Ok! So, I realize that I have quite a bit to blog about! Since my last post, I have made it to Holland and back, and have gotten through almost another whole half a week here at the manor. I have been feeling a little under the weather the past few days, so I have done a lot of sleeping and even got talked into drinking tea (yuck) in attempts to feel better quickly. Today, I am seeing the benefits and am feeling a TON better! Even went for a short couple mile run last night to the gate and back. I am continuing to love my time here, and as I am growing closer to my new friends, I am loving the experience more and more.
First Night in Amsterdam- Walking to the Hostel
Canal at Night
So I guess I should begin with my trip to Amsterdam. This trip was radically different from my trip to London, but I loved it as well. We had class Friday morning, and raced to East Midlands Airport right after lunch. BMI baby, a cheap airline, proved to be reliable enough to get us to Amsterdam, although it as a pretty turbulent flight! The plane seemed a little less durable than any other flight I have experienced before, but I guess we made it! Haha! Problem number one occurred in the airport when I realized that peanut butter is a paste and that I couldn't take it in my carry on...oops....
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| Lost in the Train System! |
After arriving, we went to the "
I amsterdam" store, bought train tickets to the central tram station as well as an Amsterdam pass that for one price got us into most of the attractions the city offers. We then headed off to the train station. However, being that everything was written in Dutch, we had to make an educated guess on which train to take. While we thought we were getting on a train to central station, we realized that this was not the case. We then decided to hop off and jump on the right train. However, then things went even more wrong! One of our group members forgot her immigration letter (which works as our visa to get us back into the UK) in the store where we bought our Amsterdam passes. So, we hopped on a train back to the airport. Fortunately, we found the letter and there was no one on the trains checking our tickets, so we were able to get the letter and return back on the train free of charge. This time, we managed to pick the right train, and then got on the right tram that the man at the airport told us to catch! But as things seemed to get better, they again, got worse. I went to take my first picture and realized I had left my memory card in my laptop and that I would not be able to take any pictures! So all of the pictures that I have included are ones I have stolen from my group (many of which I actually took myself though)! A few stops later, we made it to the hostel, checked in, and headed out for the night. We walked a few blocks, got a decent deal at an Italian restaurant, and were able to get a good meal in for only 10 euros. We have come to find that in Europe, unless the restaurant is actually inexpensive, that you can easily find places that will cut you a deal and give you a cheaper price than what the menu really says! Especially when you look like an American tourist. We later went out to a pub, strolled around the city, and then headed in to get some rest for our early rise in the morning. Walking around at night was probably my favorite part of Amsterdam. It is so vibrant at night and has a whole new energy that it doesn't have during the day. All of the canal bridges are lit with white lights and all of the buildings are light with florescent signs and lights.
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| We were really cold... |
This first night was also my first experience in a hostel. When we arrived, there was a sign outside that read "hotel", but two of the letters were flickering and went out. However, as far as I have heard hostels go, I think we ended up at a fairly nice place. There were ten of us in total. The first 8 that had registered for the trip were all in one room, but my friend Karen and I had joined the group later, so we were on our own sharing a bunk bed in a room of six. Fortunately, we only had two other roommates (two guys around our age from Canada) who had come to Amsterdam for the "coffee shops" and pretty much just slept the entire time. It was almost as if we had our own room.
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| Me by the Canal |
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| Foam Museum |
The next morning, we woke up around 8 to begin the day. Next problem: We forgot to bring converters. So we had to deal with wet hair all day! Unlike the hustle and bustle of the night, the morning greeted us very dark, overcast, rainy, and the city even seemed somewhat dull. After a breakfast of bread and cheese, we split in to two groups. Mine first headed to a photography museum called Foam. As all good photography does, many of the photos had descriptions that made the display very moving. We also went to the Vincent Van Gogh museum. We saw several originals of his famous paintings; however, since I got the song stuck in my head about his painting "Starry Night", I was a little disappointed that that painting wasn't actually there. It was a very interesting experience to visit this museum, though, and interesting to see how overtime Van Gogh developed as an artist. For lunch, we went to Burger King for a cheaper option, and they had some sort of chicken wrap that they don't sell in the states. Turns out, it was delicious! We did, however, have to pay for ketchup to go with our fries. Being a ketchup lover, I was a bit disappointed, but managed to suffice on one package for all of my fries! In the afternoon, we went to explore a street market, visited a very interesting Jewish history of Amsterdam museum, and stopped in the infamous Heineken store. Along the way we got on the wrong tram a couple times, but I guess that is all part of the experience being in a foreign land with a foreign language! We found a nice but cheap pub and pancake house to eat at for dinner, and then went back to the hostel to meet up with the other half of our group. We played some cards for a bit, then strolled around outside and went to a night club. Eventually, we went back to the hostel, checked out the bar area in the basement, and decided to get some rest.
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| The Heineken Brand Store (this sign is made of ice!) |
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| Group shot at the Tram Station |
On Sunday, we went off again to explore and take full advantage of our Amsterdam passes. My two favorite parts of Amsterdam were the canal tour and our visit to the Anne Frank House. The canal tour was a very fun way to see all of the city highlights in around an hour. Unfortunately, since it was raining yet again, we didn't get a ton of good pictures from the boat.. The Anne Frank House did not allow us to take photographs, but I think the memory will be forever imprinted in my mind. We were able to walk through the "Secret Annex" where the Franks lived during World War II, watch several video clips on the Holocaust, viewed many remains, and saw Anne's diary. The museum was very unique in the fact that it was begun by her father Otto Frank and that it used many of Anne's quotes from her diary to tell the story. When the Franks had been forced to leave the Secret Annex, all of the contents of the Secret Annex were removed. When the museum was created, Otto Frank did not want the rooms to be restored, but left empty. There were models in every room showing how they would have looked furnished, but the rooms were solemnly left empty. At the end, there was an interactive game we all played and enjoyed, too. We also took a quick walk through the infamous red light district just to say we had been there, stopped by a diamond museum, visited an old church, and ventured across town with our Amsterdam books attempting to get as many of the "freebies" as we could while getting the opportunity to see more of the city.
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| Karen and I on the Canal Tour |
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| I amsterdam sign |
After my trip to Amsterdam, I have made a number of conclusions about the city. First off, Amsterdam is a very biking friendly city. There are often times more bike lanes than car lanes on the street! Second, Amsterdam is a very night friendly city. While there was plenty for us to do during the day, it was incredible how few people were out and about during the day in comparison to how many were out in the evenings and further into the night. Also, while Amsterdam seemed like an old ordinary town during the day, it became a large beautifully lit city by night. It was nice to visit Amsterdam as my first city in a foreign language as well because almost everyone there knows at least some English, so we got some good help from people. One man on the tram who we had questioned about where we were headed even told Karen and I that "boys never listen" and that must be why we kept ending up in the wrong place. So true! We thought it was pretty funny! Overall, I loved my experience in Amsterdam, and am glad I was able to visit with such a wonderful group of new friends!
