Amsterdam

So the week that was book-ended by Paris and Amsterdam was a wild one, for all 3 days of it. Let me set the stage for you: When I got back from Paris on Monday morning, I got back to my apartment at noon with a one hour turn around time to get some food switch gears and head to my midterm. This is not quite like any other midterm week that I've had, or will have. That's right this was midterms week. When abroad my friends, when abroad. So I made it to my midterm on 5 hours of sleep, 2 of them on the plane and half and hour one one of the buses.. It went fine. (I got an 86 which is just fine with me). I then came home and slept for 17 hrs before i got up to study with Kelsey before what was going to be my hardest exam, and I was obviously concerned. She had a pretty legit study guide compared to my nothing. Nonetheless I took that one and I thought it went relatively well. This is Tuesday. Wednesday was my last of the four. We had Italian the week before because that class schedule is different for some reason.. Anyway I woke up earlier (630) for that class to once again study for my museum exam and that was also relatively easy as well. And then THursday we didn't have class because it was the celebration of the 150th anniversary of Italy's Unification. And St. Patrick's Day, but they don't really celebrate that here... Nonetheless to celebrate all of the above, the whole group went out for a night of dancing at a club and I have to say I think it was a success. (That was Wednesday night) And THursday night Erica, Kelsey left for Amsterdam! So there you go. Quite a week/3 days.

Though it was unfortunate because they were supposed to have fireworks all over and parades on wednesday night but because it was raining it was postponed to thursday night, so we didnt get to see anything. However there is one thing y'all should know about italian "unification", which is that it is used as a loose term. The north and south are completely different areas and there are many that believe that the south should not be a part of Italy. Italy was a mass of small kingdoms that were brought together in 1870 and made into one country. They think of themselves first and foremost based on their region like sicilian. Not everyone even speaks italian either, but they for sure speak the local dialect before they speak italian. now most do but the real old timers don't. Anyway, there's a certain lack of national pride that many Americans are not lacking. It was only about a week before the 150th that we started seeing Italian flags. Sad. Oh well looking forward to 4th of July this summer!!!

Thursday night. We made it to Amsterdam kinda late but that's ok we made it to our hostel which was bumpin for what I thought we were going to be staying at. It was pretty nice there were some pool tables and a bar and place to eat on the first floor and then we stayed in a room on the second floor. We went to Leidseplein Square which was real busy. Its a square that has tons of bars and coffee shops and theres a casino right around the corner. it basically seemed like the center of night life and it was a block from our hostel. We weren't really worried about what time it was. We were walking around and this club promoter invited us in for ladies night which started with a free drink. We accepted. He really had to twist our arm... We left after the free drink and headed to the Irish bar to celebrate St. Patrick's Day for real. Lucky us! We got more free drinks. perks of the double standard. At this point we thought it a good idea to call it a night so we could be up and ready for the next day that we had planned!
On Friday we arrived late to breakfast which was unfortunate. But we got some granola and milk so that was good. We met a tour group that the hostel had a connection with and we walked over to a pretty big square. best part of this upcoming tour? its free. I believe our guys name was Mark? Dave? Something rather generic but he was nice enough. We saw so much; I couldn't tell you all of it because it was a lot.  One thing though is Amsterdam has more canals then Venice does. Surprise!

Some of the more memorable parts of the tour was when we walked through the red light district and there were a wide variety of women standing in their windows. That was not something one sees everyday. haha but he also showed us the china town which is where we went for dinner that night which was a good decision. More later.
When we finished the tour, we were really close to the Anne Frank House, which we had pre purchased tickets for so we went and were able to jump the massively long line. Now I've never read Anne Frank's Diary but I know the story. I had no idea she hid in Amsterdam though. So that was wild to be able to walk through her house and we saw her room where all of the things she put on the walls were still up. That was weird. They also had all her diaries there too which was real intense. Im glad that we went. At this point we decided it was time for a pick me up and headed towards the Heineken factory. Yay! On the way there, we bought hats that said Amsterdam around them. It was cold and you know what it was so worth it. I'm going to wear it all the time! Ha! We also found a bagel place on our way there OMG TALK ABOUT A WIN. They don't really have bagels here in Rome and so it was the greatest thing ever to find real bagels. I got an everything with chive cream cheese. It was the equivalent of about 5 US dollars but it was so worth it. The rain had slowed at this point and that was nice so we kept going trekking to the factory, all wearing our hats. These are one of those things that all the tourists get, all places have them. So we very clearly look like tourists. Some one tried to ask us directions. In Dutch. I dont get it.

Kelsey, Erica and I inside!

In the Brewery, they showed us how they make the beer, obviously and there was one part where we all stood on this platform that moved a little and they sprayed water on us as if we were part of the brewing process, cheesy and fun. Then we got to try a little beer. nom nom nom. That was nice then we walked through more of it and there was more propaganda and then we got to the end and we got 2 more big beers and that was nice too. The tour was 15 euros and it was worth it because its just something you have to do in Amsterdam. I almost got a shirt but I refrained haha. Afterwards we walked all the way to the opposite side of town to get dinner in china town. We ended up getting some really good thai food and I got some great pad thai food. 

On Saturday, it was much prettier which was great because we had planned to ride bikes all day. That is one thing, they ride bikes more then they drive I feel like. We made it to breakfast that morning which was good because it was quite a spread, we took some goodies to go. Then we rented some bikes for the day and rode to Vondel Park which was right across from our hostel. We rode around and it was a beautifulll day! Great day for a bike ride. 

After wards we rode around and saw the flower mart and had a lunch by one of the canals. Later in the afternoon we made our way over to the Van Gogh Museum, which was awesome. It was so cool to see all of his paintings! I wish I could have taken some pictures but unfortunately we weren't allowed to. We were worn out after the long day of riding around that we took a nap and went to the Hard Rock across the street from our hostel for dinner. It was so worth the 20 euro. I got some pulled pork and ribs, just some good american food. It was great. We had to get up super early but it was a great trip. It was much prettier then I thought it was expecting and now all I want to do is find a place to rent bikes here in Rome!