After finishing my first day in Amsterdam, I’ve noticed a lot of differences the city has with Paris. One of the first being when I was looking at a map of Amsterdam this morning. The streets curve more and the blocks of buildings are trapezoid shaped. There’s a lot more water and shorter bridges. Also, their public transportation was much different. In Amsterdam, there is only a tram system and a bus system. There is no metro. The tram system is entirely above ground. The trams have fewer cars and smaller cars overall with less seats, and they’re also much less crowded. Bikes are extremely popular here, so there has been a bike lane beside every driving lane I’ve seen so far. The majority of the Dutch style buildings are built out of brick or have brick cladding, as opposed to the stone French buildings in Paris. Something I’ve noticed with the Dutch buildings is that there is at least one building in almost every row of houses that is slanting in some way. It’s usually a house in the middle of a row. I’ve seen some buildings with the false front facing is leaning towards the street. I’ve seen other buildings with belt courses that droop towards the ground on one side. My guess has been that it’s because these buildings are made out of bricks with mortar that could be pliable unlike the solid stone that French buildings are made of. The museums and attractions differ here as well. In Paris, there is a lot of art museums such as the Louvre and the Musée d'Orsay. In Amsterdam, there are more modern museums like the Ripley’s Museum and the Madame Lussaud’s Museum. I’m spending a lot less time in Amsterdam than I did in Paris, but so far it has been a really great feeling to be able to compare the historic preservation of two foreign cities using my personal experiences. It’s been such an amazing month learning about preservation abroad through in person experiences. It’s given me even more confirmation that I’ve chosen the right path for myself and that I really love what I’m studying and that I’ll still love it outside a classroom setting. I’m incredibly thankful of this program and my professor, I’ve had a truly unforgettable experience. I’m excited to keep traveling and to keep learning more about historic preservation.