Oh Amsterdam...

Our weekend at Amsterdam was a great time.  Although it got a little hectic since all 85 of us attended and we walked around in large groups sometimes, all in all it was a ton of fun.  The city is filled with canals and crooked architecture.  The city ranges from a centralized portion from the middle ages and has expanded to three more canals in the Golden Age of the 17th century, and obviously more canals and expansion since then.  

However all of the houses/apartment building are very thin and deep due to taxes on the width of the house, and some are even slanted forward to move boxes into the top floors without hitting the outside walls.  So, as you can imagine everything is just a little off... which adds this great charm to the city.

  

And of course when the sun went down... most of the city did not go to sleep, and the atmosphere was lively, exciting and ridiculous!!  Some of the museums we went to were the Rijks Museum, which houses many Rembrandt paintings and other more historically based works; the Anne Frank Huis, which was extremely well-done and very powerful; the Jewish Historical Museum, which was surprisingly very interesting and taught me a lot about a religion that I know very little; and my favorite, the Van Gogh Museum.  Seeing some of my favorite paintings actually look as if they are in motion from his specific brush strokes was compelling, and extremely different than any print or poster I have ever seen.  We ate at a great Indonesian Restaurant with the whole group, and the second night some friends and I went to a well-renowned restaurant called The Pancake Bakery.  

They were THE BEST PANCAKES I HAVE EVER EATEN!  Cate and I shared a PIZZA-sized pancake with pear halves, ice cream, whipped cream, and chocolate sauce... We were all crawling as we left the restaurant!  And of course, as Amsterdam is known for we all enjoyed the interesting night life and a walk through the Red Light District where the Emersonians decided to partake in a show at the Moulin Rouge Club... we'll just say it was an experience and fulfilled my quota of seeing any type of Burlesque show in the future!  

All in all the trip was great.  My favorite artists, pictures at the "I AMsterdam" statue, and many delicious treats.  Cannot wait for Dublin next week, where we will be in a smaller group and on our own!!

... as the wacky experiences continue.

On a winding road...

Before I get to what happened this weekend, I wanted to touch upon the adventures that happened earlier in the week.  So, I rented a bile for the semester, and I have to say that has been my best investment thus far.  Not only do I feel like I am losing my American skin, but the neighborhoods are ideal to bike around.  Since my class was cancelled Tuesday afternoon, a group of friends and I biked into the neighboring town called Venray.  Venray is this small village about 10km away, and it took us about 45 minutes to bike there.  We passes plenty of Dutch teenagers biking home from school and other adults (including some women in HIGH-HEELED boots) on their way home from work.  However, I guess we misinterpreted one of the signs and ended up biking on the wrong side of a bridge... next to some rather large trucks.  But we survived, and made sure to check twice the next time!  We passed fields of sheep and horses and small quaint houses while watching a beautiful horizon... because the Netherlands is rather flat, we could literally see for miles.  Once we got into town we walked around, grabbed a snack at the bakery and headed home.  Although it was a little brisk on the way back, we made it.  I cannot wait to go back when the trees are green!

The day before we left for Amsterdam, I took a day trip into Venlo, a small city about 45 minutes away.

We walked  around a shopping center area, similar to Downtown Crossing in Boston, and had dinner at a great little pub called Hapas.  It was obviously family-run, and the owner sat down with us to translate the menu.  There was also a large dog roaming through the restaurant called Back.  With a great atmosphere and some fun conversations we had a wonderful time.  Holland is beautiful, and I can't wait to explore more cities and towns like these.

As far as classes go, I have only had two of them.  My other two were cancelled, and look forward to them this week.  One of the classes I had is called "The World Since 1914" with this wonderful German professor named Ralph.  He has a great sense of humor and is a professional curator/historian at a museum in Germany.  We went through a complete overview of the class from right before the Great War in 1914 to the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989.  He mad it clear that we are living in a progressive era seeing that he, being German, is able to teach the Holocaust and WWII to American students.  I am extremely excited for his lectures.  As for acting, I adore my teacher Sophie.  She is a bright red-headed Belgian woman with a great French accent.  Sophie also teaches Tai Chi, so for the first two hours of class we did a traditional Tai Chi warm-up.  She also works a lot with the physicalization aspects in theater with mask work and clowning... which I cannot wait to explore!!! 

Biking and hiking through the paths of Holland made me realize how simple things are here.  From the mandatory recycling lars, to the excessive biking, and small houses, I am beginning to see eye to eye with my Aunt Diane who was able to spend so much time in Germany and surrounding countries by simple traveling town by town meeting people.  Even trying some Dutch out on the locals makes them excited for your efforts.  I may be falling in love with this country a little too much...

... as the discoveries continue.