By Amie Sillah Before traveling to the Netherlands this summer, I plateaued. I’m an activist. At my high school, I lead a diversity club and an LGBTQ+ awareness club. I’ve worked with faculty to create events dedicated to diversity and social awareness. I’ve attended countless diversity conferences and have led some myself, but it was all beginning to feel repetitive. I no longer felt inspired to do new things. Being an activist became work instead of something I enjoyed. I was looking for a new adventure. Through a program called The TEAK Fellowship that helps low-income families in New York City obtain admission to and succeed at high ranking high schools and universities, I learned about World Learning’s exchange program called The Experiment in International Living. While browsing the website and looking for potential programs to apply to, I was instantly drawn to the one called The Netherlands: Gender Equality and Human Rights. After reading the description and itinerary provided online, I knew this trip was what I needed. Beforehand, I thought the Netherlands was a modern day Utopia where different people lived in harmony with one another. I was wrong. The Netherlands, in general, is a very tolerant country. It was the first country to legalize same-sex marriage. After the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in favor of the same, I was excited to see what The Netherlands was like 14 years into their marriage equality laws. One part of our trip stuck with me in particular. We visited the NEMO Museum in Amsterdam which has an exhibit on sex or a “peep show.” In the show and saw little figurines displaying different sex positions and a plethora of contraception in a display case ranging from condoms to birth control to dental dams. We went into booths where we could hear people orgasm and take a quiz all about STDs, prevention and safe sex. This entire exhibit was available to children ages 12 and up. In my head, I was shocked. “Twelve and up? I didn’t even know about birth control until I was 16!” That’s where I started to notice the large disparities between my sex education in the U.S. and in The Netherlands. The Netherlands starts teaching children about sex as young as 4-years-old. Doing so takes away the societal stigma surrounding sex. There’s no cloud of disbelief and wonder surrounding the subject. It’s not daunting or taboo. It also takes away some of the societal pressures to have sex at a young age. But their education is not just about sex. It’s about teaching children how to respect their own bodies and each other’s, how to have consenting sex, how to enjoy it safely and how to know when you’re ready, which is something very lacking in the sex education in the United States. As the weeks went on, I learned more about the differences between gender, sex and sexuality. I learned about how legal sex work in The Netherlands provides more safety for sex workers. I learned about how much the “LGB” community has thrived in the country, but that the “TQ+” is often left out of discussions and underrepresented. I realize that a lot of work needs to be done. I used to think that after same-sex marriage was made legal in all 50 U.S. states last June, we had accomplished the "Big Goal" and things would only get better afterward. I know now that the fight for full equality is far from over and feel a renewed fire ignited in me to see that it continues. The Netherlands is progressive, but not perfect. I will take what I gained on this trip back to my community and try to implement changes. I no longer feel like I’m repeating; I feel ready. Amie Sillah is from the Bronx, New York and attends The Hewitt School, a private same-sex school on the Upper East Side. Amie had the opportunity to travel to the Netherlands through The Experiment in International Living, which provides innovative and immersive summer abroad programs for high school students. The Experiment is a program of World Learning, a nonprofit organization empowering people, communities and institutions to create a more peaceful and just world.