Back to My Roots (Gone Country Dutch)

After my final class on Wednesday I took a bus to the airport and flew into Amsterdam and was greeted by two of my very best friends Danelle and Jordan. After lot’s of hugs and cries of excitement in the airport we set off for our weekend full of adventures. We went straight to our hostel to drop off our bags and check in and then we went out for a late dinner to catch up on everything that happened while we were apart. The fact that we didn’t get back to our hostel until 2am shows you just how much we had to catch up on.

The great thing about hostels is that they give you free food in the morning; however, you do have to get up early in order to get it, so we didn’t get a whole lot of sleep our first night together, but nothing stopped us from spending the whole day walking around the town. We began our day at the Anne Frank House. It was very touching and emotional to walk up the same stairs that led to the famous attic and walk through the secret door behind the bookcase to get to the hiding place of the Franks; the whole walk through the house left everyone a bit speechless.

After the house we proceeded to get a snack of chips (of course) and walked around the shops in the city. It was quite a feat trying to dodge the bicycles (which were everywhere!) and the “coffee shops” (which is definitely not where you want to be if you want to buy a cup of coffee) especially when my eyes were shut for one reason or another. You see, I didn’t realize just how . . . promiscuous my ancestors were, so I was either shielding my eyes from things I didn’t really want to see or closing my eyes because the birds were trying to attack me. I’m not joking, for some reason this past week the birds have been out to get me. I have counted at least 10 birds that have tried to hit my head with their wings, feet, or whole body as they fly by. Crows, pigeons, and sea gulls have all almost taken off my head. In Amsterdam right in the center of the city by the National Monument there were hundreds of pigeons walking around. When you mix pigeons and people, you are bound to get a couple of flushed birds every few minutes. I don’t know why it happened to be the minutes that I walked by them, but maybe they’ve had their fun now.

Despite it promiscuity, Amsterdam is a cute little place with boat houses along every canal, colorful houses, and friendly people. It was fun to look at all of the clogs, beautiful delft porcelain, and walk along the streets that my great-great-grandparents may have walked along many years ago. Although it was not Tulip season, the colors of the trees were quite beautiful and picturesque along the water.

After walking around the town for almost 12 hours straight, we were definitely ready to find a cozy bed to sleep on and rest our feet. Sadly for us, we had to catch an overnight bus to our next destination. So, we took some last minute pictures, gathered our belongings, and said goodbye to the great time we had in the city and caught the bus (where I believe I finally stopped blushing).