Thanksgiving and Amsterdam

More days fly by faster and faster, and now it is the first of December. I still can't wrap my mind around the fact that I only have 2 1/2 weeks left. Honestly, this thought terrifies my roommates and I, and because of that we refuse to say the "L" word (leave/leaving).

With the well known, ever beloved holiday season approaching, my friends and I were feeling a bit down. For most of us, it was our first Thanksgiving away from home and our families. Although some people had their parents and siblings visit, there were a few of us with zero plans but a big appetite. Laura (my roommate) had her twin sister in town, so the three of us cooked a massive Thanksgiving feast: chicken, green beans, baked macaroni and cheese, mashed potatoes and gravy, caprese salad, corn pudding, sausage stuffing, and creamed spinach. It was fantastic; I honestly can't believe we made all that food with all the low-tech kitchenware we have. Other friends joined later on in the night. It was a fun night of Florence-family bonding and the obligatory round of beers at Finnegan's Irish Pub. 

The next day, I woke up at the ungodly hour of 4:30AM to catch a flight with my dear friend (and sorority sister) Lauren to AMSTERDAM! We decided to skip the annoyance of RyanAir and having to deal with trains/flights/buses and booked our flights through AirFrance, which ended up being cheaper. Luckily, we had a direct flight from Florence to Amsterdam, and we arrived in this gorgeous city at 9AM. We booked the StayOkay hostel, which was more geared towards study abroad students. We stayed in a 20 person all girls' room, which wasn't as bad as it sounds. There were maybe 8 girls in the room, and it was always quiet. Plus we got free breakfast, which saves a meal. Anyways, we found our way to the hostel, checked in, and began exploring the city. There was a little Christmas/food market close to our place, and we grabbed some quick Dutch food there. The architecture in Amsterdam is extremely unique and hilarious. The Dutch are known for being terrible architects, apparently. The buildings are tall and skinny; this makes it quite difficult to move furniture, items, or any other somewhat large item up the stairs. They were made this way because of the canals and trade industry back in the day. Because of this, they built hooks to create a pulley system. Since items would bump into the houses and break windows, they though that building the houses with a lean towards the water would help. This is why the buildings look disheveled and might topple over. It took them centuries later on to change this style and actually EXTEND the pulleys from the building. WOW. Anyways, we continued to explore the city and gather our bearings. We decided not to use the tram that weekend because it was easy (and free) to walk. We then went over to the Rijksmuseum, a famous museum in Amsterdam exhibiting some of the most famous Dutch art, including Rembrandt, Frans Hals, and Vermeer. It was honestly extremely refreshing to see art that was NOT related to Italian Renaissance. We also enjoyed this part of town because it is a square full of museums and the "Iamsterdam" sign, which we took many pictures of. Tired from the walking and flights, we headed back to the hostel where we could finally put our stuff in the room and take a quick nap. We woke up at 9pm (ooops) and grabbed some dinner at an Irish pub, where we met this Irish jerk named Peter (how ironic...haha) and I was very disappointed to have a bad experience with an Irish person. He liked to tell us how much America sucks and our accents sound stupid. Cool, thanks bro.

Next day we woke up, bought our DISCOUNTED (yeaaahh!!) tickets from the front desk, and headed over to the Van Gogh Museum!! Because we got tickets in advance at the hostel, we were able to skip the long line. This was a phenomenal experience. The museum portrays much of the life of Van Gogh (he was born in the Netherlands, died in France) which includes about 200+ works. In addition to work by Van Gogh, the museum has a rich and varied collection of other 19th-century art. The artists represented include Impressionists, Post-Impressionists and others: Van Gogh’s friends and contemporaries, those who inspired him, and those who drew inspiration from him. Lauren and I absolutely loved it, the 12 Euro was worth it. Also, it was nice to NOT see any Renaissance pieces. Famous works include his Self Portrait, Bedroom, and Almond Blossom. After we finished up there, we got some lunch at another Irish pub (hey, it's cheap...) and then got delicious waffles at a stand...YUM!! Those were so good. Next on the itinerary was to visit the Heineken brewery! We also got discounted tickets to this place at the hostel and skipped the line. This was a neat experience, and very similar to Guinness and Jameson. We walked through the self guided tour, learned about the history and how it was made, got taught how to pour the perfect beer, saw many commercials, and then enjoyed a free drink. I enjoyed it, but it was a bit of sensory overload with all the flashing green. Still worth it. We shopped a little bit at the gift store and then headed back to our hostel. I cannot remember what we did for dinner, but we ended up back at the Irish Pub close to our hostel. This time, we talked to some English guys who also made fun of our accents. Do people not understand how rude that is? Oh well.

The next day, Lauren and I went on a free walking tour around the heart of Amsterdam. This was probably one of my favorite parts, because I learned so much about the city and it's history. We even walked in the Red Light District during the day, which was hilarious and awkward. We learned how it's a respected business here, and the Protestant Church next door (not kidding) thinks it's fine as long as it's not hurting everyone. We also learned that weed is NOT legal in Amsterdam; it is just decriminalized. They are NOT making it "illegal" on January 1st, but rather it will not be sold to tourists, who apparently make up the majority of the people that smoke it in the city. You can smoke it on the streets, but absolutely NOT in the smoking lounges of restaurants. If you get "caught" (the police don't enforce it much, which I guess is why people think it is legal there), it's the equivalent of a parking ticket. In all honestly, Amsterdam is NOT all about smoking weed and hookers. There's so much art and culture that I feel sometimes gets overlooked by this crazy image, when really this image is normal, everyday life. Overall, I learned a lot on this walking tour. We had to leave from it early to catch our reservation at the Anne Frank House! I pre-ordered tickets online, and for the THIRD time, we got to skip the 2-3 hour line and walk right in. This was an eye-opening, but somewhat depressing experience. It felt eerie to walk through her house, go into the secret bookcase, and see their bedrooms and the life they lived. The walls are covered with quotes from her diary, and movies portraying random interviews and clips from WW2. It made me sad to realize these people had to hide in this tiny place for 2 years (couldn't go outside, couldn't see other people, absolutely nothing) just because of who they were. We get taught these things in school, but this tour puts everything into a whole new perspective. I would definitely recommend to anyone who visits Amsterdam to go see this museum/house. At the end of the tour, we saw her diary, random letters, and first editions of her diary published in 70 different languages. After that, we headed out and grabbed some Dutch pancakes (mhmmm) for a late lunch/early dinner, then shopped around the city a little bit and eventually back to our hostel. We agreed that the Irish Pub was jinxed, so we decided to hang out in the hostel bar and see where the night would take us. Hilariously enough, we meet a group of Scottish people who happened to be the friendliest and most hilarious people I have EVER met. I could hardly understand a word they were saying (Scottish accent is very deep and in the back of the throat), but not once did they make fun of our accents, and instead said it was a cute accent! Score. We ended up hanging out with them for the rest of the time, and even saw a bit of the Red Light District at night. Surprisingly, it wasn't that crazy. I expected it to be something similar to Las Vegas, but it was actually calm and much like Florence. It ended up being the best night we had in Amsterdam, and I made many new friends. :)

The next day, we woke up early (ugh) and traveled home. It was a rough experience. First, Lauren couldn't find her phone. Then, they couldn't find my reservation, and I had to wait in a long line only to realize that I had entered my name online as "Najim Elizabeth" instead of "Elizabeth Najim"....Oh Christ. After feeling quite stupid, we finally got on our first flight, which was horribly delayed due to dumb taxiing and "extra cleaning." This caused us to miss our second flight, and we got horribly lost in the stupid Paris airport. Luckily they put us on the next flight, which when we finally figured out where we were and how to get there, we made it on the plane and fly back to Florence. 

When landing in Florence, I had the strangest feeling. It's the exact same one every time I land in Wichita, the feeling where you are happy to be home. I never truly realized it, but Florence is my home. I go to school here, travel, have a routine, have amazing friends, buy my own food, do my own laundry, clean, and enjoy life. It's funny how homesick I was at first, and now I'm not ready to come home at all. But, I'm not thinking about that right now!! :)

And the pictures you have been waiting for....

Our Thanksgiving Dinner!

The crew/family at Finnegan's 

Display room of Van Gogh's room 

Posing at the Iamsterdam sign

Welcome Sisters and Brothers!

Lauren and I enjoying Dutch waffles

So true.

Pouring perfect Heineken 

Red Light District during the day

Leaning/funny houses

Walked through a pleasant park

Pretty church and statue

Long line to Anne Frank house/museum

Our cute hostel

Teaching AGD sign to Scottish friends

I am officially done with all of my trips. I am in Florence for the remainder of the semester (only 15 days) and I plan on enjoying every last second here while I can. When at first I thought time was infinite here, it has slipped past my fingers faster than I ever expected. Now I've got papers to write, finals to take, bags to pack, and goodbyes to say. But let's not talk about that right now :)

Ciao!