no downtime!

its been a while since i got back from travel break but since its the last month of the semester things have been insane. i don't have time to give a play by play of Amsterdam (and also tell about all that's happened the last to weeks) but here's a bit of what we did on our visit.

Lots and lots of just walking the streets. it was such a pretty city! i loved the canals and the boats and bikes and shoebox houses. it was small and easy to get around so wandering and exploring was great.

ok here's just a list of all the stuff we did and then ill put captions on the pictures (I was REALLY bad about taking pictures a lot of these i got from Sarah)

Wednesday:

Sarah Amy and Django picked me up from the airport that night and after we went to Djangos to drop my stuff off we headed out to explore the city at night. we went by his middle school and through a part of the red light district. his house is right in the center of the city next to the red light district

the lights on the water at night were beautiful.

Thursday:

went to the Rjiksmuseum and learned a lot about dutch history (along with seeing some Rembrandt's)

Sarah, Amy and i wandered on our own to museumplien, along canals, shops, saw some street dancers and a small ice skating rink then went back to djangos.

met Noah, one of his good friends

headed to Djangos moms house across town for dinner with her, his step-dad and younger step brother.

his mom made 'hodgepodge potatoes and u-shaped sausage" very filling! very tasty! it was wonderful to get a homecooked meal without having to make it ourselves.

walked through the red light district, watched the swans get fed and  had a two hour plus conversation about prostitution, how its viewed, customers vs workers, is paying for sex driven by a need or a want, ... it was a long debate.

Friday:

Sarah any and I went to the Anne Frank house to see where they hide during the time she was writing her diary. it was very powerful. my favorite part was at the end when then set up a room with videos talking about issues going on around the world that deal with clashing cultures and different views of right and wrong. after the videos a question would be asked and everyone in the room could vote in their answer. then the vote result for the room was shown and then the results from everyone who has answered the question at the museum. it was so interesting to see some of the issues still going on today and the spread of opinions people have about them.

got french fries with mayo (a bit much for me, but Sarah and Amy liked them)

walked out to the Albert Cuyp market and wandered around i tried pffertjes (mini sweet pancakes eaten with butter and powered sugar) and they got a chocolate covered waffle

got mini hamburgers for lunch

walked out to the library---> the view from the top was AMAZING!!!!!!!!

for dinner that night we had Roti (so good) and fried bananas for dessert :)

Saturday:

wandered the city a few hours in the morning

took a bike ride and ferry out to the old dike (we only had three bikes so i rode dutch above the back wheel on djangos bike, it was easier that it looks!

got oliebollen (spherical fried dough things eaten with powdered sugar. they can be plain, or have raisins, banana, or apple in them YUM YUM YUM!!)

road out to the country a bit then back through the city and to djangos again

for dinner we went to a cafe django goes to withhis friends. Noah came too and we ate,had beer, played pinball, and an auction card game

then we went to the student theater for the 'sneak peak' movie. you buy your ticket but don't know what film will be playing until you get there! we ended up seeing a British movie called "another year" after the movie Sarah and Amy went home and Django and i stayed and had some drinks with his friends Amber, Sarah, Rose and Boy ( haha i doubt that's how his name is spelled but that's how he pronounced it).

Sunday:

we slept in but Sarah and Amy got up to explore some more.

when we got up, we left the girls a note, got breakfast and headed over to his old high school.

I BIKED THROUGH THE CITY :D

as simple as that sounds, for those of you who know me on a bike you see why i am excited about it :) it was something i was nervous for, but i did and it ended up being great. i cant wait to get my bike here and ride around the city when the weather is better :P

after a stop at the flower market we headed back to find Sarah and Amy

we all went to the store and got stuff for dinner before our flight then hung out a bit at Djangos and headed to the train station to get to the airport.

staying with someone who grew up in the city made the trip a lot less touristy than the first week of my break. the pace was slower and i felt more like i was visiting a friend than visiting a new city.

 it was great to see djangos hometown :)

  

now for some pictures:

at one point on our long ride i borrowed Amy's bike :)

by the time i got back to Copenhagen i was exhausted!! thankfully i had a full day to sleep before roommates started getting home from Russia, Greenland and Spain

a great thing about us all having our own trips the second week is hearing about each others experiences and learning about places i didn't get to see yet.
 hopefully someday i'll get to those places too :D