After surviving our exámenes parciales and taking my last one, Mujeres en la historia de España, on Thursday afternoon, I headed back to our apartment to pack and leave for the airport to spend the weekend in Amsterdam! It was going to be a bit of a shorter trip than we had hoped, flying out Thursday night and coming back VERY early on Sunday morning, but all 20 plus of us were excited for a weekend in Amsterdam. (There were at least 20 estudiantes from our program going for the weekend which was so much fun, but we were broken down into smaller groups for hostels and nuestro apartamento). We knew it was going to be a good trip when not only was there a Subway, as in el restaurante Americano, right by our gate, but the KLM plane had more legroom than any flight I’ve been on! It was a treat for las personas altas.
Welcome to Amsterdam!
We landed in Amsterdam around 10:30pm and headed straight for our apartment that we had rented for el fin de semana because we had to make Wofford tip-off which was at 12:15 our time. (Hecho interesante: Spain doesn’t “spring-forward” until tonight at 3am so for the past little bit, there’s only been a five hour time difference.) Our apartment was in a residential area of Amsterdam and turned out to be great, with a kitchen and big den/dining room - Becca and I even had a queen bed! We finished our night with the Wofford game, which was a tough loss but we were just grateful to be able to watch it!
Wofford in Amsterdam!
Friday morning we woke up to some not so buen tiempo, but ended up getting to see and do a ton despite the rain! We started with un desayuno delicioso at “WeRfood” where we had incredible omelets and Danish pancakes, which we decided are more like crepes than the short stack we were expecting. Either way, it was still the best breakfast I’ve had yet in Europe. Stuffed from the good food, we hopped on the tram and went to the Albert Cuypmarkt in Jordaan. It’s a famous market known for having over 300 stands with almost anything you could need. We walked around for a while, snacking as we went before jumping back on the tram and making our way to the Van Gogh museum. The Van Gogh museum was incredible, with so many obras buenísimos del arte and a Picasso exhibit as well. It was one of the highlights of my trip! We even had a little extra entertainment, when an Asian man decided to wow the crowd with his piano skills!
Albert Cuypmarket
Kayla and I thought this was pretty funny...
Such a storybook town!
The "I Am Amsterdam" sign - hard to see because of the bad weather!
After Van Gogh, we headed to another of my favorites from the trip: la casa de Anne Frank. It’s hard to put into words how neat and I guess “heavy” of an experience it is. The rooms are so small and although the furniture isn’t in there anymore, the pictures Anne Frank glued to her walls are still intact, as well as other things, such as the map Mr. Frank used to trace the allies’ movement during the war. There was also an interesting exhibit at the end of the tour about Margot Frank, Anne’s sister, because it would have been her birthday month if she had survived. Despues de la casa de Anne Frank, we headed back to nuestro apartamento to rest up before heading out to dinner. After wandering around trying to find a place to eat (our group was being indecisive), we ended up at Mandarin, a very interesting Asian restaurant. Needless to say, it was quite the experience. We were the ONLY people in the restaurant and our waiter was a bit odd to say it nicely. While it may not have been the best meal we had in Amsterdam, it was by far one of the funniest! We finished our night at an Irish pub called “Hole in the Wall” where we met up with the rest of our IES Madrid amigos, as well as some of Alex’s Danish friends he knew from their exchange experience durante colegio (high school).
Just some more pictures of Amsterdam
Unfortunately you can't take pictures inside the house...
Thomas, Will, and I at Mandarin
An, Becca, and Kayla
The "beautiful decorations" in the restaurant...
Alex, Becca, Caitlin, Dave, Kayla, JJ, and Brian at the pub
We woke up on Sabado to beautiful weather and started our day off with a delicious brunch at Razmataz, a cute little café right by our apartment. Afterwards, we made our way to the Heineken Experience where you get to tour the Heineken brewery and sample su cerveza throughout the process. I’m personally not a fan of beer but I can honestly say it’s got nothing on R.J. Rockers! El paseo fue una experiencia interesante, though it took almost two hours. For anyone going to Amsterdam, I recommend it ONLY if you are really interested in how the beer is made. Otherwise, I’d recommend spending your time at the Van Gogh museum and enjoying the quaint atmosphere of the town.
Our apartment!
In the Heineken Brewery
So happy to see el sol and be out in the sunshine, we spent the rest of our afternoon on a canal cruise which was a fun way to see la ciudad and be on the water! As our time in Amsterdam starting drawing to a close, we decided to pick up dinner and head back to the apartment a cocinar cena and pack up our stuff before heading to the Red Light District that night. I think it goes without saying that the Red Light District is a world of its own. None of us were quite sure what to expect but ended up being surprised at how safe the area was. (Due to la policia that are around to protect the, umm, entertainment for falta de palabras mejor?) Anyways, it was definitely an experience I won’t forget! Having made the poor choice of booking a 7am flight back to Madrid, we all headed to the airport using all forms of transportation: tram, taxi, train, and then finally el avion back to Madrid!
Despues de una otra semana de clases, during which I got to visit the Thyssen for the first time (possibly my favorite museo aqui because it has a little bit of everything!), I was excited to spend a weekend in Madrid after having been traveling and exploring Europa! It was also nice to have a bit of a break from all the “going” to catch up on some sleep. My friend Margaret’s boyfriend was visiting so Jueves we of course had to let him experience Kapital, la discoteca, and then Viernes, Lizzy and I explored our barrio, Chamberi, some more and had the most delicious almuerzo italiano at La Nicoletta on Friday afternoon before heading to our friends apartment a concinar fajitas y ver el partido de baloncesto de UNC con some of our Wofford friends (Will and Thomas) as well as amigos de nuestra programa y some españoles! I spent the rest of my weekend relaxing with friends and even managed to fit a little tarea in there as well!
More to come soon about Nana’s visit!
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