iamsterdam

i have unfortunately been bedridden all day due to my first and hopefully last paralyzing hangover of the semester. it was bound to happen eventually, but it's far less of an annoyance when the night that caused your head to be throbbing and stomach to be turning was of epic proportions. of course, because my life is a broma, the pregame was as far as i got. #winning. i'm hoping tonight will make up for it though cause its the real madrid vs barcelona futbol game and its going to be insane. its the perfect distraction from my seven page paper that i've barely started. never have i ever been less stressed about finals. something about this countdown (seven days) makes me realize how unimportant my grades are in the grand scheme of things.

amsterdam stories:

we flew on an actual airline into amsterdam after a day of classes on monday and it was amazing. my chair reclined, i had legroom, and i even got food! dream. we arrived at our hostel which was more or less an irish bar that had a few bedrooms upstairs. we were located right in the red light district, which was an experience to say the least. prostitution is legal there and although there weren't any on our street, there were a ton throughout the entire district. they literally stand in storefront looking windows in their lingerie and men can just walk up to them all night long. a lot of times the windows were connected by a door and a couple o prosties would just be casually chattin while they wait for their client. it was very strange to be around. i probably would have felt a lot more uncomfortable if i was sober or something. moving on...after crashing monday night we woke up and ate a yummy breakfast in our bar and went off to find the house where anne frank lived while her family was in hiding. it took us a while and there were casual sporadic hail storms but we finally made it. this house turned museum was one of my favorite places i've been all semester. nazi germany is so interesting for me and this museum was so well done. anne franks story is humbling, devastating, and inspiring all at the same time. i obviously bought her diary at the bookshop and i plan on reading it during my trek home next week. we wandered to a pancake house for lunch to get some traditional dutch food and went to go on a canal tour. after floating down the many many canals that make amsterdam one of the most unique cities i've seen in europe, we went to check out some coffee shops. how could i blog about amsterdam without mentioning drugs? coffee shops are places all over the city where you can get food, drinks, and pre-rolled joints. they all have different atmospheres and crowds of people. on our first night there we hopped from shop to shop for like 4 hours. it didn't feel like real life.

the next day we decided to rent bikes like every other human that has ever been to amsterdam. i literally saw more parked bikes than cars over the course of the weekend. i have to admit that i'm not the most coordinated on a bike and cars/people make me nervous while riding. amsterdam didn't cater to me whatsoever. there were a handful of times where i thought a bus was going to kill me, i got separated from the entire group, and i walked my bike halfway home. however, i think it was worth it. when i wasn't being a spaz, it was a beautiful ride. we rode to the van gogh museum and to take pics at the iamsterdam sign. i never realized how much i really like van gogh's style. so. many. colors. we found a magical bagel shop for lunch before returning our bikes. i'm worried this bagel separation i've been having might result in bagel overdose when i get back to america. once it got dark, which is at like 4:45 in the netherlands, we went to the heineken factory! shannon's dad werked his connections and got us in for free. holllllla. this tour was super fun and it included two beers. also, since we're pretty or something, lenart the bartender gave us a few free ones. i still don't totally understand how water, yeast, barley, and hops can make me blackout, but some things must remain a mystery. after dropping some stuff off at the barhostel we took to the streets again to coffee shop hop. just like in belgium, amsterdam provided such a chill atmosphere. everyone was laid back, spoke english, and promoted drug use. i knew i wanted to experience amsterdam from the minute i decided to study abroad and it lived up to every expectation. i couldn't think of a better place to end my travels.

strolling over canals

coffee shop life

welcome to the red light district

iamsterdam

brewin some beer

hai