. Afterward, we were dropped off in a bar serving only Heineken and made our way to the rooftop bar. Here they had additional options to customize your beer with different flavored foams that reminded me of a Coke Freestyle machine. I tried the pineapple guava foam and it was very tasty. We hung out there for about an hour and then all of the guys went and got Chinese food for dinner. Tyler and I walked back to our hotel but went back out for some dessert churros later in the night.

Monday started with another one of my favorite activities, a cheese and wine boat cruise through the different canals. While the cheese was still very good, it did not compare to the cheese we had eaten at the farm the day before. We enjoyed the sightseeing, taking tons of photos, and learning more about Amsterdam’s history. It was another great experience I highly recommend to anyone visiting Amsterdam. After the cruise, we grabbed lunch and decided what to do with the rest of our day. We had about 5 hours until we had to head to the train station so we decided to go to the Amsterdam lookout. The weather was a perfect 70 degrees and sunny, allowing us to hang out there enjoying the sunlight for over an hour. We then tried to find a cool souvenir shop for me to get a sweatshirt but failed in our quest as all of the designs I liked were sold out in my size. We then grabbed our bags from the hotel, went to the train station, and flew back to Ireland.

This weekend away has me incredibly excited for the spring semester when I plan to study abroad in France. I was somewhat lost when talking with my internship coworkers when they told me they would often take short “holidays” to other countries when they had time to vacation. Still, this weekend made me realize how easy it is to do and how enjoyable it can be to take short trips. I hope to do more of these in France although I am excited to immerse myself in the language and culture there. I never would have envisioned myself living in Europe as an adult but this trip has opened my eyes to the option should it present itself. I will try and get an Irish passport and wish I had done so before this trip, or even earlier in my life.

While the program is closing and most people are leaving, I am looking forward to what my next two weeks have in store. My favorite parts of the trip have been traveling around and sightseeing and having my family come over to experience many of the sites I have is very exciting to me. It will be nice to take some time vacationing with few responsibilities other than checking my email daily. Afterward, I think it will be nice to see my friends for a few days before the fall semester gets underway. While it was incredibly difficult to leave home and everyone after the way my summer started, I am so thankful I chose to still come and am equally thankful for the support they all gave me to come. Some of the best moments of my life have come from this trip and I am so thankful that I had the opportunity to come do this program.