City of... Bicycles

So, last weekend I went to Amsterdam with about 80 other Americans. It was absolutely incredible. We left Thursday evening around 5:30 via coach and ferry, and we didn't arrive until 9:30 am Friday morning (8:30 am British time). We watched Under Siege, which is actually a very entertaining movie. We weren't able to move into our rooms until after 2pm, so we were able to store all of our stuff into a room the hostel has. So, a bunch of us decided to go ahead and change in the restroom before going out. The people that I was planning on hanging out with ended up being in the second hostel, so I just joined another group where I really only knew these two guys. So, we all went to breakfast at this place called the Pancake Corner. It was lush, I had the Dutch specialty of Pofferjes, they are like tiny pancakes with powdered sugar. It started to snow at that point. And, we had to decide what we wanted to do for the next 3 hours that didn't include being outside. Most of the people wanted to go to the Anne Frank House, but for the price it didn't really peak my interest, so these two girls and I decided to go to the Van Gough museum. It was awesome, sadly though they had the Starry Night and blue phase in a special section that was not very obviously advertized, so we missed that. However, it will be flown back to New York soon, so it will be on my to see list. Then after the museum we explored briefly and then headed back to the hostel to move our stuff back in. After that it was right back out to walk around and see the city. We just walked the streets. The funny thing about Amsterdam is that each street pretty much is all one type of shop, for instance, we found antique shops and the whole street was full of it with all different focuses, like clocks versus tiles. It was really cool, I bought a swan figurine for ,50 euro. Which most of the places were around 700 euro for a tiny tea pot, granted it was from the 18th century. Then we went into the best priced souvenir shop, and the lady was talking to us and her son is currently a student teacher in Indiana. Which was cool because the girl I was with is from Illinois. And, this lady made all her own chocolates, but at this point we had to pass, but promised to come back Saturday. Then we found the largest floating flower shop, oh my, the flowers were gorgeous. We also, decided to go into a Cathedral. She had never been in one, and I wish it allowed photos, because it was exquisite. It was full of color and had 3 story high ceilings. It had beautiful stain glass windows and paintings on the walls. We each bought and lit a candle for someone we knew that had died. I lit mine for Grandma Daisy. Then we were going to meet up with some other people for dinner, but they didn't know where it was that we were telling them to meet. So, we just ended up going to this Italian Ristorante and had mushroom pizza, it was super tasty. Then after that we met up with two guys that came on the trip that are German, but also attend uni with us. And, we pub hopped our way to the middle of the town where the red light district was. We just briefly walked through it, just to see what it was. The funniest thing was that the canal in the middle of it there were swans just swimming around, they were absolutely beautiful. Then we made our way back to the hostel. I originally didn't want to go to Amsterdam because I was afraid of all the drugs since they were legal. And, well, people can't legally do them on the street they have to do them in a 'coffee shop', so it was extremely easy to avoid. The pubs/bars are not allowed to serve or let people do drugs in them and the coffee shops don't allow alcohol. So, I suppose since they regulate it its safer, I'm not sure. But, I was able to avoid people trying to sell stuff to me. There were plenty of people who did decide to try stuff. This girl and guy friend of mine tried for the first time a hash brownie, and since the marijuana is so much more pure there, it really ruined their night. They were in bed by 7:30, and it caused them to be ultra paranoid and the girl had an anxiety attack. Well, the girl they were with was staying in my room and she didn't do any of it and decided to babysit them in our 7 people room, which then meant 9 people in the room. So, turns out see felt like it was only fair to ask to share my bed with me, so needless to say I didn't get any sleep that night, and people decided to wake up at 7:30 am. But, Saturday was great and made up for it. First thing we did was rent bicycles and go to breakfast. Where I had a banana pancake with cinnamon. YUM! Then we biked from the west to the east, we were going to go to the zoo, but when we arrived we realized it was wayyy to expensive. So, we just rode around, which it was so nice rather than snowy like the day before. I had to, however, by a hat and gloves because it was a bit too nippy for anything but that. We also had the best hot chocolate at one place, and the night before I also had a chocolate mousse cake and before that a chocolate non-american style doughnut. They had the best desserts! Then that night I met up with all the other girls that I planned a secret Valentine's dinner with. There were 19 of us. We all met up and switched our gifts for our Valentine then went to another Italian ristorante. I had wanted to get Greek, but some of the girls had never had it and were afraid. So, currently remembering this I am now craving some Greek food. Anyways, then afterwards we all just sat in this Irish pub for pretty much the rest of the night. Later around 2am, a group of us decided to get pancakes from the Pancake Corner. Which then I banged my knee into a cement post, what happened is there was a huge group of people we were avoiding running into and had to move over, but in order to not walk on the streets had to weave in and out of these posts, well the two people I was behind quickly at the last second moved to avoid it and I didn't even see it at that point and BANG! So, that was discomforting. Then the next morning we ate breakfast at the hostel and made our way one last time on our bikes, we went and saw the windmill and came back, we only had an hour and a half. It was a lovely time. So, bicycles are the main way of transportation in Amsterdam, they have special bike lanes and lights. Also, it is so safe that no one wears helmets. And bikers have the right away even to pedestrians. They also have trams that run like buses, reminded me slightly of San Francisco. The canals are what separate every block and it is just beautifully set up. And, the architecture was so neat, between all the different houses and such. Oh, and they had public urinals, so weird. But, I guess to keep it clean. Also, bikes are locked without a rack, I mean they have them, but what they do is lock the back tire and the front, so then no one will be able to ride off with it. And, since no one really has cars they can't steal them that way. It was really cool. Anyways all in all it was an amazing city. And I recommend it to anyone. The bus ride home seemed to take forever, I was in and out of sleep. And, knit most of the time I was awake, I'm almost finished with my scarf. We also watched a whole season of Montarage (spelling?). It was interesting. Anyways I was put in charge of convincing the bus driver of dropping us off at the place where we all live, the guy in charge tried and the driver wouldn't listen to him, so he told me to try. I'm not really sure how it worked, but I luckily was able to convince him, the other bus wasn't so lucky they all had to get taxis or walk 2 miles back. So, school came back fast, I had most of my lectures on Monday, and then went to the CU (Christian Union) that night. Then today I woke up and ran with my friend Molly. And, tonight we are going to have a Bible study in Woody's, the local pub, I know the managers and they are going to let us in before hours, so we have a quiet, clean place to meet. Then after that I might go to this speed dating event which is entirely for charity. My friend and I were going to make up fake names and tell funny stories the whole time. Should be a blast. Anyways that's about it for now!

Bitter Sweet

It's been a while since I've updated, I'm going to try to update more often. The weekend after my birthday I came down with an awful cold, running a fever and everything. Every American seemed to get sick, some are still starting to get sick. I suppose we just aren't familiar with the germs over here. I'm finally getting over the toll of the sickness, just still have the sniffles. Then on Monday last week it started our week of snow. Classes were cancelled Tuesday through Thursday due to around 3-4 inches of snow. On Tuesday we had a massive snow fight in the student village, there were 100s of people running around throwing snow. But, once that was over we were all over the snow. Yesterday was the first day it didn't snow, but it rained. Which we were very thankful for. Last weekend was a very relaxing one, more of just rest and hanging out. On Saturday 7 of us ventured to town to Indian food and the cinema. We saw He's Just Not That Into You, which I must say is one of the best movies I've seen in a while. It was fantastic. Next on our list is Bride Wars and Seven Pounds. Sunday my friend Leslie came over and we had pancakes and just hung out talking, then later I made shortbread cookie cake (cuz there's no where sanitary to roll out cookie dough) and it was lush. I made that with Courtney. Monday I had lectures, 1 one hour World History - we learned about the Reformation of the churches; then an hour break, then one time only seminar class for World History where we read a part of Luther's Appeal to the Princes. Then off to my favorite class, Intro to Dante's World. Which is two hours long. So, that was a very long day. Not to mention the fact that I ran to lectures that morning at 8:20, it's 2.25 miles. Then a bunch of us met to discuss the cruise that we are planning on going to for spring break. It leaves out of Athens on March 30, and is only 4 nights, and has two stops in one day sometimes, its just of the Greek Islands and Ephesis, so it should be amazing! The rest of the trip hasn't been planned out quite yet, but it is 4 weeks long and the cruise is the second week. I also made chicken pot pie (which Tam loved) which is going to last me until Thursday when we leave to go to Amsterdam for the weekend! A bunch of us girls, 19 to be exact, are going to have a dinner on Saturday (Valentine's day) and we drew names and are having secret Valentine's just to make things a bit more fun! We also plan to see the Van Gough museam and Ann Frank's house. It should be a great trip! Today I'm going to do my pilates work out and then head to town with Julie and Bethany and we're going to find some bleach and highlight my hair because the roots are awful, and we're going to create our own scattegories so that way we don't have to buy one! Should be tons of fun!