Greetings from Amsterdam! I visited Amsterdam with my two abroad friends Gaby and Dylan the weekend of October 11th through 13th. Amsterdam was an absolute dream and I already want to return. The three/technically two days just were not enough! Friday: Unfortunately my one class that takes attendance started having a few Friday sessions. We can miss up to four classes before becoming a non-attending student (which would not be fun in this class), but I already missed two since I booked Thursday flights before realizing this issue, so I flew out of Milan later on Friday. I got to Amsterdam around 8pm and took a cab to meet Gaby and Dylan at our airbnb in a cute town outside of Amsterdam called Hilversum. Hilversum could have been pulled straight out of a fairy tale. If you could bottle up a feeling of Fall, the bottle would be produced in Hilversum. For someone who hasn't had a real Fall in two years because of New Orleans, this was the best possible thing ever. I have never been a Fall person, but Hilversum and Amsterdam definitely sparked a newfound appreciation for this season and all its beauty. After I dropped my bag off and met up with Gaby and Dylan, we walked in to town for a late dinner. We ate at this bar/restaurant/club that was fairly popular with the locals. The menu was all over the place so I had asian inspired chicken wings and ribs. We also all had the same recommended cocktail. The drink was horrible and we probably should have known not to drink it since there was egg in it, but we were feeling adventurous. After dinner, we went back to the airbnb since we wanted to get to Amsterdam as early as possible on Saturday for a full day. Saturday: We woke up early on Saturday to travel from Hilversum and our airbnb to Amsterdam. Our first stop was the MOCO Museum which is a modern and contemporary art museum known for the amount of Banksy works displayed. A few of my favorites were Banksy's "Girl with a Balloon," "Love is in the Air," and the detained Gummy Bear statue. The whole museum was a lot of fun to walk through to start our morning. After MOCO, we walked through Amsterdam trying to find a place to stop and eat brunch. The brunch scene in Amsterdam is phenomenal, but since it was around 11 am on a Saturday, most of the places listed as "must try" were packed. We ended up at a place called Little Collins which was delicious. I had there take on eggs benedict, potato, gruyere and spring onion waffle with poached eggs, bacon, and hollandaise sauce and a cappuccino. At this point, I hadn't had a real brunch meal since being abroad, so I was beyond thrilled. While we were eating, a woman sat down at the table next to us and began talking to us. She was an American from Texas living in Amsterdam for work and was eager to convince us to work abroad during our lives. I don't normally talk to or initiate conversations with strangers like that, but it was a lot of fun to hear about this random woman's life and experiences. She totally just fell into her job by talking to a woman at a wedding. Crazy! She currently is trying to decide whether she should stay in Amsterdam or if her and her fiance should move back to Texas. Anyway, after brunch, we headed over to the A'dam Lookout which is this lookout tower/experience that also has a swing with views of the city. The experience itself is fairly "basic," but since there was no line and it was included in our Heineken tickets it was totally worth it. After A'dam lookout, we took a canal ride from the lookout to the Heineken Experience. We also met up with my friend Becky and her two abroad friends. The canal ride was pretty, but it would have been nice if there was a little commentary by our guide (who had a microphone and wanted tips) so we knew what we were looking at. After the ride, we arrived at Heineken and did the brewery experience. I am so totally not a beer person, but Oktoberfest and this experience have definitely made me enjoy beer more. The experience guides you through Heineken's history and the whole process of brewing the beer. It ends in a bar tasting area and includes two free beers (in addition to the one you try earlier in the tour). Dylan, Gaby, and I then went and got thai food for dinner. Post dinner, I had a ticket for the Anne Frank House at 8:45 that I booked with Becky, so Dylan and Gaby went with me and were going to wait around till I was done since they didn't book tickets in time. Luckily, the security and staff at the Anne Frank House were in a good mood and let Dylan and Gaby buy tickets for the museum day off. This rarely happens unless you arrive at an off time in an off season, so we were super grateful. Truthfully, I have never read the Diary of Anne Frank. I know, very out of character. It was never required for school and when I had the option of choosing a heavy book to read in 7th grade I read "Night" by Elie Weisel instead. Obviously, I know her story though. An audio tour guides you through the entire house explaining the war, the Holocaust, and Anne's story. Going through the house is not easy, but I felt a little better knowing my desire to see it allowed Gaby and Dylan to learn more about a part of history they both admitted they did not know as much about. We planned on going out after the Anne Frank House, but the weather had turned incredibly horrible while we were inside, so we decided to head back to the airbnb instead and watch Halloweentown. Sunday: We checked out of the airbnb early on Sunday and headed into Amsterdam to explore before our late flight back to Milan. We walked all along the inner canals and central area, enjoying the sunnier weather and the pretty buildings. For lunch we went to Foodhallen which is a giant food hall inside a warehouse space. It is pretty comparable to Smorgasburg or a much larger St. Roch Market. I wanted to try all the stands, but limited myself to "De Ballenbar" because I wanted to try local Dutch food. We each had different variations of Bitterballen, a sort of fried dutch meatball. I had two truffle bitterballen, two goat cheese bitterballen, and two original bitterballen. They were all delicious, but my favorite had to be truffle. After lunch, we continued to walk around, this time in search of another Dutch food poffertjes or little baby pancakes. I was not super hungry but still managed to eat my own order of poffertjes served traditionally with powder sugar and butter. Unfortunately, it was Sunday so we could not eat them fresh at the Albert Cuyp Markt, but the ones we had at Pancakes Amsterdam were tasty nonetheless! We then explored the outdoor flower market before going to the Amsterdam Icebar. We were kind of out of things to do at this point since we couldn't get tickets for the Van Gogh Museum which is how we ended up at the Icebar. It was a fun experience though. I was a little surprised because once you are actually in the freezing cold bar room the only drinks they serve is shots of flavored vodka or beer. After the icebar, we took a few more canal pictures before heading back to the central station to pick up our stored luggage. I also got to see my friend Emily Epstein who was also in Amsterdam that weekend traveling. Even though we only got to see each other for 5 minutes it was nice to catch up and we were able to plan a trip together to Dublin which I'm super excited about! Best Moments:
Amsterdam was such a beautiful city. It felt impossible not to immediately fall in love with it. Walking around the canals and just taking in all the cute buildings and flowers was probably my favorite part. I never wanted to leave! I also love Milan and Italian food so much, but the lack of a brunch scene or accessible "trendy" international food scene has been really getting to me. I probably could have spent all day in the Foodhallen or at brunch. Eggs benedict on savory waffles and truffle bitterballen. Need I say more. I don't think I want to live/work abroad (I'd miss my family and the US too much) but visiting Amsterdam definitely made me feel like it could be a possibility.
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