Amsterdam (day late, no internet)

I just got back from my 4 day trip to Amsterdam. It was a mandatory excursion planned and guided by Emerson. 5 museums in 3 days… a lot to take in but most of them were really interesting!

Friday morning was a early bus ride into the city, followed by a tour of Amsterdam with one of the professors, who treated the group to coffee, and then the Rijks Museum (lots of art and a boring tour guide). Friday night we were free to explore, so a group of friends and I hit up a Coffeeshop and then walked through the Red Light District. Woahh. I’d heard it was barely-clad women in windows but I hadn’t fully mentally prepared myself for… barely-clad women in windows. You don’t fully experience Amsterdam if you don’t visit a Coffeeshop and the Red Light District!

Saturday started off with the Amsterdam History Museum, which was a good mix of art and interesting history and a more-in-tune-with-her-audience tour guide. We saw some drinking glasses that had a built in drinking game! You spun the windmill and a clock hand rotated to different numbers- the number it landed on was the number of glasses you drank! After a yummy lunch with Pat and Emily at a small pizza place (with a giant “individual” pizza!), we were split into groups to visit different museums. I was fortunate enough to go to the Van Gogh museum… I absolutely loved it. I got to walk around on my own exploring his works from the beginning (lots of darker colors), through his pointillism experimentation (pastels, what?), his time in Paris, and time in the asylum. It was incredible to see how his work changed over time. I’ve never been a museum-loving person but I LOVED this. I would go back in a heartbeat. Saturday night consisted of a group at a pub for a few hours, followed by a crazy (and crazy expensive) club called Escape. So much dancing, so much fun!

Sunday, our last official day with the whole group, began with a small(ish) group trip to the Anne Frank House. I am SO thankful I made it there on this trip. A sobering and emotional morning that I wouldn’t give up for anything. I thought about my cast from high school, and wished they were there to experience it with me. You get to walk through the empty hiding places (Otto wanted it to stay empty- as he has returned to it), saw the pictures Anne had posted on her wall to make it more interesting, saw Anne and Margot’s heights marked on the wall through the 25 months they were there. That was spooky- I was staring at the lines for Margot, straight in front of me at eye level. As I walked outside, the church bells that Anne heard and commented on in her diary rang. Eerie moment.

After that we were free to explore and make our way back to the Castle. I’d made arrangements to stay an extra day with Sean and Christina, so we got lunch and hit up the foam, a photography museum. It featured American photographers, which was weird to look at from a European perspective. Really interesting though, and found a few I think Dad would like. Sunday night the three of us had dinner at a really cute, quiet hipter-esque place run by students with really good food. Early night in with picture-taking and “I Amsterdam” the next morning before finishing up with some last-minute shopping and heading back to the Castle. We navigated our first city on our own!

Photos here http://www.flickr.com/photos/olivia_moriarty/