Wow, what an amazingly beautiful city! I love this place and find myself thinking why didn’t I study abroad here. I’ve been here since Saturday and Elizabeth and I are leaving for Rome tomorrow afternoon. Just to give a recap of all the great stuff: Staurday, we didn’t really do much because I was sooo tired from my exhausting trip here. I missed my first flight to Amsterdam and had to wait about 12 hours in the airport to catch the other one. I finally did and met up with Liz in the Amsterdam airport…which is pretty gorgeous. Sunday, we did a bunch of tours from the NewEurope tourguides (highly recommend them!). After our first general walking tour of the city and learning about all the history (Amsterdam+sailors=party town since it’s inception) we went to the Heineken Experience which was so much fun! Later that night we did a Red Light District tour, which was a little intense but very intriguing at the same time. Today, we went to the Van Gogh museum in the morning, which I loved. The layout was amazing and made for easy viewing in that everything was clearly labelled in chronological order based on where Van Gogh was living at that moment. After the museum, we went to a street market and got these awesome fries with mayo. So delicious! Then, we took a beautiful canal cruise that took us through all the man-made waterways and the only natural body of water, the River Amstel. After the cruise, we went to the Anne Frank House, which was so amazing to witness and very moving. I just kept imagining myself trying to live there shrouded in complete secrecy and unable to make a peep. It was definitely an experience that everyone should try to have when in Amsterdam.
Overall, I’ve loved this city. It’s so peaceful and quaint and the people are great. Nearly got killed by a bike a few times, but besides that it was so enjoyable. The street system is very confusing and anti-pedestrian; there would be bike path, tram tracks, pedestrian path, more tram tracks, and another bike path. Very interesting to see and try to navigate.
Tomorrow we’re off to Rome and I’ll try to update this blog with the details from the eternal city!
