It's crazy to be writing one of my last blog posts of the semester. I can't believe I am only two weeks away from going home! It is definitely bittersweet because I know I will miss Italy, but at the same time I am so ready to go home and be with my family for the holidays!
This past weekend, we took our last trip of the semester to Amsterdam! I don't think we could have picked a more perfect place for our last trip. Amsterdam was more beautiful than I could have even imagined. I think it is a perfect cross between London & Prague! The streets were adorable and the shopping was amazing! I never expected to like it as much as I did.
On Friday afternoon, we took a bus to Pisa and then hopped on a flight from there. The airport process didn't go as smoothly as it normally does unfortunately. We arrived to the Pisa airport and were informed that we could only have one carry on. For this trip, we flew with a smaller airline company we hadn't used before, and we found at the airport we could only have one bag. Of course this was the one trip where I brought my backpack and a carry on because I needed to register for my classes in Amsterdam, so I had more stuff than usual. I wish someone could have video taped me literally ripping apart my duffle in the middle of the airport and trying to shove my backpack and laptop inside my carry on along with all my clothes for the weekend. I ended up wearing two puffer jackets over my thick sweater, along with two cashmere scarfs, jeans, and boots. Meanwhile, I was throwing bits and pieces of my luggage in other peoples' bags in order to make it fit. That was by far the most stressful time I have ever had at an airport, but somehow I fit everything and made it work!
We arrived in Amsterdam later that night and made our way to our hostel. Since we booked this trip last minute, we didn't have many options of where to stay. Let me tell you, after this hostel experience I will be happy to never stay in a hostel again. The place was clean, which is always a plus, but the management was horrible and the hot water was always off, so we had freezing showers. Not too fun. For our first night in the city, we found an asian food restaurant called Walk to Wok! Asian food....Yum! Living in Italy is amazing, but it's nice to have a break from pizza and pasta when we can. After dinner, we roamed the streets of Amsterdam and found our way to the Red Light District. This was definitely one of the more bizarre times of the trip. I still have a hard time wrapping my head around the legal system in Amsterdam.
During our trip in Amsterdam, we visited the Anne Frank House. I wish I could have taken pictures inside because this was one of my favorite parts of the trip. Walking through her home and learning all about her life was such an eye opening experience. The exhibit had parts of her journal displayed, as well as videos playing with information about her life. We all really enjoyed the time we spent there!
After the Anne Frank House, we roamed the city. Amsterdam had the most amazing shopping! The stores were all so unique and different. We definitely weren't expecting to find as many cute stores as we did. Jade and Katie both got adorable leather jackets that they were excited about! We have all decided that we love European fashion. We are going to miss the cute stores we have found abroad! We also found a really cool jewelry store where Jade, Katie, and I got chains to put our keys on from Paris. We are so excited to go home and make our necklaces!
Being the picture lovers we are, we couldn't come all the way to Amsterdam without finding the "I AMsterdam" sign! We were told that the letters move around daily so it could be a little bit of a scavenger hunt finding them. Luckily, we didn't have too much trouble and we located them right behind the Van Gogh museum! This is a huge tourist spot in the city because everyone wants pictures here, but we waited our turn and got a lot of cute ones.
After a day of shopping and sightseeing, we opted for thai food for dinner. I got the most amazing red curry chicken dish. We all appreciated having a little "spice" back in our lives since most italian food is amazing, but lacks that kick of flavor.
This past weekend, we took our last trip of the semester to Amsterdam! I don't think we could have picked a more perfect place for our last trip. Amsterdam was more beautiful than I could have even imagined. I think it is a perfect cross between London & Prague! The streets were adorable and the shopping was amazing! I never expected to like it as much as I did.
On Friday afternoon, we took a bus to Pisa and then hopped on a flight from there. The airport process didn't go as smoothly as it normally does unfortunately. We arrived to the Pisa airport and were informed that we could only have one carry on. For this trip, we flew with a smaller airline company we hadn't used before, and we found at the airport we could only have one bag. Of course this was the one trip where I brought my backpack and a carry on because I needed to register for my classes in Amsterdam, so I had more stuff than usual. I wish someone could have video taped me literally ripping apart my duffle in the middle of the airport and trying to shove my backpack and laptop inside my carry on along with all my clothes for the weekend. I ended up wearing two puffer jackets over my thick sweater, along with two cashmere scarfs, jeans, and boots. Meanwhile, I was throwing bits and pieces of my luggage in other peoples' bags in order to make it fit. That was by far the most stressful time I have ever had at an airport, but somehow I fit everything and made it work!
We arrived in Amsterdam later that night and made our way to our hostel. Since we booked this trip last minute, we didn't have many options of where to stay. Let me tell you, after this hostel experience I will be happy to never stay in a hostel again. The place was clean, which is always a plus, but the management was horrible and the hot water was always off, so we had freezing showers. Not too fun. For our first night in the city, we found an asian food restaurant called Walk to Wok! Asian food....Yum! Living in Italy is amazing, but it's nice to have a break from pizza and pasta when we can. After dinner, we roamed the streets of Amsterdam and found our way to the Red Light District. This was definitely one of the more bizarre times of the trip. I still have a hard time wrapping my head around the legal system in Amsterdam.
During our trip in Amsterdam, we visited the Anne Frank House. I wish I could have taken pictures inside because this was one of my favorite parts of the trip. Walking through her home and learning all about her life was such an eye opening experience. The exhibit had parts of her journal displayed, as well as videos playing with information about her life. We all really enjoyed the time we spent there!
Being the picture lovers we are, we couldn't come all the way to Amsterdam without finding the "I AMsterdam" sign! We were told that the letters move around daily so it could be a little bit of a scavenger hunt finding them. Luckily, we didn't have too much trouble and we located them right behind the Van Gogh museum! This is a huge tourist spot in the city because everyone wants pictures here, but we waited our turn and got a lot of cute ones.
A is for Alex...oh yeah & Amersterdam!
The next day, we headed home! We got up and had a yummy breakfast at a bagel shop in the city, then got on a train to the airport. The only exciting part of this day was the SNOW! Although it was terrible to carry our luggage around in the snowy weather, we still had fun! I loved Amsterdam and would definitely recommend others to make a visit there! It was a clean city filled with really nice people!
No comments:
Post a Comment