Road Trip

The day after Amsterdam, our "buddies" who were assigned by the university took it upon themselves to arrange a fun-filled tour day for all the exchange students. I have to say they were so sweet for doing this, and it was so much fun!

They rented a van and we all pilled in. Notice in the picture there is a heart sticker on the van. This was our "LOVE BUS"



First ont he agenda, they took us to a cheese factory. Honestly, i have never eated so much chease in my entire life, as i have here in Rotterdam.



Next, we went to a "clog" factory. A clog is a wooden shoe Dutch people used to wear back in the good ol' days... and now there just for decorations.





Afterwards, we went to a beautiful remote city called Volendam. This is one of the biggest tourist attractions. The city is tiny with cute little houses and stores. We were going to take a boat ride out to a different island, but as you can see on the picture the water was frozen over. It looked so beautiful but COLD!





Then we had a typical Dutch lunch. A huge pancake with strawberies on top and whipped cream ( i got ice cream in stead ;) yumm) So delicious.



Then they took us to the beaches of Netherlands. I swear it looked like sunset beach, sand was soft and there was a cool bar called "Tropen" right on the mountain overlooking the water.



It was a great day. So THANK YOU DANNY AND YVONNE ... You two are awsome!!

Amsterdam!!!

You can't imagine what this place is like. I was shocked, amazed, dumbfounded, surprised, and overall at the most craziest place i've ever been.

Let me start from the very beginning. We ( Elizabeth, Ella and I) spent 3 days and 2 nights in the glorious capital of Netherlands. For most of you, Amsterdam is known as the weed capital of the world. The three of us stayed in a cheap little hostel located in the heart of the red light district, right near Dam Square. Our little humble abode was called "The White Tulip."

It wasn't too bad really. 6 girls in one room, I slept on a top bunk bed ( first time in over 5 years) and it mostly felt like camp. The stairs to get to our room were the worst part. I feel like I lost my ghetto butt just from walking up and down those things.

The first night we decided to look around and just walk the streets. Imagine if you will, I'm walking with my video camera, walk into an alley and suddenly I hear people yelling at me to shut it off. YES YES YES... I walked into the red light district. LOL it was the craziest thing... I got so scared I started waving my camera around to try to turn it off and all the girls started hiding hehe... But we checked around the corner... I didn't get any footage :(

So this is what we saw. NASTY, Overweight, FUGLY women in lingerie standing in tiny cubicle rooms with red light and glass windows. You basically walk down the street and window shop for your pleasure. This one nasty woman started shaking her ass in the window ( I'm assuming to attract clientele... But unfortunately she was scaring them off!!!)



The next night we did a bit of cultural enlightened. We went to the Anne Frank Museum. It was amazing. You literally walk the rooms that those people lived in, they stayed in the house hiding from Nazi's for 25 months, and in the end were found and executed in Auschwitz. Only the father survived. It was touching. I think EVERYONE should visit this place once in their life.

But not to get too down on life... We did a bit of another cultural enlightened as well. We went to the Sex Museum and the marijuana Museum. BOTH WERE FUNNY AND very EDUCATIONAL!



The sex museum ... I wont get into too many details, but it was basically photo's of people dating all the way back to the 17 and 18th hundreds. For those of you who care to visit... I'm sure you'll find much inspiration here. LOL



As for the marijuana museum, it was also interesting. There was a lot of information about medical marijuana, but what was most interesting was the entire glass room with bushes of weed being grown right in front of your eyes.

They even had fabric that you could touch that was made from hemp ( part of the marijuana plant) and it felt very nice ;)

We also took a canal cruise through the famous canals of Amsterdam, and of course enjoyed delicious pizza while there.



The trip was great... And I can't wait to go back.



Almost forgot... While we were enjoying the streets of the red light district, a scary looking drug dealer approached us and asked if we wanted "ecstasy? Cocaine? viagra for your boyfriend?" LOL that just made my day!