Amsterdam

Amsterdam was such a lovely city to visit. The transport to get there was both exhausting and exciting. The trip from Swansea to Amsterdam was about 12 hours by bus and we went on a ferry to go across to France! We drove through there and through Belgium! We finally arrived on Friday morning and my friends and I left our luggage at the hostel luggage room and roamed about Amsterdam. We caught a free walking tour and learned a lot of interesting things about the city and the Dutch as well. The people there seemed nice, the architecture was so cool and it was all in general nice to visit in a bigger city than Swansea.

The canals were so nice, there was a wide variety of food. We also passed by the red light district (photos weren't allowed to be taken) and saw a bunch of their coffee shops. Friday night I shared a space cake with Molly. The effect wasn't that bad until I ate that night and went to bed with bloodshot eyes. Saturday morning we went to visit the Anne Frank house which was truly touching.

Saturday night was the best night I stayed. There was a special museum night on Saturday where I paid €17.50 to go to all the museums in Amsterdam and ride on the tram for free. Some museums had live music and food! Anne, Chris and I went to the (highly anticipated) Vincent Van Gogh museum first and stayed there for quite a while. Seeing his art live was breath taking!!! Van Gogh is a wonderful artist and while walking around the gallery I couldn't believe it!! I got to see my favorite painting by him, the Almond Blossom. Unfortunately pictures were forbidden or else I would have snapped photos like crazy but I didn't want to risk it. A band was performing while we were browsing and we spotted a cocktail bar in the underground level of the building. Anne commented on how this event felt like such a Gossip Girl event and I couldn't have agreed more!

We also went to a second museum that wasn't that far away. I would have liked to go to another one but my feet that night were killing me like crazy. I don't think I've ever walked this much in my life hahaha. The second museum we went to was adorable! There were tents and twinkle lights outside and they served all kinds of different foods. Amsterdam is so nice, very artsy and an overall chill and interesting city. It's the only city where you would find a bag of pot randomly on the ground and people would actually pass by it haha. I almost got hit about 10 times from the crazy bike riders though.

I'll end with pictures. It was a great weekend but for some reason on Sunday I missed the UK. It was the first time I thought of that and that's when I felt really content about my decision living and studying in the UK. I'm glad this place is starting to feel like home. California will always be home to me, but I'm glad this place is starting to rub on me. I would have guessed that it would considering I've admired the culture so much.

The narrowest house in Amsterdam

Next post will be about Bristol, which I just came back from this past weekend!