Wednesday, November 6, 2013

The Red Light District: A learning experience


I had written a better beginning blog while I was sitting in the lounge the other night but I accidentally deleted it while adding on. Whoops..but to begin to describe Amsterdam I honestly don’t think I can do it justice. Some of this blog was written while in Amsterdam and some when I got back, so it jumps around.

But first off, I went on this trip with 3 of my guy friends Zach, Brett and Nolan, all who are in the same program with me here in Florence.

On Thursday when we arrived in Amsterdam we hit a little bump, Nolan lost his passport. So there was that but most importantly I had an amazing Starbucks when we got off the plane, it was so good, and I’ve missed big coffee over here. But after that ordeal we headed to Amsterdam by train and continued to our hostel by foot. Being in Amsterdam is just so different; the people are super nice and just doing them. When we finally checked into our hostel, which is a street over from the red light district. It was a good and central location and if I ever got lost all I had to say way “red light district?” and everyone could point me in the right direction.




Something I noticed in Holland were how the men acted. They were nothing like the Italian men and really not like American. They're super courteous, pleasant and friendly. I had no problem making friends when I was out and they didn’t creep like the Italians do.
Heineken Brewery

Friday morning we woke up on the later side and I had this Dutch pancake for breakfast in the lounge, it was with cheese and bacon and it was amazing, like nothing I had ever had before. After that we walked to the Heineken brewery to take a tour and it was actually really cool to see how it's made. I even stomached drinking a beer and it was pretty nice not gonna lie. But I passed on my other one. After the tour we went to an Irish pub for dinner and it was once again really good. But after that we headed around town to see some other places around us. I called it quits semi early last night to get a good nights sleep. Our other roommates didn't allow that to happy too well though.

Heineken beersss

Life changing Dutch pancake



One of the other things I noticed was that there were a lot of different nationalities in Amsterdam, it wasn’t like the other places I had been to. Most of the time when I travel locals and Americans have surrounded me. Here there was everything, a lot of eastern and northern Europe people. I loved meeting all the different people are seeing where they were from.

On Saturday we woke up around the same time and I went out for bagels, which were bomb. I got an everything bagel with chive cream cheese, it was so good. I hadn't had a bagel since I left America. We then went back go the hotel and headed for the zoo. Now the zoo was so cool, I haven't been to a zoo in so long. I saw so many different animals I loved it there. After the zoo we went to this burger places near the hotel and it was so good. I barely eat meat over here; I swear the Italians only eat pizza and pasta. But then we went to the hash, marijuana and hemp museum, which was after very interesting. We then came back and took some naps. I went out for a crepe and the others headed to the bar. Now I'm back in the lounge writing this and taking it all in.


Just a quick selfie with a giraffe 

BOMB





This afternoon (Sunday) I woke up and headed to the lounge for a cappuccino before I set off for an adventure across Amsterdam to meet up with two old camp friends Aymeric and Marissa. I hadn't seen them since I was 14 or 15. The walk was suppose to be about half an hour and I made it in about an hour and a half, needless to say I got super lost but just loved wandering alone with a map and a camera. Just as I got to where the I Amsterdam letters are they spotted me and if they hadn't spotted me I don't know if I would have ever found them. But regardless the Van Gogh museum was so cool. I love that type of painting. After the museum we went to find pancakes and got them and then it was time to come back to the hostel. That was a lot easier to do and I had found a Starbucks, which is like gold over here. I got back to the hotel and met the others in the lounge before doing a little shopping... Got all the gifts I needed to here in Amsterdam and then got a little extra, whoops.
KP reunites in Amsterdam 


But after shopping I made my way to Baba and just had a solid night hanging out. That's exactly what I love doing. After staying there for a while I headed back to our lounge in the hotel to hang out a little closer to my surroundings. I hung out in the lounge for a while making friends with different people, everyone is so friendly. Then I headed up to my room to put all my stuff together which is always a struggle.

This morning I woke around 7:25 to leave the hostel by 8 to make it to the airport for plenty of time. I got up got ready and waiting downstairs till everyone else was finished. There I found out that you can't take a taxi to central station because we are so close or it would cost 30€ but it was pourrring out. So we had to walk in the rain for about 15 to the train. Got to the airport, flew through security found Starbucks ate and yogurt and granola. Eating yogurt and granola made me miss home and then I realize I only have 30 days left in this amazing country. This Vermont chick is happy to be heading back to Florence. I had a 2 hour lay over in Germany though and didn’t get back go Florence till 4:30ish.

Now here I am back in my bed on a Tuesday night with no internet and I have a paper to write, pictures to upload and blogs to post….

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