Hi, collegiettes!
Now that the month of February has begun, my schedule is packed with trips near and far! I hope you have enjoyed reading about my trips thus far, and you look forward to reading about my adventures to come! But first, I have to tell you about my trip to Amsterdam!
The trip began with a lot of confusion, as our group of 12 stood on the train platform waiting for adventure to begin. We waited anxiously for our train to arrive when suddenly we realized that our train had been cancelled. Bummer. But the Amsterdam gods must have been looking down upon us that day because, to our surprise, a woman with a Southern accent (Finally, someone who speaks English!) approached us and found us an alternate route to Amsterdam! We were back on our way!
We arrived in Amsterdam later that night and immediately found our hostel, Bobâs Youth Hostel. Now, donât be fooled by the name. The hostel is not as sketchy as it sounds! The hostel had tables and chairs for visitors to sit and hangout, the walls were covered with flags and drawings from previous guests and speakers were blasting tunes from Phish and Bob Marley- it is Amsterdam, after all! After we were settled in our room, we set out to explore the city.
As you might expect, Amsterdam really comes alive at night. Between the red-light district, the coffee shops and pubs every couple of feet, Amsterdam is the âSin Cityâ of Europe. Everywhere you look you can find bachelors and bachelorettes traveling in a pack, stumbling down the streets in search of the next bar. Now donât get me wrong, Amsterdam is not all âsinââ thatâs only at night.
By day, the city is beautiful! The streets are lined with cobblestone, and the buildings are (mostly) black brick with white trim and sit on a slant that seems to defy gravity. Over 100 canals run through the city, and the tunnels are dressed with white lights that sparkle on the water after sunset.
Aside from the beauty of the city, there were plenty of sights to see including the Anne Frank House and the Van Gogh Museum! Both museums were incredible, but we left the Anne Frank museum in silence. Now, if you have the chance to go to Amsterdam, be sure to stop at the Anne Frank House, but be warned, it might put a damper on your evening, as it did for us.
On Sunday, we aired on the side of âextreme-touristâ and embarked on the Dutch Country Side Tour. Yes, collegiettes, we hopped on a double-decker red bus and played the stereotypical tourist as we âoohed and âahhed through Holland and snapped hundreds of pictures at every wooden clog and windmill in sight! But it was actually a lot of fun! Our first stop was a little shop where they made wooden clogs, and everyone had the opportunity to see how the clogs are made. Given that I have little interest in wooden shoes, I decided to shop instead! Yay, souvenirs!
After that, we stopped in a small town with these old windmills and a small cheese factory! There, we got a crash-course on how cheese is made and everyone was invited to sample the various types of cheese. It was delicious! And yes, it was much better than the faux-cheese we get in America.
The bus tour concluded our trip in Amsterdam, but we were happy to finally be back in Brussels! Although this week has been pretty uneventful, Iâve been having a blast at my internship! I have been writing and editing so many pieces, and I will have a few of my articles in the February issue! Aside from that, I am researching events in Belgium and other European countries to recommend to our readers, and it has given me some great ideas for my trips!
This weekend, I plan to spend a day in Bruges, Belgium and then mid-February kicks off my travel extravaganza, starting with Paris! For those who are interested in my excursions (and those who wish to live vicariously through me), keep reading!
Until next time,
Lauren