clogging around

I made it back from amsterdam! It was quite the trip. We got in on thursday and tried to sneak in to the hotel room with hannah, maggie and kate. This was a huge failure and we ended up having to get our own room which only ran us 70 euro per person for 3 nights. In retrospect it was very nice to have our own beds to sleep in each night. After we put our bags down we made our way to the first coffee shop (bull dog). There was a very friendly man here that helped us pick out the best stuff. After, we went to get italian food. This was the best meal I've had since arriving in europe. The food in amsterdam is to die for (compared to Barcelona at least). The next day we started off with some more italian food (mushroom pizza). Hannah, maggie and I went off on our own through von del park. We deemed ourselves a ship of 3 and had a trusty glass bottle to guide us through the day. We were amazed by the beauty and the colors of vondel park. I could not think of a better place to spend my friday exploring and pondering life. After our adventure we met with the rest of the crew at dampkring, our favorite coffee shop. This place has the best milkshakes and hot chocolate. To make hot chocolate they put a cube of chocolate on a stick, put that in a glass cup, and then fill the cup with warm milk. It's to die for (or TDF as kate would say). Saturday we woke up about 30 minutes too late for the hotel breakfast. We went to a delicious bagel shop where we learned that Amsterdam was not exactly like Barca, and tipping about 5 to 10 percent was customary. We were so embarrassed that we had not been tipping the first few days of our trip, so we left our waitress a little extra. After a hardy breakfast we went to the heineken museum. This was a self guided tour that walked us through the history of the brand, showed how to drink a beer, and even let us experience what it would feel like to be beer going through the entire process of fermentation to bottling. We drank a few brews and joined in on a bachelor party that a group of men from madrid were having. We left the museum and walked off our buzz before going to the anne frank annex. We waited in line for about 40 minutes, but it was well worth it (plus we had french fries to hold us over). The museum was very moving. I am so glad that things such as anne frank's house, yad vashem, and other holocaust museums exist to remind people of the genocide that was world war 2. People need to be reminded of the tragedies of our past as not to repeat them in the future. Later that night it snowed. Although I was very cold, it was a beautiful sight to see. I watched a few bikers fall due to the ice on the ground. Everyone in amsterdam rides bikes. I'm pretty sure the kids learn how to pedal before they can walk.
Overall, Amsterdam was a great trip and a nice break from the huge city of Barcelona. It was nice to be able to walk anywhere we wanted to go and hear people speaking english everywhere we went. We spent most of our money on food because we could not get over how delicious the chocolate covered waffles, french fries and coffee was. I will definitely have to go back some day, maybe I'll wait a couple of years though. I have a few days in Barcelona of classes, parties and attempted cooking until I leave for Interlaken (the swiss alps) on friday! Let's just say...life is good...