Amsterdam :)

hello loyal followers, i hope you all have been doing well. This past weekend, Annie, Megs, and I went to Amsterdam. Last week was fairly uneventful, just a lot of work...just like the next few days will be. But anyways.

We left at 4:30am on Thursday from Annie's house in Nyon to walk to the train station and meet Megan. We had an easyjet flight at 6:30am and got into Amsterdam around 8:30. It was absolutely pouring and cold and we had the entire day to occupy ourselves as we couldnt go to the house we were couchsurfing at until 6:30pm when the guy got off work. We walked for only a few minutes and went into the first cafe/restaurant we came to to eat breakfast and where we proceeded to spend 2 1/2 hours talking and waiting for the rain to subside. We met up with Meg's friend Dirk (a guy she met in South Africa this past summer who lives right outside the city). He showed us around in the afternoon and we did some shopping and stuff.

the attic where we slept...there must be something about attics as it was the second weekend in a row..

At around 6pm, we took the bus 20 minutes outside the city to this guys house where we were couchsurfing. He was just getting home so that worked out. His name was Stefan and he was perfectly nice and accommodating, just soo weird. He's 32, and we think that he's just kind of lonely so hosts couchsurfers to have people around, who knows. But it worked for us as we saved at least $150 on a hostel.

our street...it reminded us of the neighborhood that Harry Potter lives in

We stayed in that night as we had barely slept at all the night before. The next day we slept till around 12:30pm then spent the afternoon in the city. Amsterdam is sooo amazing. It's a bummer that the only thing you hear about it in the states is about the weed, because the city is so cool. Central Station (the main train station) is in the north of the city on the water, and then canals go out from that in arcs, here's a pic:

so cool right??!

So Friday we just explored and did some shopping. We had thais food for dinner which was absolutely amazing.

Saturday was really fun too. We explored in the afternoon and went to the flower market.

flower market...mom you would have loved it!

That night, Dirk had gotten us tickets for museumnacht (museum night) where you get into all the museums you want form 7pm-1am. We managed to go to all the ones we wanted which included the Anne Frank house, the Van Gogh museum, the Rijksmuseum (dutch history), and a photo museum. We had a blast and took the bus home around 3am (I love public transportation in Europe, I am seriously obsessed. The US is desperately lacking).

this is in the red light district, annie and i thought it was funny with the swans

Yesterday (Sunday) was a great last day. Up until then, it had been overcast and on and off raining all the days, but the afternoon yesterday was sooo beautiful.

megs and my christmas card pic on a tree at Vondelpark

Sun and a bright blue sky. We walked around Vondelpark in the afternoon, a great area that reminded me of Central Park in NYC. It's so fun because dogs are allowed off the leash literally everywhere. So there were people and dogs and lots of music also.

one of many canals, they all have boats along them

Oh, the other great thing about Amsterdam is the bikes. They are seriously everywhere. There are separate paths/marked off areas for bikes on every road and it definitely takes some getting used to to make sure you look both ways when crossing the street. We almost got hit a few times...but by the last day we finally got the hang of it.

this is just a small sampling of all the bikes...

Last night was fun, we made dinner at the house and Dirk came over as well.

meg, dirk, stefan, me at dinner

We went to sleep fairly early as we had to wake up at 5:15 to catch our train. All the traveling went well, without a hitch. We had to take a bus from the house to the Amsterdam train station, then a train to the airport, then the flight, then another train back to Nyon from the Geneva airport. This afternoon was great, we played football all afternoon. We played 6 v 6 which was a total blast.

This week looks fairly dull and busy. I have to work my butt off the next few days, then I leave for Germany on Friday to visit my friend Jonathan who was an exchange student my senior year of high school. I'm really excited to go there and see him, but also kind of bummed as its my last full weekend in Switzerland :( We leave in less than 2 weeks, Saturday November 21 I think, for Croatia for 2 1/2 weeks. Then we get to come back to Switzerland for one night before Annie Megs and I leave for Dublin for a few days.

So thats pretty much everything going on in my life for the moment. It feels great to be back in Switzerland. It felt like coming home when we were flying over back to Geneva. I have a problem of getting adjusted too well to wherever I am and never want to leave. I'm trying not to think about the fact that I only have like 10 days left...But it will be fine. Croatia should be fun and I'll be with all my friends which is whats most important. And we'll get to have a last night in Geneva as we fly back on Monday December 7 and then we don't fly to Dublin until Tuesday afternoon (December 8). On the plus side, when I get home, it means I get to see all you fantastic people, which as much as I love this trip and Switzerland, I will be so happy to see everyone when I get back. That's about all. I probably won't update to much until next week when I get back from Germany. I hope everyone's doing well. Hugs and Love.