Solera Spagnuolo - Museumplein

Located near the center of Amsterdam is a square that offers its visitors art and history in chic style with all the charm of classic Amsterdam architecture. Amsterdam began its journey to becoming a museum destination in the 19th century when the Rijksmuseum was first debuted in 1885. The square boasts other galleries like the Vincent Van Gogh Museum and the Stedelijk Museum of Modern Art. The Royal Concertgebouw, a renowned orchestra concert venue, is also  found at Museumplein. In front of the Rijksmuseum is the I Amsterdam sign. What started as a promotional art piece for the city is now a famously photographed spot in Amsterdam's Museumplein.

Today for my volunteership with the European Athletics Championship I worked with a great group of classmates at Museumplein. Tomorrow the 10K and half-marathon are being hosted. To prepare for the big event we helped set up fences, banners, podiums and the private areas for the athletes and volunteers. Our supervisor William was a very nice guy from the Netherlands. Although he had a big job directing our large group of volunteers he remained cool and made the volunteer experience pleasant. Organizing our tasks around all the visitors, restaurants and structures complicated the job, but our group worked through it.

The volunteering kept us busy for a good part of the day, but I'm sure when the participants arrive tomorrow they will be happy with the set-up. My favorite part about today's volunteering was probably finding cookies in our lunches (a break from raisin biscuits was a nice surprise). Joking.. the setting of where we were was definitely the best. The great lawn, playful dogs, groups of people picnicking, the Rijksmuseum and the reflection pool made volunteering a great experience.