Amsterdam
Amsterdam was my favorite city of my study abroad experience. I left Thursday afternoon with a few friends after school. I went with two groups to Amsterdam, but the one I was going to spend most of the time with was not going to get in until Friday night. We arrived in Amsterdam late that night, and since it was Halloween, all that we did was go out to a few bars after we checked into our hotel.
Friday morning, we got a late start. We got breakfast around 10, and then walked to a square where Amsterdam had all their best museums. A few people with foresight to reserve their tickets went to the Van Goh museum, while the rest of us grabbed tickets to the MoCo museum which featured an exhibit on the street artist Banksy. I walked away from the group for a few minutes down the street to check into my Airbnb. My favorite activity in Amsterdam was just walking around. Amsterdam personifies the satisfaction of something that works. It’s the same feeling as turning the key in your car and it humming to life, or when your computer functions just as it’s supposed to, faster even. It’s a constant synchronized order of trams, bikes, pedestrians, and then cars, all surrounded by these incredible winding streets and canals that somehow still make sense despite their randomness. It felt right. I spent the rest of the afternoon just wandering the streets with a few friends before dinner and bed.
Saturday morning my friends and I found pancakes, which made the day before it got started. After we met up with the rest of the group to tour the Heineken factory, followed by a canal tour and then pictures on a lookout point. I would definitely recommend any sort of boat ride in Amsterdam. After this, the groups split up for a while to grab dinner and chill before a pub crawl later that night. We found a place that served Dutch food, which everyone avoided and got the only American things on the menu. We all met at a bar, went a couple more, and made a few mistakes. My friends dipped after the third bar before more mistakes could be made to explore a little bit more because I left early the next morning. We saw some pretty Christmas lights, did the obligatory walk through the red light district, and then ubered back to the Airbnb, which was the end for Amsterdam for me. I would love to come back to this city sometime, maybe even live here for a while. Don’t tell my mom that though.
