February 7th, 2014 (Friday)
Jordan, Marisa, and I left Luxembourg City right after classes on Friday. The train ride was pretty standard; nothing spectacular happened and I slept for a big part of the time. We arrived at Amsterdam Centraal around 7-8:00 pm and stopped for dinner right away. Then, we took our time getting to our hostel and just looked around the city. We figured out that although Amsterdam itself is touristy, there aren't a whole lot of tourist attractions. There are plenty of things to do and see, but it's mostly shopping and simply walking around and looking at everything. We got to our hostel only to find out we were sharing a room with three (very attractive) British guys about our age who were also in Amsterdam for the weekend. They were super nice though, and we didn't really end up seeing them that much except for at night when we all got back. Marisa, Jordan, and I walked around once we got everything unpacked in our room, but didn't have enough energy to do much else. It's crazy how many people ride their bikes there; you very rarely saw anyone driving a car. It was also super intriguing (and absolutely beautiful) how there are just random canals in the middle of the squares. It's something you would never see anywhere in the US.
February 8th, 2014 (Saturday)
On our way to exploring the city on our first full day, we ended up running into a massive street market that went down for at least a mile. This place had everything: any kind of food imaginable including homemade teas, coffees, and chocolates; all kinds of clothes; and even stuff like shampoo, towels, razors, etc. We ended up eating chocolate covered waffles from one of the vendors there, and got freshly made juice as well. After that, we headed toward Rijkmuseum, a massively famous art museum in Amsterdam. We didn't go inside, but there were all kinds of street performers playing under its arch. Behind the building were the famous "I Amsterdam" letters, so we took pictures with those. We ended up seeing two of our other friends, Angelina and Megan there, so Angelina and I climbed on top of one of the letters! After the adventure of almost falling off the "t" due to rain and wind, Marisa, Jordan, and I checked out a couple of gift shops in the museum district before grabbing a quick bite to eat at Cafe Oude Wester and watched a couple of street performances before we went to the Anne Frank House, which is what we had all been most looking forward to. I honestly can't even describe what it was like being in that house...we were all truly speechless. We were able to see Anne's actual diary and walk through the rooms that she and the other seven hid out in for two years. It was such a small space. We also got to see the actual moving bookcase that was used to conceal the annex off from the rest of the house. The museum also had all kinds of copies of Anne Frank's diary translated in over 70 languages, as well as the actual Oscar one actress won for her role in the movie based off of the diary. The part of the museum that got to me the most though was actually the bathroom, which sounds funny. But the bathroom contained a mirror, the same mirror that was there when the Franks and the other families were living in the house. Looking into that mirror and seeing myself and knowing that Anne and the others looked into that same mirror and saw themselves was just absolutely amazing, but in such a terrible way since the things they were put through were absolutely horrendous and completely unjustified. The museum also had several video interviews of Anne's father, Otto, the only one of the family who survived the Holocaust. He spoke about what it was like reading his daughter's diary after she died, as well as why he didn't feel like he could see the play and movie adaptations. It was heartbreaking, but incredibly thought-provoking and even inspiring in a strange kind of way. After we finished up there, we met up with Angelina and Megan again and walked through the Red Light District, which wasn't at all what I expected it to be. I felt completely comfortable and safe, especially since I was in a group, you just of course had to be careful about making eye contact and respectful about taking pictures. It's such a touristy area that there were families with their kids there. I know that Amsterdam is supposed to be a huge party place, but we were so exhausted that our "partying" consisted of splitting a bottle of Smirnoff Ice. Woohoo.
February 9, 2014 (Sunday)
Today was mostly filled with traveling. We hit up the Van Gogh Museum in the morning, which was absolutely incredible. I was disappointed my favorite painting (Starry Night) wasn't there, but it was amazing getting to see so many famous artworks in person. We grabbed some pancakes on the way out from Hans and Grietje (Hansel and Gretel) and had hoped to take a canal tour, but weren't going to have enough time since it was a six hour train ride back to Luxembourg. We got back around 10:00 pm. Overall, it was a great trip: it was nice traveling in a small group, we didn't get lost at all, and we got to see so many beautiful places within Amsterdam. But one of the best things about the city was its whole aura. You could just feel the open-mindedness and acceptance. It's the kind of place where its citizens respect all kinds of cultures and identities, and felt very inclusive and accepting of freedom of expression, some values I wish were more prevalent in the Midwest United States.
Jordan, Marisa, and I left Luxembourg City right after classes on Friday. The train ride was pretty standard; nothing spectacular happened and I slept for a big part of the time. We arrived at Amsterdam Centraal around 7-8:00 pm and stopped for dinner right away. Then, we took our time getting to our hostel and just looked around the city. We figured out that although Amsterdam itself is touristy, there aren't a whole lot of tourist attractions. There are plenty of things to do and see, but it's mostly shopping and simply walking around and looking at everything. We got to our hostel only to find out we were sharing a room with three (very attractive) British guys about our age who were also in Amsterdam for the weekend. They were super nice though, and we didn't really end up seeing them that much except for at night when we all got back. Marisa, Jordan, and I walked around once we got everything unpacked in our room, but didn't have enough energy to do much else. It's crazy how many people ride their bikes there; you very rarely saw anyone driving a car. It was also super intriguing (and absolutely beautiful) how there are just random canals in the middle of the squares. It's something you would never see anywhere in the US.
February 8th, 2014 (Saturday)
On our way to exploring the city on our first full day, we ended up running into a massive street market that went down for at least a mile. This place had everything: any kind of food imaginable including homemade teas, coffees, and chocolates; all kinds of clothes; and even stuff like shampoo, towels, razors, etc. We ended up eating chocolate covered waffles from one of the vendors there, and got freshly made juice as well. After that, we headed toward Rijkmuseum, a massively famous art museum in Amsterdam. We didn't go inside, but there were all kinds of street performers playing under its arch. Behind the building were the famous "I Amsterdam" letters, so we took pictures with those. We ended up seeing two of our other friends, Angelina and Megan there, so Angelina and I climbed on top of one of the letters! After the adventure of almost falling off the "t" due to rain and wind, Marisa, Jordan, and I checked out a couple of gift shops in the museum district before grabbing a quick bite to eat at Cafe Oude Wester and watched a couple of street performances before we went to the Anne Frank House, which is what we had all been most looking forward to. I honestly can't even describe what it was like being in that house...we were all truly speechless. We were able to see Anne's actual diary and walk through the rooms that she and the other seven hid out in for two years. It was such a small space. We also got to see the actual moving bookcase that was used to conceal the annex off from the rest of the house. The museum also had all kinds of copies of Anne Frank's diary translated in over 70 languages, as well as the actual Oscar one actress won for her role in the movie based off of the diary. The part of the museum that got to me the most though was actually the bathroom, which sounds funny. But the bathroom contained a mirror, the same mirror that was there when the Franks and the other families were living in the house. Looking into that mirror and seeing myself and knowing that Anne and the others looked into that same mirror and saw themselves was just absolutely amazing, but in such a terrible way since the things they were put through were absolutely horrendous and completely unjustified. The museum also had several video interviews of Anne's father, Otto, the only one of the family who survived the Holocaust. He spoke about what it was like reading his daughter's diary after she died, as well as why he didn't feel like he could see the play and movie adaptations. It was heartbreaking, but incredibly thought-provoking and even inspiring in a strange kind of way. After we finished up there, we met up with Angelina and Megan again and walked through the Red Light District, which wasn't at all what I expected it to be. I felt completely comfortable and safe, especially since I was in a group, you just of course had to be careful about making eye contact and respectful about taking pictures. It's such a touristy area that there were families with their kids there. I know that Amsterdam is supposed to be a huge party place, but we were so exhausted that our "partying" consisted of splitting a bottle of Smirnoff Ice. Woohoo.
February 9, 2014 (Sunday)
Today was mostly filled with traveling. We hit up the Van Gogh Museum in the morning, which was absolutely incredible. I was disappointed my favorite painting (Starry Night) wasn't there, but it was amazing getting to see so many famous artworks in person. We grabbed some pancakes on the way out from Hans and Grietje (Hansel and Gretel) and had hoped to take a canal tour, but weren't going to have enough time since it was a six hour train ride back to Luxembourg. We got back around 10:00 pm. Overall, it was a great trip: it was nice traveling in a small group, we didn't get lost at all, and we got to see so many beautiful places within Amsterdam. But one of the best things about the city was its whole aura. You could just feel the open-mindedness and acceptance. It's the kind of place where its citizens respect all kinds of cultures and identities, and felt very inclusive and accepting of freedom of expression, some values I wish were more prevalent in the Midwest United States.