This past weekend, 4 of my roommates and I ventured to Amsterdam. Even though this was our second trip to a different country, it was the first trip that we planned everything ourselves for. Our first mistake was flying out of Pisa at 9 in the morning, meaning we had to catch a bus in Florence at 6am. Flying out of Pisa was a breeze. It was probably the smallest airport that I had ever step foot in, which is nice because I will be flying out there a handful of times later in the semester. Getting to Amsterdam was quite surprising. The Amsterdam airport honestly gives O'Hare a run for its money, but the biggest surprise to us was not the quality of the airport, but that you don't have to go through customs or anything of that sort. After last week's Hostel experience, it was comforting to check in to the Marriot for two nights (between the 5 of us in the room, it was actually very close to the same price as a hostel would have been). After putting down our stuff it was time to explore the city. We walked around the city for a little while and let me tell you; looking left and right before crossing the street has never been so important. Between buses, trams, cars and bikes, there were multiple close encounters between vehichles and myself during the weekend. After another week of pasta we were all craving a break, so when we saw a sports bar we jumped at the opportunity. It was the best decision of our trip, as we all had cheeseburgers that, between the combination of its taste and how long it had been since any of us had ate one, was the best I had in a long time. After our late lunch we did more exploring before heading to the Van Gogh Museum. It was cool to see the In the Colors of the Night exhibit and see so many of his paintings. After a long-overdue nap we went to dinner at a Mexican restaurant, then explored the town and the bustling nightlife afterwards. Saturday morning we woke up and wandered over to the Anne Frank house, for what was my favorite tour of the weekend and maybe my semester so far. It was weird and cool at the same time being in the building where 8 Jews hid for almost 2 years. However, it did put a damper on my feelings towards Amsterdam. It was such a nice city, and I know that so much of Europe was bad to Jews as well, but being in a city, and a building that led to the death of Jews really made me think about where I was and how much has changed in the past 60-70 years. After a lunch of shoarma, and some more exploring we went to the Heinekin Experience. It was a cool exhibit and a few "free" beers made it a nice afternoon. After another nap and a less-than-stellar dinner, we went to a Chicago-style comedy show for night time entertainment. It was pretty good, no Second City, but definitely an entertaining few hours. After another early departure, it was really nice to get back to Florence. The fact that it was 50 degrees and sunny here was nice, but even better was the fact that we have visitors from school. Lisa and her Granada crew (Lee and Kathy included) got into Florence yesterday, and after a few hours of touring Florence with them, it was time for a nap and the end of a great weekend. It is really nice having some familiar faces stop through your city, and it is even cooler having your "own" city to walk people around. Can't wait for the rest of the Champaign crew to come through this weekend. Hope everyone is doing well. Until next time...
A Presto,
JK
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