Amsterdammin'

I can officially proclaim that our first excursion was a success! Amsterdam was so much fun, and I definitely learned a lot about European travel. We left very early on Friday, and arrived in the city around 10. We had to walk to our hostel, which was a pretty nice place, and then get into groups for our official walking tour of the city. The tours lasted about two hours each, and while our instructor was very nice, there were just...better things to pay attention to? Such as the scenery!

What a lovely, beautiful city - the canals add a kind of atmosphere that I've never encountered before. More relaxed, maybe? And all the bikers! I came close to an ugly demise a few times when I didn't step out of the way fast enough, but you learn very quick to stay out of the bike lanes. I was so jealous that people were biking while I was stuck walking around with a giant group. What's cool is that bikes are such a way of life in this city that they have become another form of expression:

On our walking tour we visited a famous courtyard that is surrounded by a church and the oldest house in the Netherlands (which is the black one in the second picture). 

My friend Sarah enjoying the garden

Unfortunately I don't have pictures from the museums that I visited because a) most don't allow photography and b) I tended to forget my camera at the most inconvienient times. We went to the Amsterdam Historical Museum and the Hermitage; both were really interesting, especially the Hermitage because it featured Russian fashion from the days of the czars. After the museum, Pat and Kendra and I walked around and found some amazing little stores and stuff. 

The next day, Sarah and Ruben and Pat and I all walked around the city after going to the Reijksmuseum. We went to our first coffeeshop and got some....coffee? 

In the alley outside the coffeeshop there were some very photographic moments:

That night we went clubbing at Paradisio, which used to be an old church but is now a venue. It was so much fun and SO HOT IN THERE. We danced from midnight to 3am, came back to the hostel, chatted with some dudes from New Zealand, took showers, climbed into bed at 6am, got up at 9, and then continued on with our program!

On the last day we went to the Anne Frank House, which was a remarkably well set-up museum. They've built a modern building around the old house in order to preserve it, so when you go through the museum you are walking back and forth through modern and original. The most intense moment was probably when you walk into the annex through the opening behind the bookcase - actually touching the bookcase was surreal. This is the outside of the house as it is now:

The museum was a very moving experience and I'm really glad we went, I just wish we had had more time.

We had a train to catch that day so we decided to stop somewhere to eat on the way to the station. The place we chose couldn't have been better - LOTS OF CHEESE!!

After our wonderful cheese meal we caught our train back home. We thought. Turns out there were technical difficulties along the way, so a trip that should have been two hours long ended up being five. Not a good night. But let's keep this blog positive, shall we? I learned how to navigate train stations, bus stations, ticket machines, and Dutch help desk workers. We arrived home dead tired with sore feet, but it was completely worth it! 

I think I would definitely go back to Amsterdam; I feel like there's a lot of stuff I didn't get to accomplish. Maybe soon! This weekend we are going to Stockholm, so now I'm looking forward to that. All I have to do is get my homework done and go to class and whatever. Who needs school anyway?