Finally, I have started an account of the things that happened over the weekend. It started out just like any other day with class. First was signals and we once again tried to understand what was going on. This seems to be a recurring theme, not just within the Germany students, but with the students back home as well. In fact, the smaller classes are helping us because we can so easily ask questions and talk to our professor. it's pretty neat. Anyway, after that class was the history of medicine where we learned more about health care around the world and what exactly is offered in each country. It's interesting because America is like an amalgamation of a lot of different policies depending on the situation, but we don't have our own personal health policy. Turns out we're spending a lot more money on our healthcare than other countries because we don't have a single policy that we stick to no matter what happens. Towards the end of our lecture, our teacher looked at us and asked what time we all had to leave (he knew we were leaving and had given us some video recorders earlier so we could vlog) and when we said at 12, he laughed and said he'd go fast. He finished his lecture about 5 minutes late, giving us about 25 minutes to get to the train station and catch a train to Cologne so we could get our train from there. We stuck around for another 10 minutes so people could gather their stuff or print out tickets, and then we were off.
We rushed to the station so we could get to the train on time and not be left behind. Now, in class there were two people missing (intentionally) so they could relax more and get money or whatever they needed. That's good and all, but Wasser was a bit upset that they had skipped class and it turned into a disadvantage now because we didn't know where they were. We weren't about to miss our train though, so we frantically called them. One made it on, one didn't. He ended up not going to Amsterdam because they wouldn't allow him on the next ICE train at Cologne or refund him because he missed his check-in time. So we went to Cologne and hurried to our gate so we could get to our Amsterdam train. We got in on time and were off for a 3 hour ride. I was near everyone else, but had booked my ticket by myself, so I was alone in a seat. That was OK though, I enjoyed just reading for the first time since I got in Europe. We sat there for 3 hours before we arrived in Amsterdam Centraal station (yes, that's how it's spelled).
We all got off the train and took our first look at the city, and I must say that I was impressed. Right across from the train station was a castle looking thing. It was beautiful, and I took so many pictures (in the following post). Then we split up, three to their hostel, and the rest of us to look for a transportation pass so we could get to our hostel. We all bought 2 day passes which would bring us through to Sunday afternoon. Unfortunately, we didn't all know where exactly the place we were staying was, and the lady behind the counter was rather rude to us when we asked for help. Finally we left to go find something to eat that had wifi so we could find out ourselves.
We stopped at a Lebanese place with wifi and had a quick lunch/dinner before getting on our metro train to our hostel. Our commute was a 30 minute ride on the train, then a 15 minute walk to our place. It wasn't bad, I have about the same commute every day in Bonn to AIB, but others who are closer to their stops were a bit shocked at the commute. We got our keys to the cabin we were staying in, dropped off our stuff, and trekked back to Amsterdam to experience the night life. The guy who checked us in was kind enough to show us where the bars and clubs were, where the red light district was, and where the flower market was (we asked for that one) on a map. We arrived in the city and started to walk and look for the other group that came with us. Eventually we came to an area that was blocked off and had red lights everywhere. We thought it was the red light district, and couldn't see the big hype about it. We walked around quite a bit and just looked at the stores, slowly making our way to where our friends were.
About 90 min later, we gave up looking for them because we were so hungry. We turned around to go to the "red light district" where we saw crepes and pancakes being sold and bought that for a sort of dinner. Eventually, we ran into the other group and walked with them for a bit. We turned a corner that opened up into this brightly lit street on either side of the river and we realized, we were dead wrong about the "red light district" from earlier. This was the Red Light District, where girls danced in skimpily clad outfits in the windows and beer and drugs flowed as easily as the river running alongside the street. I'm not going to lie, I was very uncomfortable and made sure that my jacket covered my purse before sticking close to my friends. It was weird being there and I wanted to experience Amsterdam, but I just didn't want to be there. A group of us went into a bar (just a regular bar) for a bit before leaving to continue walking.
After that was finished, it was just after midnight and I knew that the last bus left at 12:19. So Kelsey and I left because everyone else wanted to go clubbing and bar hopping. I recently discovered that though it can be a bit fun, it's not something I would want to do in an unfamiliar city with people who, though we've become friends rather quickly, I am relatively new to know. So we left and arrived back at our cabin about an hour later and just talked about stuff until 2, when we decided to sleep. Through the night, the rest of our group trickled back to try and sleep and either Kelsey or I had to open the locked door for them.
The next day, I woke up slowly until I took a look at the clock. It was already 11! So I hopped up and started to get ready before I noticed that no one else was up except the other person that went back early with me. We decided to let them sleep for a little bit more as some had only gotten back a few hours earlier. At 12, we were bored and tried to wake them up a little bit so we could experience Amsterdam in the day. By 1 came around, everyone was ready and we headed into the city. Now, by the time that we got into the city center, it had been about 16 hours since I last ate, so I was rather grumpy and impatient to get to food. Kelsey and I found this nice cafe (not a coffee shop!) and had a nice lunch that was fairly priced while everyone else went to a Chinese restaurant. This cafe was wonderful! The food was good, there was free wifi like every other public place, and the apple pie we got for dessert was one of the best I've ever tasted. The reason why the distinction between the cafe and the coffee shop is so stark is because in coffee shops, they don't primarily sell coffee, but something more...organic that's meant to be burned. Basically, I learned that Amsterdam is known for their pot and prostitutes.
Anyway, After lunch, we walked for a while before making our way to the Anne Frank house, a museum where Anne Frank and her family hid during the Holocaust. It was really interesting, but also super depressing to see the state of her life while in hiding. It want through the house and pointed out who had which rooms with liberal use of the quotes from her diary. There were interviews with people who knew or helped the Franks showing on the televisions and allowed the tourists to get a glimpse of what kind of person Anne Frank was. At the end was an expose on her original diary. A little known fact about her diary is that she actually re-wrote her diary with a focus of her experiences after hearing a radio broadcast that told hiders to keep their diaries for historical accounts. The Franks followed the rout that the Allied troops took, getting closer and closer to the Netherlands in hope that they would arrive before they were found. Unfortunately they were betrayed before the Nazis were driven out and all but Otto Frank (the father) died in concentration and death camps.
After the house, it was too late to go to anywhere else for touristy things, so we took the tram back to the Centraal station. On the way, One of our group saw a souvenir shop and raced out the tram with two others just as the door closed, leaving the rest of us behind for another stop before we could get off. We went in and I spied the Amsterdam pins and decided to get one. It's pretty nice if I do say so myself. Unfortunately, when I went to the rest of my friends, I was looking at a plate when my coat sleeve snagged on it. I tried to catch it as I fell, but was unsuccessful and it hit a porcelain windmill. Luckily the small expensive plate was fine, but two of the wings of the windmill had broken. I went up to the cashier to pay for it (I was NOT leaving, he had already seen and known what had happened) and put up the pin to pay for that as well. Luckily the windmill wasn't as expensive as I feared (20 euro) and when the cashier saw that I was paying for the pin as well, he waved me off and gave it to me for free. So, my pin was 20 and I got a free (broken) windmill that I'll fix up with superglue or something. Hey, I paid for it, I might as well fix it so it's as good as new and keep it.
Soon after that, we met up with the other group for a bit before they headed off to one of the more well-known clubs after eating a nice meal. Two others went back to the cabin with me because they either didn't want to go, or went clubbing yesterday and didn't want to go through that again. Amsterdam is beautiful in the daytime, but the atmosphere at night was strange to me and so when others went to go drink or dance, we went back.
It turns out that leaving lead to one of my favorite memories of the trip. When we returned to the cabin, we got out the two spirits drinks that we had bought, and shared it amongst the three of us. Someone had bought pretzels and we shared those too. Somewhere along our commute, we started in on really philosophical topics and that continued through till we got to our sleeping quarters into the night. Most of it focused on the current political situation in America and the pro-life vs. pro-choice dilemma. Surprisingly, though there were advocators to both sides, we each listened to the others points and had a rational conversation. Though there were some points that we will probably never be able to agree on, it was still a really interesting and deep conversation to just talk about and let the other side know more about the actual stance instead of what the media says. At about 2, we finally went to sleep.
The next day, the alarms the three of us set up went off at 9:30 and we forced everyone up so we could get ready for check out at 11. Though it was slow going at times, we all checked out and then went to the wifi area to check where we wanted to go. Deciding on the Rijks (rye-cks) museum of art and history, we set off for Amsterdam. We bought two lockers for our stuff because we still had quite a few hours before our 9:00 train. Then we set out to eat at a rather cool restaurant before going to the museum.
This museum was HUGE!! there were 4 floors of art and history and we spent quite a bit of time on each of the floors. Unfortunately, the museum had to close, so we had a bit of a rush to see all that we saw. There were famous paintings and statues. Thankfully they allowed pictures, so you'll see some on the next post. Each exhibit was breathtaking, but my favorites were the statues of stone and ivory on the 3rd floor. On the 1st floor, there was a special collection of ships, weapons, pottery, clothing, and instruments of Amsterdam and I was very happy there. It's a shame that I wasn't able to see the Van Gogh museum that was just down the street, but by the time the Rijks museum closed, that museum was closed too.
As we left, we saw the I amsterdam statue and we all took pictures on it. Yes, on. These things were larger than two humans tall and were a lot of fun to climb. Out further in front of the statue was a small pond that had metal beams floating on it in a way that allowed a bit of water to come up through the cracks if you stood on it, but was dry otherwise. We had a lot of fun just walking across those beams and taking pictures of stuff.
We went back to the Centraal station and waited for a while before our train left. Then we got our stuff and boarded the train back to Cologne. Again, I was alone, but that was OK. Everyone else started the homework that I had already mostly done, and I really needed a bit of alone time by myself. Being with 8-12 people for the whole weekend was fun, but draining. I sat and tried to work out some problems, but inevitably took out my kindle and listened to music as I read (I finished the curious case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by the way. Very good, I recommend it as it's good but short...only about 100 pages). We arrived in Cologne and quickly bought tickets back to Bonn, almost missing the bus. When we arrived back in our familiar city, some went to McDonald's to try and get the homework done while others went to the night bus or tram. I would have gone to the tram, but the night bus lets me off closer to my house, and they left at about the same time so I would actually get back faster with the bus than the train. I arrived home at about 1, and went to sleep, happy to be in my own bed in my own room.
The pictures will be up soon, and maybe an account of today, but this post took about 2.5 hours to write, so maybe not. If not, today's post will be posted tomorrow for sure and tomorrow's as well just after it. I'll even write it on my phone on the plane if I need to. I don't like missing days.
Anyway, enjoy the pictures!
Erin Z
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