Wednesday November 23:
After I blogged last Wednesday my roommates and I went hog wild for American food at TBone Station. (which is so overpriced for what it is).
Thursday November 21:
Thursday I had no class so I went shopping, naturally. I picked up some tall socks and a new scarf for Amsterdam.
One thing I won't miss about being abroad is the fact that going shopping means at least an hour excursion because you have to walk to Via del Corso and walk home. This day it was pouring rain and then was sunny and hot which made it hard to dress for..
I did get the chance to stop by a stationary store near the Pantheon and snapped this pic:
Thursday night all my roommates had left for their respective trips and I was home alone. :( It is really rare that I am ever anywhere completely by myself. Living with 6 other people is all I have ever known how to do so it was weird to be in our big old apartment by myself. BUT, I was very productive in doing homework.
My flight to Amsterdam was at 6am, aka leave for the airport at 4... I pulled one of the only successful all-nighters of my life. A friend of mine was nice enough to come over and keep my company via the movie Skyfall and some beers. By the time 4am rolled around I looked a bit like this:
Friday November 22:
Friday morning I arrived in Amsterdam around 9:30am. From the airport I had to get a train ticket to central station and then figure out how to get to my hostel by myself in time for the 10:30am tour.
My first impression of Amsterdam was that there was a lot more water than I expected. I knew there were canals, but I had no idea how many. Also, it was cold... Reaaaally cold. I finally found my hostel through some Christmas market stands/streets and locked up my backpack and coat. Just after that I met my WSA tour group in the lobby/bar/lounge at the front of our hostel. The tour was a group of all girls; 12 of us actually.
Vini and Georgia had a later flight we got going without them. First stop was getting on the tram to go to one of the markets. My roommate had gone to Amsterdam earlier in the semester and brought back these delicious waffle cookies and I was determined to seek them out. They are called "stroopwafels" or syrup waffles and they are SO GOOD. In the fresh market there was a stand selling fresh ones for 1.50 Euros. Sold.
From the market we went to the Van Gogh Museum where vini and Georgia were headed to meet up with us. Our whole tour group had tickets and waited outside for them for a bit, but I told everyone to go ahead and that we'd meet them inside. Vini and George went too far on the tram there so I had to wait for them to get all turned around in the right direction aka me standing out front of the museum in the freezing wind. Once we got inside, we toured the 4 floors of Van Gogh masterpieces but were all too distracted telling eachother stories/catching up since they visited me in October. Did get a picture with one of my favorite (and very underrated) Van Gogh's:
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| Crows over a Wheat field |
From the Van Gogh museum, our tour guide took us to the IAmsterdam sign which is deceptively smaller than it looks in pictures. I lucked out with the "m" though:
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| Everything was also all decked out for Christmas :) |
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| and starbucks |
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| clogs on clogs on clogs |
We all woke up and refreshed in time for dinner and went to a very sub-par Noodles and Company type place that tried to be Italian but failed in comparison to the food in Rome. Vin, George and I ordered a bottle of white wine for example that looked, tasted and smelled more like water with grape flavoring. Bleh.
After dinner was our tour of the Red Light District which is unlike anything I've ever experienced. Ever. In Amsterdam, prostitution is 100% legal and the women have complete control over who they do/don't let past their red lit up windows. Our tour guide took (all of us girls) to what he calls "the big momma section" which is exactly how it sounds. This area of the red light district is ironically right next to a Protestant church.
As we continued on, I was kinda surprised how many girls in windows there were. Each section has a certain type of girl, from Big Momma to girls that looked like Victorias Secret Models. It was pretty crazy. We also saw he-she's. which look way more like she's. They get the most traffic in Amsterdam. Simple supply-demand economics, I guess. Our red light tour also included a 2Euro Peep Show if you were so interested. Vini, Georgia and I decided stroopwafels were a better use of our 2Euro coins. PS if We really wanted to see naked women we could just go to a womens locker room in the states. No thanks. (or you live with Daniela Dunham. Hahah)
The funniest parts of the Red Light tour were:
1) watching guys get rejected by prostitutes outside the windows and trying to play it off that they had to tie their shoe.
2) the businesses that are trying to use up converted red light space naming their coffee shops "Quartiere Poutain" which in French is whore corner coffee shop. I guess you have to embrace that kind of association when you buy that real estate. :)
After the red light tour, we were on our own. My sorority sister suggested a Coffee Shop to us. So, yeah, we went. Hahaha
Saturday November 23:
Saturday was another early start, but was definitely one of the highlights of my trip: Diamond tour. We saw a 161,000Euro Princess Cut Diamond and a 330,000Euro Diamond ring.
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| We're engaged!!! Not haha |
After the Diamond tour we had lunch/breakfast the the Pancake Bakery and I got an Apple and Cheese pancake that was INCREDIBLE.
The other highlight of the trip was the Anne Frank House. I had kind of forgotten that the Frank family had lived in Amsterdam, but once I saw this on our itinerary, I was really excited to see living history in a way. The house that the family stayed in was actually Otto Frank's converted back room for his marmalade company. The home they lived in was so hidden; a bookcase hid a staircase up to the Annex that the family lived in for 2 years without ever going outside.
It was incredible how tangible everything is when you see the museum. You go room by room through their attic home and can see on the wall paper where the children's' heights were recorded, where Anne had collaged magazine clippings on her bedroom window, and, the most intense part for me, the stairs that went to the crawl space at the very top which had a skylight that was the family's only source of natural light at all... for two whole years. All of their curtains had to be drawn all hours of the day so that they could remain in hiding. I can't imagine what it would be like. I loved how Anne Frank's words from her diaries carried you through the museum. Her physical journals were there also, which was pretty surreal.
I really really enjoyed the atmosphere that Amsterdam had to offer. It is such a clean, fresh,(cold) city with really interesting canals and amazing food.
After Anne Frank house, we walked around the North Market and got world famous Apple Pie and mint tea:
After pie, it was time to recover from food comas back in the hostel. Our whole tour group went out to thai food and I got really really good green curry.
We also all went on a canal tour which was pretty awesome. By the time we got back to the hostel again, it was already 11pm. We were so exhausted and cold from being out all say that we just decided to go to bed instead of go out.
Sunday November 24:
Sunday morning we checked out of our hostels, stocked up on stroopwafels and headed to the train that took us to the airport. I went with Georgia and Vini early so I wouldn't have to go later by myself and ended sitting in my terminal for an extra 2 hours which sucked. I didn't get back to Rome until 10pm... from airport to train to bus... and by the time I was back I was way to exhausted to do anything...
Monday November 25:
Monday morning was my last New Testament class! So crazy that this semester is over already (well except for finals next week).
We also had both an italian and Food and Wine presentation to make... We literally ran to our market that we had to research for Food and Wine on the way to italian class:
Then we nailed our Italian presentation right after that...
We also had to cook our Secondo Piatto for Food and Wine class. We made Pan Seared Chicken with Rosemary which is a typical dish from the Emilia Romagna region.
Here's the final product:
We also bought a 6Euro mega bottle of Frascati from Conad to celebrate...and we finished it...
This morning we had a site visit at the Modern Art Museum in Rome, which I LOVED:
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| Degas |
My class is an Art History 101 and we just barely brushed on Modern Art. My whole class was so frustrated with modern art, but I loved it. I love that you can look at a piece of modern art and have absolutely no idea what is going on. Unlike Renaissance or Baroque where your subject matter and objective is clear, modern art is completely different.
Then went from art class to Food and Wine and got 100% on our presentation. WOO!
Came home and killed a bag of peanut m&ms, blogged, and booked my last flight to Prague!!!
Only 1 more day of class.
Only 1 week left of school.
Only 2 days until I go to Paris.
Only 9 days until Vienna and Salzburg.
Only 13 until Prague.
Then home? What?
It will be weird to be missing Thanksgiving this Thursday. The colder it gets in Rome, the more I want to be home, or even in Tahoe where I can have all my favorite foods and be with my family. Trying to soak up the last of the time I have left abroad... especially by subsitiuting Turkey dinner with seeing the newest Hunger Games movie with my best friend in Paris! :)
Devotissimo Suo & Happy Thanksgiving to all my friends stateside!!!
-M
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