Proast to Amsterdam

The first weekend in November, Leslie, Jackie, Allison, Jen and I decided to go to Amsterdam for the weekend.  We stayed in the Red Light District, and that was an experience to say the least.  But the city was so much more than the drugs and prostitution. It was absolutely beautiful, and I didn't get to see nearly as much as I had wanted to.








We arrived to Amsterdam and noticed that everything was in English.  Our hotel was in between a coffee shop and a Red Light room.  The coffee shops weren't normal coffee shops, but rather, they permitted the sale and consumption of marijuana.  Conveniently located outside of every coffee shop was a bakery with endless amounts of pastries, hot dogs, pizzas and treats.

We went to the Heineken factory the first day we were there.  We learned the history of Heineken beer and how it is made.  Little did we expect was to have one too many Heinekens at 2 o'clock in the afternoon.  There was a beer tasting, a beer survey and 2 beers included with the entrance of the factory.  Sure enough, what we thought would be an hour or so at the factory turned into an all day ordeal.


The next day we went to the Anne Frank House.  The Diary of Anne Frank was one of my favorite books when I was little so seeing where she was in hiding was a moving experience. While walking through the house we got to see pages of her actual diary and videos of her family and the Holocaust.  I was amazed by the amount of people who came to the museum from all over the world.  We waited in line for about 30 minutes just to get in.







That night, we found one of the most famous coffee shops in Amsterdam, The Bulldog.  Of course we had to take a picture by it and buy a shirt because the Bulldog looks exactly like Spike. Go Zags.



On Sunday, we were exhausted and ready to head back. Jen was on a different flight and left for Florence before the rest of us.  Leslie, Jackie, Allison and I get to the Amsterdam airport to find that our flight is cancelled.  There is no other information for us to find out just what to do.  We wander around the airport asking everyone possible about who we should talk to.  Finally, we get to a service desk and they inform us that we will be on the next flight the following day at 10 am.  Well, so much for getting back for class on Monday! They did provide us with an overnight bag, a 5 star hotel for the night, and included a free dinner and breakfast.  It was incredible, and by far the most comfy bed I have slept in since I have been in Europe. What was even better was that we returned to Florence, just in time for lunch.

Since that weekend I have spent alot of time in Florence.  I have finally been able to see more of the city that I have been studying in the past few months! More updates to come!