This weekend, I went to Amsterdam with a couple of my roommates. We had such an amazing weekend! Amsterdam is absolutely beautiful, and I cannot wait to go back someday. For the first time since I’ve been in Europe, my flight went off without a hitch! I got to Amsterdam and had a little time by myself (my roommates had gotten in the day before and were doing a walking tour of the city, so they weren’t too sure about where they would be, and without wifi it’s hard to meet up). I spent some time wandering around the city, just taking it all in, and I treated myself to a steak dinner (the first real red meat I’ve had this semester…it was incredible). We met up at our hostel later that night. The back door of our hostel opened up to the Red Light District, and we wandered around there the first night (which was a unique experience).
On Saturday, we woke up pretty early to go to the Anne Frank house. It was absolutely amazing. I didn’t really know what to expect, but I loved it. I’m really fascinated with that period of history, so I was anticipating that I would enjoy it. We actually got to go into the rooms that Anne and her family stayed in in the Annex. It was amazing. Anne’s diary was also on display, and it was amazing to see her writing. We stopped for pancakes afterwards (which are apparently a Dutch specialty), and they were absolutely amazing. We went to the Amsterdam letters and took tons of pictures, and then went to the Van Gogh museum. I loved it in there. Van Gogh was an amazing artist, and they had art from a ton of other artists who inspired him and were friends with him, as well as art that he inspired. It was incredible. Finally, my personal favorite stop of the day was at the bench from The Fault in Our Stars. I had a slight freak out when I realized I was standing in a place where Ansel Elgort stood. It was in such a pretty spot too.
Before we went to the airport on Sunday, we went to Keukenhof, which is a gigantic flower garden. It was amazing and I could have spent the entire day there. We got to see the famous tulip fields (though we learned it’s illegal to actually walk around in them) and a windmill, which was so typical Holland. We ate stroopwaffels, which are basically thin crispy waffles filled with caramel and are probably my new favorite food. There were so many different kinds of beautiful flowers, and everywhere you turned was a new sight. It was breathtaking.
This week, my family finally comes to visit! I’m so excited to see them, and I’m really excited for our trips to Venice, Pompeii, and Sicily. Stay tuned for more stories!